Artist:Max Roach
Song:Parker's Mood
Album:Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker
Not only is Max Roach one of the all time great innovators in jazz, he celebrated his 83rd birthday this year. He was born Jan. 10, 1924 in New Land, NC. His mother was a gospel singer. Max had started drumming at age ten and by age 18 he was house drummer for Monroe's Uptown House in New York. Roach was a regular with Charlie Parker in the late 40s but also played with Louis Jordan & Miles Davis. Roach first recorded as a leader for the Debut label which he co-owned with Charles Mingus and he also played drums on the legendary 1954 Massey Hall concert with Parker, Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie & Bud Powell. The turning point for Roach came when he met trumpeter Clifford Brown in 1954. They made some fantastic recordings together for EmArcy and probably would have continued if Brown hadn't died tragically in a car accident in 1956. He kept the group together with sax player Sonny Rollins & trumpeter Kenny Dorham but when Rollins left, he wasn't sure what to do next. So he made this 1958 album of Parker songs with Dorham, Hank Mobley or George Coleman on sax and Nelson Boyd or George Morrow on bass. It's a very good record and Verve released it on CD in 1995 with bonus tracks. Over the years, Max Roach has been one of the great adventurers of jazz and here's a video of Max Roach performing Mr. Hi Hat in tribute to Papa Jo Jones.
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