Re: MAX ROACH AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (JAZZ REPORT)

[Ralph Dumain <rdumain@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Your description of the Max Roach video looks like what I saw
yesterday.

>*Beauty is the rare thing*!!! :-)

Does this mean you are an Ornette Coleman fan?

I apologize to the rest of the list for all this shop talk, which
is somewhat off topic.  I uploaded my Max Roach post here becuase
I knew several people would be interested.  That was the main
reason.

However, it is also known that Max makes political statements,
too.  (Didn't he title one of his albums [groan] "Sweet Mao"?)
His video with the artist Kit Fitz-something was dedicated to
Nelson Mandela.  The point is, that musically he pays attention to
the craft first.  Secondly, he responded to the pointedly
political and religious questions with some subtlety.  He was
willing to link music with revolution, but in a broader sense than
some of the pompous, militant afrocentric clowns in the audience.
(Washington abounds in such characters.)  For example, he said
that comment on social conditions and protests have been in the
music ever since the spirituals, so that is nothing out of the
ordinary as far as black tradition is concerned.  As for religion,
he answered only that he was an American, and that certain coping
skills have been developed as a result of the conditions that
people faced.  In other words, there is a certain breadth and
sophistication in his understanding both of culture and social
reality.  I suggested this in my original post, but as usual I
left too much to the imagination.

Max is writing his autobiography with Amiri Baraka.  He said 'we
go head to head with it every day.'  Baraka is not a very subtle
thinker, so I can only imagine what they hassle about.


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