#Musicology: Max Roach, We Insist: Freedom Suite The cover of the Freedom Now Suite is a simple black and white grainy photo of three black men sitting at the counter of an American diner. They stare the camera down while the white waiter behind the counter seems nervous. So what? Just three black guys in a café. But in 1960 when this album was first released there were too many people in the United States who would have seen this image as an outrage, as provocative, as contrary to God’s law. A white man serving black men? Impossible. Max Roach was one of the most widely respected drummers in jazz. He died recently at the age of 83. My hunch and hope is that the record he was most proud of in his long career was this one. Roach was active in the civil rights movement in the US throughout his life and the Freedom Now Suite is a musical history lesson. It starts with the sombre, shocking slave chant of “Driva’ Man” which takes you right into the heart of oppression, and ends back in Africa with “Tears For Johannesburg”. bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/xn9x
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 17:26:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015