Midweek pick, January 10th, 2024: Max Roach at 100!
Roach and Boswell take the reigns in Paris, 1960
A short post today to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Maxwell Lemuel Roach, best know of course as Max Roach. A brilliant drummer and expert bandleader, Roach possessed such unique musicianship, wicked skill, bright inventiveness, and exquisite feel, when he played the drums it was, as some have put it, almost like he made them sing. With that in mind, I remembered this short clip form a taped live performance of the Max Roach Quintet live in Paris in 1960, where Roach floats around Bob Boswell’s pumping walking bass, while the rest of the band — trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, trombonist Julian Priester, and tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine — looks on in awe.