MAX ROACH AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (JAZZ REPORT)

[Ralph Dumain <rdumain@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This time Newt did not succeed in shutting down the Library of
Congress.  Max Roach's personal appearance was canceled when the
gubb'mint shut down a month ago, but this time the show went on.
For Washington the weather out was nasty, not just cold, but ice
and slush.  Nonetheless the auditorium at the nation's library was
packed.  Roach is 72 years old, and he looks damn good.  He spoke
about his life and career, from his origins in Dismal Swamp, NC to
his childhood in Harlem and Brooklyn, to his gig with Duke
Ellington, to his experience with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie,
and others.

He showed some rare footage from his personal collection, starting
with a rare TV episode that was thought to be lost, but which
turned up a year ago.  This was, of all things, and appearance
with Clifford Brown on the Soupy Sales show in 1955, a year before
Brown's untimely death.  This is the only filmed appearance of
Brown, and Soupy found the tape/film after it was buried for four
decades.  Max was so thrilled that Brown was thus preserved, he
asked for the tape to be shown again at the end of the program.

He spoke a bit, and took questions between each video.  I might be
forgetting something, but here is the itinerary.  The second clip
was a video collaboration with a video artist who visually
composed while Max drummed.

There was also a video from Italy in which Max jammed with Cecil
Taylor.  The only way to listen to Cecil is as another percussion
instrument; otherwise he is insufferable.  Max worked his ass off
keeping up with that fast high energy stuff.  He was quite proud
of that collaboration.  He said the way he would rehearse with
Cecil was not to play music but to talk politics.

The last video was a series of different compositions.  One was a
solo drum piece.  The second was a solo in which Max played along
with Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream" speech.  There was some
original graphic work superimposed on the video images of both.
Then the end of the King speech was shown undoctored, and then Max
recording in a studio with others.

There was a lot of question and answer dialogue, including
questions about politics, spirituality, etc.  Max's responses to
the more tendentious questions were more subtle than the
questioners.  Throughout he refused to categorize music or allow
himself to be place in a category, least of all bebop.  someone
asked him about what explains the different musical cultures in
the world.  He said America is about freedom and experimentation,
not set ways of doing things.  American music - particularly the
jazz variety -- is democratic -- all the musicians participate in
creativity, not just the man who writes the score.  That's what
fascinates the Europeans, who are big supporters of the music.  As
for spirituality, Max said: there is a certain way we go about
surviving in our circumstances.  America is all I know.

His final counsel was: work hard at whatever you do, if it's
something to like to begin with -- it's all about work -- and be
dogged while having fun.

I wasn't about to wait in a long autograph/ear-bending line, so I
trudged through the slush back towards home.

Am I blessed?

Only beauty is revolutionary!


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