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| 22.08.07 |
 As you may or may not be aware, Max Roach, widely regarded as one of the most important drummers in Jazz, sadly passed last week. In fitting tribute Candid re-release We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite (CCD79002). Developed in 1959 by Max and songwriter, playwright, poet and civil rights activist Oscar Brown, it was written with the idea of it being played at the centennial of the emancipation proclamation in 1963. Featuring Booker Little on trumpet, Julian Priestler on trombone, Walter Benton and Coleman Hawkins on tenor saxophones, James Schenck on bass, Michael Olatunji on congas and Ray Mantilla and Tomas DuVall on percussion, this fuses bepbop and experimental jazz with African rhythms in a meditation on black history, slavery and racism. Abbey Lincoln completes the line up, using her voice as well as any of the outstanding musicians here, humanising and personifying the emotions that run through each stage of Triptych: Prayer/Protest/Peace. A classic album and important piece in both the history of jazz and the black civil rights movement, it is accompanied with the original sleeve notes by American historian, novelist, jazz critic and former Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff.
Also re-released is Abbey Lincoln’s solo album Straight Ahead (CCD79015). On what is widely regarded to be one of the amazing jazz singer’s greatest albums she is assisted by Booker Little, Coleman Hawkins and of course her then soon-to-be husband Max Roach. Flautist Eric Dolphy and Pianist Mal Waldron finish off the group, assisting on When Malindy Sings, African Lady and Billie Holliday’s Left Alone amongst others.
You can see a footage of Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach performing Driva’man from We Insist! alongside Coleridge Perkinson, Clifford Jordan and Eddie Khan here. |
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