Jared

Desvaux de Marigny
ID: 1154642
Jazz History

Max Roach Essay

Although Kenny klook Clarke is considered the undisputed founder of
bop drumming (Brown,1976:476, quoted in Edwards, (n.d): 3), Max Roach was
another highly respected pioneer of the bebop era (1940s - 1950s). Max was
heavily influenced in the early years of bop by Kenny Clarkes experimentation
with bomb dropping and his use of the ride cymbal to keep pulse rather than
keeping time on the bass drum by playing it on every beat (which had generally
been the case for most drummers of the swing era). Max took every opportunity
he could to learn from Kenny Clarke and was once quoted as saying I got a lot
out of Klook while he was in New York. I must have driven him crazy with my
eagerness. But he was always ready to sit down with me and talk drums.
(Cohan, 1995:43). Max however developed Clarkes ideas further. This can be
seen in Maxs early 1950s recordings where Roach shows himself to be a more
aggressive player than Clarke, taking his bass drum bombs and using them
more frequently. Where Clarke would use kicks every few measures, Max would
use them every few beats. Where Clarke plays an occasional snare hit to
supplement his ride, Max would sometimes play so many that his snare drum
would become more active than his ride cymbal[Example Below](Owens, 1995:183,
quoted in Edwards, (n.d):3). The important figure that stylisticaly connects these
two drummers in historical lineage is Papa Jo Jones.
Drum Set

An exert from Maxs comping on piece, Valse Hot from

album, Plus Four 1956, showing much more complex
bomb dropping

An exert from Clarkes comping on Jay Jay from album,

Kenny Clarke - 1955

Drum Set

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Swing drumming legend, Papa Jo Jones, was a major influence on both
Kenny Clarke and Max Roach (Holtje, 1998:632). Max even going as far as saying:
For every two notes I play, three of them are his (Stern, 2007). Jones was a key
influence as he was already using some of the ideas that Clarke and Roach were
experimenting with years before the bop era. He lightened up on the bass drum
by pulsing the beats softer and was starting to use cymbals as his main time-
keeping accessory, mainly the hi-hat, which he played differently to most other
drummers - leaving them open slightly when playing time, he caused the two
cymbals to sizzle. This innovation, although it may not seem very important,
actually marks a turning point for jazz drumming as it birthed the legato sound
of the ride pattern, which becomes the trademark of bop(Edwards, (n.d):2). This
shows that there is definitely a stylistic historical lineage that connects these
three players. Although Jones would sometimes still pulse his bass drum on
every beat, he had started to play it much quieter than what was the norm, as
well as starting to use an 18 bass drum instead of a 20 to reduce the boom of
the drum (Edwards, (n.d):2). But the main stylistic feature that connects them all
is the fact that they all moved towards making the drum-set a featured
instrument rather than just a timekeeping device. All three pioneers were
moving towards playing time on the cymbals leaving three free limbs to interject
and make statements freely within the melody.


Max was not only influenced by other drummers, but by bop legends,
trumpeter, Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist, Charlie bird Parker(Holtje,
1998:962). Max began working with Dizzy in 1944,with Parker joining shortly
after in 1945 to eventually form what would become the legendary Dizzy
Gillespie-Charlie Parker quintet. A young Max Roach was challenged by the
music of Parker, this can be seen in the introduction of the track KoKo. Max
Roach quotes in the bookCharlie Parker: His Music and Life : The introduction to
KoKo, I know, was a struggle because rhythmically, you know, it was [sings]. It
started on the upbeat, and it was almost like a disguised downbeat. Where was
one? was always the question. (Woideck, 1996:115). The fact that Max had to
push himself and really concentrate to be able to play Parkers tunes would have
made Bird an influence to him in itself. But aside from that Max attributed
Parker as playing a major role in the way he played the drums, Max once saying:
Bird was really responsible, not just because his style called for a particular
kind of drumming, but because he set tempos so fast, it was impossible to play
straight.This was especially true for the bass drum and is part of the reason why
Roach abandoned the use of a steady four-four pulsing bass pedal and the
repetitive ride cymbal patterns of earlier jazz drummers. (Da Capo, 1962:194, as
quoted in Cohassey, (n.d)).This shows that although there may not be a direct
stylistic historical lineage between papa Jo Jones and Bird Charlie Parker
still played a large part in the stylistic development of Max Roach and ultimately
the development and role of the jazz drummer from time keeper to featured
instrumentalist.

Works Cited

Books:

Brown, T.D.A History and Analysis of Jazz Drumming to 1942 Vol 1 &
2,University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, 1976.
Cohan, J., & Bruford, B. Star Sets: Drum Kits Of The Great Drummers. Hal
Leonard Corporation, 1995.
Owens, Thomas, Bebop, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995.
Holtje, S., & Ann Lee, N. Music Hound, Jazz: The Essential Album Guide. Visible
Ink Press, Detroit, 1998.
Woideck, C., Charlie Parker: His Music and Life. University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, 1976.

Websites:
Edwards, Tony (n.d). Evolution of Bebop Drumming. Retrieved October 2,
2009, from http://perc.music.utexas.edu/PDF/Bbop.pdf.
Cohassey, John (n.d). Who2 Biography. Retrieved October 1, 2009, from
http://www.answers.com/topic/max-roach

Journals:
Stern, Chip. (2007). Drummer Unlimited. Z Time Magazine
Schudel, Matt. (2007). Jazz Musician Max Roach Dies at 83. The Washington
Post


Jared Desvaux de Marigny
ID: 1154642
Jazz History


Max Roach Essay

Max Roach was one of the first drummers to hit the bop scene in the 1940s
1950s. Not being able to rely solely on the methods used by drummers that
came before them from the swing era, the bop drummers had to develop their
own unique style and way of playing the drum-set to accommodate where the
new, fast-paced style of jazz was heading. To do this they had to draw their
influence from a combination of the current melodic instrument players of that
time and certain key individual drummers who had played in a very innovative
way. Some of these key individuals for Max Roach were: Kenny Clarke, Papa Jo
Jones, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie.




The combination of having both melodic and percussive influences created a
firm foundation for the remainder of Max Roachs career, ultimately developing
into his own unique style and approach to drumming. This style has been called
melodic drumming (Cohassey (n.d). Retrieved October 1, 2009) the name
itself implying one very important detail: Through stylistic historical lineage the
drum-set has slowly made its way forward from its roll as timekeeper in the
backline to an important featured instrument. Drummer, Stan Levey sums up the
importance of Maxs style of playing best by saying: "I came to realise that,
because of him, drumming no longer was just time, it was music." (Stan Levey, as
quoted in Cohassey (n.d) Retrieved October 1, 2009).

Annotated Bibliography

Books:

Carr, Roy, A Century Of Jazz, Hamlyn, London, 1999. - A very well published
book with over 350 pictures. Starting from 1897 in New Orleans the book
moves chronologically right up until 1997, following the evolution of jazz.
Giving personal fact files of musicians who shaped the music on the side of
every few pages.
Cohan, J., & Bruford, B. Star Sets: Drum Kits Of The Great Drummers.Hal
Leonard Corporation, 1995. A detailed book giving in depth information on
some of the drumming greats of history. Intially looking at jazz drummers the
book starts from the 1920s looking at drummers like, Baby Dodds and Zutty
Singleton and eventually making its way towards the 1970s and beyond
looking at drummers like Keith Moon, Neil Pert and Alan White. The book
also provides detailed pictures of the drummers kit specifications and set-up.
Dizzy Gillespie, & Fraser, Al. To Be or Not To Bop,Doubleday Books, 1979
A book aiming to be the best the most complete, authentic and
authoritative autobiography of a jazz musicain. Starting right from the
begginging of his life the book has various personal accounts from well
known jazz musicians and Dizzys close family and friends. Max Roach, Art
Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Miles Davis, Earl Hines, his wife, brothers and sisters to
name a few.

 Holtje, S., & Ann Lee, N. Music Hound, Jazz: The Essential Album Guide. Visible
Ink Press, Detroit, 1998. A detailed listening and buying guide to jazz
records, with small biography sections on each player before listing and
rating out of five, each of their records.
Woideck, C., Charlie Parker: His Music and Life. University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, 1976. Written by saxophonist and Instructor of Jazz History,
University of Oregon. This book has a full biography of Charlie Parker and his
musical career. The book also going into the theory side of his music
providing transcriptions and comparative musical phrases. The book also
provides various quotes from jazz musicians.
Websites:
Cohassey, John (n.d). Who2 Biography. Retrieved October 1, 2009, from
http://www.answers.com/topic/max-roach. A massive resource on
everything Max Roach. Combining several websites and historical
information all onto one webpage. Starting on important career and
biographic accounts. The page covers discographies, honorary awards and
achievements, has several pictures and provides several helpful external
links.
DrummerWorld (n.d). Papa Jo Jones. Retrieved October 3, 2009 from
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Papa_Joe_Jones.html. A
webpage containing various video and audio clips of Jo Jones. The bottom
half of the page containing photographs of him and fellow music peers
throughout his life. There are also three separate small boxes containing
biographic information about Jones from three different sources.

 Edwards, Tony (n.d). Evolution of Bebop Drumming. Retrieved October 2,

2009, from http://perc.music.utexas.edu/PDF/Bbop.pdf. An in depth look
at the devolpement of Bop drumming. Starting from the early days of Baby
Dodds progessively moving chronologically to Tony Williams. The page has
great quotes from various drummers and authors and provides information
about each drummers own unique styles and innovations.
Wikipedia (2009). Wikipedia Max Roach. Retrieved October 1, 2009 from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Roach. A very information filled online
encyclopaedia page providing various biographical and trivial information of
Max Roaches life and career. However none of the information can be
guaranteed to be correct as anyone can add any information they wish.
Zildjian (2007). Z News Max Roach. Retrieved October 2, 2009 from
http://www.zildjian.com/EN-US/news/newsDetail.ad2?newsID=1560. A Z-
News article containing an exert from the 2007 Z-Times Magazine. The lower
half of the page contains various quotes and from famous drummers about
Max Roach and the impact he has played on their lives.
Journals:
B.B.C News. (August 17, 2007). Jazz drummer Max Roach dies at 83. B.B.C
News. A newspaper article informing of the death of Max Roach at age 83.
The article has quotes from several key figures and a quote from Blue Note
record label. The paper gives an outline of what jazz drumming was like in
the swing era and how Max and Kenny Clarke revolutionised it to become the
drumming of the bop era.

 Keepnews, Peter. (August 16, 2007). Max Roach, a Founder of Modern Jazz,
Dies at 83. New York Times. A brief recap and explanation of who Max
Roach was, and how he revolutionised jazz drumming.
Modern Drummer. (August 2007). Jeff Hamilton. Modern Drummer Magazine.
A talk with modern jazz drummer Jeff Hamilton on brush technique and
how he plays his kit. The article gets Jeff talking about his jazz listening
background. And the artists he listened to and grew from.
Schudel, Matt. (2007). Jazz Musician Max Roach Dies at 83. The Washington
Post. A newspaper article recapping Max Roachs life and explaining who
Max was as an individual and a performer.
Stern, Chip. (2007). Drummer Unlimited. Z Time Magazine A recap of Max
Roachs work in the community throughout his life. Providing in depth quotes
and a look at his personal life and achievements.