Max Roach is possibly the most influential drummer of all time (with the likes of Elvin Jones and Art Blakey in contention). He was a direct role model for Tony Allen, the co-creator of Afrobeat and Ginger Baker, the notorious rock-and-roller-turned-Afro-jazz drummer, as well as countless others. His story began with the advent of bebop, of which he was a pioneer, and he went on to play with essentially all the main actors of the epoch: Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Charles Mingus, Dinah Washinton, Eric Dolphy, Stan Getz, Billy Eckstine ... his list of collaborations reads like a hall of fame roster. Here, for his third visit to the French capital, he is joined by a stellar quartet that includes the Turrentine brothers and captured by the ever-present French director Jean-Christophe Averty.
Part two begins in the same fashion as the first segment, with Roach building a spectacular solo from the ground up, starting off with lots of space in the stick-work before building into an ecstatic flurry of musicianship. Several more follow throughout the latter part of the concert, all of them crystal clear and bursting with embedded melodic content. Stanley Turrentine is assured and smooth on the tenor saxophone while Tommy Turrentine offers an incredible richness of tone on the trumpet. For these sidemen there could not have been a better rhythmic bed, with Roach a genius at every stage and Bobby Boswell weaving urgent, bending basslines into the melody. Max Roach was the epitome of class and he carried himself with grace and respect while campaigning for the Civil Rights Movement, both within, and aside from, his musical endeavours.
