Dreaming of the Masters

It's quite arguable that no other musician participated in as much of the history and development of jazz as Max Roach.  In the 1940s, he helped innovate the be-bop style with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.  In the 1950s, he became identified with the hard bop style of Sonny Rollins and Stanley Turrentine.   In later years,  he recorded free jazz with avant-garde masters Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Archie Shepp, and Abdullah Ibrahim.  He even surprised fans by performing in a hip-hop performance with Fab Five Freddy and the New York Break Dancers.  With the possible exception of Miles, we honestly can't think of another jazz musician whose career spanned such a wide range of styles and influences.

But back in 1961, Roach recorded an LP on Impulse! Records called Percussion Bitter Sweet that features some of the last recorded performances of trumpeter Booker Little before he passed away that October.  In addition to Little, the lineup included Julian Priester (trombone), Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet), Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone), Mal Waldron (piano), Art Davis (bass),  and the opening tract, Garvey's Ghost, featured a rhythm section of Roach, Carlos "Patato" Valdés, and Eugenio "Totico" Arango, and vocals by Roach's then-wife, Abbey Lincoln. 

Roach passed in Manhattan in the early morning of August 16, 2007.  We never got to see him perform, but we heard him on countless records.