Percussion Discussion - Max Roach & Art Blakey

Transfiguration

Four X

Percussion Discussion 

Chess Jazz Masters Series

Chess Master Series prepared for reissue by Dan Nooger

Cover Design: Kay Ritta

Cover Photography: Kay Ritta / Drums: Gilsonite Music

Liner Photos: David Redfern

Linder Production: Walken Graphics

Art Direction and Production Supervision: Dudley Thomas

Chess 2ACMJ-406

1976

From the inside cover: There are many drummers in jazz. But Max Roach and Art Blakey are among the few meriting the title of "percussionists". More than mere time-keeper, they utilize their instruments to control and direct their bands into their own messages. They seize ideas, expand them, and return them in form of provocative rhythms. "It's important for the drummer to know what's going on around him – harmonically and melodically," says Roach. "You set up lyrical patterns in rhythm which give indications of the structure of the song you're playing."

Blakey and Roach are at home in any type of musical context from swing to bop to blues to avant-free. Along with the great Kenny Clarke, they laid the rhythmic foundation for the bop era, working with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Clifford Brown, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. Blakey's Jazz Messengers and Roach's various groups have served as incubators of talents as diverse as Ramsey Lewis, Jackie McLean, Blue Mitchell, Eric Dolphy and Abbey Lincoln. In every sense, Blakey and Roach are musicians – listening carefully to what occurs around them, they reflect the feelings and expression of their compatriots. This fulfillment leads to specific and long-run progress on their parts. Like the Mingus Jazz Workshops, the Blakey and Roach groups have served as springboards to self-expression for the musicians involved. Jackie McLean, the New York-born altoist on the Blakey session, had just completed a stint with Mingus at the time of this recording.

The music on this album dates from the late 50's, a transitional period for jazz. The Roach session features bassist George Morrow from the original Max Roach-Clifford Brown Quintet, along with Kenny Durham and Hank Mobley. Pianist Ramsey Lewis in his early 20's at the time of this session, went on to giant success nearly a decade later, but he more than holds his won in this heavy company, getting off excellent solos on "Crackle Hut" and Max's composition "Audio Blues". Durham in a muted Miles Davis mood, is featured on "That Ole Devil Love", while Roach himself takes the spotlight on "Speculate" and "Four X". His solos utilize space and silence as well as sound, a technique the drummers refers to as "taking a breath" in solo or accompaniment, his drums are always right there – neither smothering nor being smothered by the other instruments.

"You can't help smothering the horns unless you're very careful", Roach points out. "But if you're too delicate, you can't say anything. You need proper balance and respect." Max is a man or respect.

Roach is more than a time-keeper, the basic and often sole function of many jazz drummers, Rather than impersonate a metronome, he plays several key roles. Zealously guarding the beat, Roach is inventive enough to accomplish much more than any single function. He utilizes rhythmic patterns creatively; it is difficult to predict his musical behavior, yet it constantly is in good taste. He plays melodically, speaking freely to the other instruments. Few drummers utilize their instrument in the multi-faceted manner that Roach does. He communicates vividly, because he has liberated his instrument to incorporate patterns of expression rarely associated with it before. His subtlety, precision, and inspirational melodic sense have made him a major figure in jazz.

The Blakey session, recorded in 1957 but not originally released until late 1965, featured a working group, and the music is as together as only night after night of performance can make it. Blakey's bands have always swung hard and this is no exception. Trumpeter Bill Hartman plays incandescently on the leader's "Transfiguration". McLean is tough and direct as always on "Scotch Blues" and "Flight To Jordan". His sound is heavily based in the blues, but he and the band are cool personified on the "Gershwin Medley" that closes the album.

Blakey's gigantic love of playing is expressed in the unflagging drive and excitement of his music. at the conclusion of his performance he often bolts or jets himself right up and tosses his sticks up in the air with bravura, leaving the whole set steaming and smoking. His constantly creative outpouring of complex ideas and cross-rhythms boosts his bands to ever-higher plateaus of performance and excellence.

Roach and Blakey have grown with jazz, in the best sense of "evolution". They have also made immeasurable contributions to that growth, remaining simultaneously in the forefront of experimentation and true to themselves. These records capture a particular time and place, but the music herein is timeless. – Dan Nooger

Side 1 and 2 originally issued as Art Blakey & The Jazz Messenger - Tough (Cadet 4049)

Recorded Spring, 1957

Art Blakey - drums

Jackie McLean - Alto Sax

Bill Hardman - Trumpet

Sam Dockery - Piano

Spanky DeBrest - Bass

Produced by Dick Maw

All tunes written by Duke Jordon

Scotch Blues

Flight To Jordan

Transfiguration

Exhibit

Gershwin Medley

Sides 3 and 4 originally issued as Max Roach Quintet - Max (Cadet 623)

Recorded early 1958

Max Roach - Drums

Kenny Durham - Trumpet

Hank Mobley - Tenor Sax

Ramsey Lewis - Piano

George Morrow - Bass 

Crackle Hut

Speculate 

The Ole Devil Love

Audio Blues

CM

Four X