Max Roach – We Insist: Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite (CD)
Product Details
Recorded in 1960, the same year four Black college students staged the Greensboro sit-ins, Max Roach's collaboration with vocalist Abbey Lincoln and poet Oscar Brown Jr. was a deliberate act of artistic resistance timed to the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln's raw, wordless wailing on "Triptych" remains one of the most visceral vocal performances in recorded jazz history, a sound that challenged every convention of what a singer was supposed to do.
An avant-garde masterpiece, a vocal-instrumental suite, a work of collective improvisation, directly addressing the racial and political issues of it's day, We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite is one of the most important artistic statements of the Civil Rights Movement and one of the most groundbreaking jazz albums of all time. Roach vowed after it's release that he would never again play music that is not socially relevant and told Down Beat magazine, "We American jazz musicians of African descent have proved beyond all doubt that we're master musicians of our instruments. Now what we have to do is employ our skill to tell the dramatic story of our people and what we've been through. " The album inspired Roach to broaden his scope as a composer and collaborate with choreographers, filmmakers, and playwrights.
Tracklist
UPC: 708857300228
Label: Candid
Release Date: 4.15.22
Format: CD