MAX ROACH

MAX ROACH
MEMBERS, DON'T GIT WEARY. (1968)
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Drummer Max Roach's outspoken political commentary reached artistic zeniths throughout the 1960s--especially on Deeds, Not Words, It's Time, Lift Every Voice and Sing, and Members, Don't Git Weary. Originally released in 1968, Members shows Roach's insistent drumming in a pointed, taut display of group dynamics. Trumpeter Charles Tolliver and alto saxophonist Gary Bartz play with unflinching rawness, elevating the music's bluesiness even as they let the energy of the struggle for African-American civil rights drive the improvisations to new levels of expressive intensity and new depths of musical feeling. Pianist Stanley Cowell's contributions to the session include "Effi," a loping minor-key gem that elicits multiple towering solos from both the horn players, who weave in and out of Jymie Merritt's bass lines like yarn in an urgent tapestry.

1. Abstrutions
2. Libra
3. Effi
4. Equipoise
5. Members, Don't Git Weary
6. Absolutions