Name a favorite Max Roach recording

[mtodde]

I'm a big fan of both The Sonny Clark Trio & Money Jungle.

A great title no one has mentioned is Friendship which was recorded with Clark Terry. It is on the Columbia 88s label. The CD is outstanding and the SACD is even better but this really needs to be experienced on LP. The opening track is a duet between Max & Clark and is simply the best recording of jazz drums I've heard. This is out of print but the CD pops up on eBay. The SACD & LP don't pop up much but if you come across them and have the playback capability they are must haves.

[robert h.]

I'm a big fan of both The Sonny Clark Trio & Money Jungle.

A great title no one has mentioned is Friendship which was recorded with Clark Terry. It is on the Columbia 88s label. The CD is outstanding and the SACD is even better but this really needs to be experienced on LP. The opening track is a duet between Max & Clark and is simply the best recording of jazz drums I've heard. This is out of print but the CD pops up on eBay. The SACD & LP don't pop up much but if you come across them and have the playback capability they are must haves.

Another only available on vinyl is Force, a double album of duets with Archie Shepp which is considerably better IMO that the Hat - Long March material.

[Uncle Skid]

Everything he did with Clifford Brown and Sonny Rollins.

I'm a (very) amateur drummer, and I've been attempting to transcribe parts of "Pent-Up House" and "Jordu".

Max's drumming on those two tunes alone are enough for a lifetime of study.

When I have someone who is serious about wanting to get into listening to jazz, the first thing I do for them is play "Effi" from 'Members' and tell them to concentrate on how the drums play off the bass pulse and everything else plays off the drums.

I am totally unfamiliar with that record... I assume you're referring to "members, don't get weary" on Atlantic?

(edited to add: nevermind... I see my question was already answered on the first page! :blush2:)

Edited April 20, 2009 by Uncle Skid

[Uncle Skid]

Any thoughts on the Braxton/Roach record?

I need to go back and listen again... it's been awhile.

There were two - one on Soul Note & then a live double album on Hat. I think they're both indispensable. The Soul Note had the WOW factor for me becuase it was first, and was therefore a big surprise (besides being truly WOW in every way), but the Hat has the distinction of having longer performances, which may or may not be an advantage depending on how you look at it, but you do get to hear the ideas stretched out more.

I also prefer the Soul Note, but fore the exact reason that Jim mentions. It was the one I heard first. I do actually prefer the more succinct tracks to the extended performance on Hat a lot of the time.

Thanks for the comments... I have the one on Black Saint (not Soul Note?), and need to get the Hat on order.

[clifford_thornton]

I like the Hat quite a bit also.

Loadstar is excellent. I don't have the Denons but would like them. Wasn't as impressed by the date on Fluid by a similar grouping.

[sal]

"The Freedom Suite" with Sonny and "Brilliant Corners" with Monk. Two of my favorite drum solos in those songs, where the drums are as (if not more) melodic than the other instruments.

Wow...these are two of the first albums I thought of when I read the first post here! Because both are such classics, it may be simple for the casual listener to overlook Max's contribution to these two. Don't. Some of his best work is here.

His work with J.J. Johnson on Columbia is excellent as well.

And of course, "One in Two, Two in One" with Anthony Braxton.

[randyhersom]

Max and Billy Harper were a fabulous combination. Is there any bad Max? I sure can't think of any.

[felser]

Max and Billy Harper were a fabulous combination. Is there any bad Max? I sure can't think of any.

Also can't think of any bad Billy Harper. Saw that group (Cecil Bridgewater and Reggie Workman completed the quartet) at Keystone Korner in 1977 - spectacular. Workman was really amazing that night.

[clifford_thornton]

Wish I'd got to see him.

He was scheduled to play at the University of Kansas in 1997 or so and was too ill to make the performance.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Another one I'm not sure has been mentioned - I really enjoy 'Pictures in a Frame'. Actually, especially Roach's solo piano/voice feature on the last tune, 'Ode From Black Picture Show'.

[Chuck Nessa]

Max was a very interesting human to deal with on a personal/business level. I miss the guy.

One of my favorite memories was non-musical. Max in a photo shoot with ad agency folks all around - pretty woman dancing around the room with a tulip of wine, Max at the drums, set designers/lighting people around and a photographer shooting away.

[medjuck]

Anyone else got his duet 2 cd set with Dizzy? A bit too austere for me but lots of drumming.

[JSngry]

If "austere" is Belgian for "Dizzy's chops were all but shot by then & a duet might not have been the best idea, except as a matter of spirit", then I concur!

[DukeCity]

If "austere" is Belgian for "Dizzy's chops were all but shot by then & a duet might not have been the best idea, except as a matter of spirit", then I concur!

[MartyJazz]

I love Booker Little's Candid session OUT FRONT. Max's work on the opening track, "We Speak", is fabulous!

[Guest Bill Barton]

Chattahoochee Red

I'd definitely concur with this choice. It's an album that is rarely mentioned (nor heard, probably) these days.

The duos with Anthony Braxton are among my top picks too, especially Birth and Rebirth.

[Uncle Skid]

Brown / Roach at Basin Street.

Not "live", of course, but a great album.

"Members, Don't Get Weary", burning with Tolliver, Bartz, Cowell and Merritt in 1968. Contains the finest recording of Cowell's gorgeous "Effi".

This record is currently rockin' (or would it be more properly called "jazzin'" ) my world.

Thanks for the recommendation, felser, WD45, rooster.

I love this friggin' board. Costs me money, yet enriches my life.

[king ubu]

I still find it hard to believe I'm the only one who thinks "Study in Brown" is up there with the best Roach albums!

[Guest Bill Barton]

I still find it hard to believe I'm the only one who thinks "Study in Brown" is up there with the best Roach albums!

Nope. Not the only one. I'd definitely put it way up there too. So many great albums!

[Cliff Englewood]

I find it hard to believe that this thread has gone 5 pages and nobody has mentioned Max's work with Bird. :blush:

[kh1958]

Bird's first session on Savoy--Koko/Billie's Bounce/Now's the Time.

[Cliff Englewood]

I remember also being blown away the first time I heard Saxophone Colossus more because of Roach than Rollins, himself!

You're not wrong there, Max is actually the first and last musician you hear on that classic album. I was giving it a spin the other night along with "WorkTime", what difference six months can make. "WorkTime" = amazing, "Saxophone Colossus" = mind blowing.

The only Rollins Roach session I really didn't care for was "Tour de Force", where it seems that Rollins and Roach are having a bit of a pissing contest, only it's not who can piss the farthest but who can piss the fastest.

[nathan]

I wish I could add something new, but I gotta go with Brilliant Corners, the Bird sessions (I’ve always loved the session w/ The Hymn, etc), Percussion Bitter Sweet, Booker Little’s Out Front (kind of a de facto companion album, IMHO, to Percussion Bitter Sweet) and, maybe most of all, the Herbie Nichols sessions.

When I was first getting into jazz, I remember that Max on George’s Dilemma (w/ Clifford Brown) really grabbed me for some reason. The recordings with Nichols really turned my head around on the compositional possibilities of the drum set in a small ensemble, and Roach’s ability to make a major contribution in tight spaces there is incredible.

I was able to see Max live with his Brass Group at the Blue Note a few years ago, and while he wasn’t at the height of his powers, it was still incredible to see his profoundly compositional and orchestral approach to the drum set. Really inspiring.

Good topic -- quite a few here that I’ve got to check out now! Thanks for the tips.

nathan

[AndrewHill]

I remember also being blown away the first time I heard Saxophone Colossus more because of Roach than Rollins, himself!

You're not wrong there, Max is actually the first and last musician you hear on that classic album. I was giving it a spin the other night along with "WorkTime", what difference six months can make. "WorkTime" = amazing, "Saxophone Colossus" = mind blowing.

The only Rollins Roach session I really didn't care for was "Tour de Force", where it seems that Rollins and Roach are having a bit of a pissing contest, only it's not who can piss the farthest but who can piss the fastest.

I would add his BN Vol. One (1542) to the list too for terrific Sonny/Roach collaborations. Great stuff there as well.

[Chuck Nessa]

Roach is a drummer and artist I give the highest respect. I do have a problem connecting "emotionally" with him. He usually sounds cold to me.