Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 - August 16, 2007) to parents Alphonse and Cressie Roach. He was a world-class percussionist, drummer, and jazz composer. In 1952 Roach co-founded Debut Records with bassist Charles Mingus. This label released a record of a concert, billed and widely considered as "the greatest concert ever," called "Jazz at Massey Hall," featuring Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Mingus and Roach. ...show more

Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 - August 16, 2007) to parents Alphonse and Cressie Roach. He was a world-class percussionist, drummer, and jazz composer. In 1952 Roach co-founded Debut Records with bassist Charles Mingus. This label released a record of a concert, billed and widely considered as "the greatest concert ever," called "Jazz at Massey Hall," featuring Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Mingus and Roach.

Also released on this label was the groundbreaking bass-and-drum free improvisation, "Percussion Discussion." In 1954, he formed a quintet featuring trumpeter Clifford Brown, tenor saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Richie Powell (brother of Bud Powell), and bassist George Morrow, though Land left the following year and Sonny Rollins replaced him. The group was a prime example of the hard bop style also played by Art Blakey and Horace Silver. Tragically, this group was to be short-lived; Brown and Powell were killed in a car accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in June 1956. After Brown and Powell's deaths, Roach continued leading a similarly configured group, with Kenny Dorham (and later the short-lived Booker Little) on trumpet, George Coleman on tenor and pianist Ray Bryant.

Roach expanded the standard form of hard-bop using 3/4 waltz rhythms and modality in 1957 with his album Jazz In 3/4 Time. During this period, Roach recorded a series of other albums for the EmArcy label featuring the brothers Stanley and Tommy Turrentine. In 1960 he composed the We Insist! - Freedom Now suite with lyrics by Oscar Brown Jr., after being invited to contribute to commemorations of the hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Using his musical abilities to comment on the African-American experience would be a significant part of his career. ...show less