M'Boom

This week Kate Molleson explores the life and work of a musical giant: drummer and composer Max Roach – in the company of writer and broadcaster Kevin LeGendre. They’ll be focusing on Roach as a percussionist and performer, prioritising his own compositions but also appreciating the art of improvisation as a kind of spontaneous composition.

Max Roach was born in North Carolina in 1924 and grew up in Brooklyn. He was at the vanguard of bebop, alongside Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. They transformed jazz in the mid-20th century and Max Roach never stopped transforming the music, himself and his society. He was a force of political activism in the 1960s, using music as a powerful platform through the civil rights movement. He kept innovating in academia in the 70s and all the way to the early years of the 21st century. A long and innovative musical life.

Today Kate Molleson and Kevin LeGendre explore just how far Max Roach takes the potential of percussion with the advent of his amazing ensemble M'Boom.

Music featured:
The Drum Also Waltzes (from Drums Unlimited)
Libra (from Members Don’t Git Weary)
Equipoise (from Members Don’t Git Weary)
Let Thy People Go (from Lift Every Voice and Sing)
January V (from M’Boom)
Joshua (from Lift Every Voice and Sing)
A Quiet Place (from Collage)