Watch Max Roach
Max Roach Quintet — Live at the Alhambra, 1960 · Qwest TV
Watch on YouTube ↗Artist profile / 1924–2007
Max
Roach.
Drums / composer
A rhythmic innovator who made the drums a fully independent voice in the hard bop ensemble.
Explore all 20 musicians
Drums / composerPeople / recordings / the sound
01 / The story
Max’s
sound
Max Roach helped change the role of the jazz drummer in the bebop era, placing the pulse on the ride cymbal and using the rest of the kit to shape the music around the soloist.
His mid-1950s quintet with Clifford Brown became a model of hard bop interplay. Roach also composed, led groups and later made music that addressed civil rights directly, including We Insist! Freedom Now Suite.
Read the full biography at the National Endowment for the Arts ↗
03 / Find a record
Take the
sound home
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A first listenJazz in 3/4 Time
Roach explores a different rhythmic frame while retaining the drive of his small groups.
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Sources and photograph
Biography source · Photograph source · CC BY-SA 3.0. Image cropped in the page layout.