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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 Max Roach as a political force – a man who was passionate about the most urgent matters of his day – focusing on his 1960 album We Insist!: Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite.

Music featured:
Fleurette Africain (from Money Jungle)
Driva’man (from We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite)
Freedom Day (from We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite)
Tears for Johannesburg (from We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite)
Garvey’s Ghost (from Percussion Bitter Sweet)
A Little Max (Parfait) (from Money Jungle)
Lonesome Lover (from It’s Time: Max Roach, his Chorus and Orchestra)