When you’re a true fan of jazz music, you don’t take the music lightly. When you listen to recordings by jazz greats, you study each song; you learn each note of every solo.
The jazz drummer Max Roach was one of those greats that you study.
His passing this week prompted a lot of conversation between my friends and me about how awesome Roach was on the drum kit and how much we’ve been influenced by his style and ideas. One of my musician friends sent out this email today:
It seems like whenever one of the greats passes away these days, it never gets the press and back story it deserves. Max Roach’s composition “Drum Conversation” was on a random old record that my folks had in their collection and it was the main reason I picked up the drums in the first place. After Max, drummers were considered musicians. Please raise a glass for Max, we owe him a huge debt.
Well, here I am, raising my glass. To Max Roach.
