Max Roach

5 STARS DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE

INCLUDES 1 BONUS TRACK

A subsidiary of Archie Bleyer’s Cadence label, Candid Records began producing albums in New York in 1960, with jazz writer and civil rights activist Nat Hentoff as the label’s A&R director and liner-note author. That same year, Candid released the star-studded August/ September 1960 session of We Insist! Freedom Now Suite. Tenor-sax pioneer Coleman Hawkins, trumpeter Booker Little, and the then little-known singer Abbey Lincoln are on the album, which testifies to Roach’s remarkable playing, his clout in the jazz world, and his politics

Earlier, in July 1960, Roach and Charles Mingus, in search of fair treatment for black performers, had organised a “rebel festival” to coincide with the prestigious Newport Jazz Festival, and this suite (with lyrics by Oscar Brown Jr.) is fuelled by the energies of the civil rights movement. The ambiance of rebellion, fuelled with the increasing development of the Civil Rights and the Black Pride movements, provides the context for We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, which was both a brilliant piece of music, and a political and social statement. The album received a five-star rating in Down Beat as soon as it appeared, and since then has been highly praised by critics, fellow musicians, and jazz fans.

PERSONNEL:

BOOKER LITTLE, trumpet
JULIAN PRIESTER, trombone
WALTER BENTON, tenor sax
COLEMAN HAWKINS, tenor sax
JAMES SCHENCK, bass
MICHAEL OLATUNJI, congas
RAY MANTILLA, percussion
TOMÁS DuVALL, percussion
ABBEY LINCOLN, vocals

New York, August 31 & September 6, 1960.

*BONUS TRACK (B3):
Kenny Dorham, Benny Bailey (tp), Julian Priester (tb), Walter Benton (ts), Cecil Payne (bar),
Peck Morrison (b) & Max Roach (d).

New York, November 1, 1960.

SIDE A:
1 DRIVA’ MAN (Max Roach-Oscar Brown Jr.) 5:18
2 FREEDOM DAY (Max Roach-Oscar Brown Jr.) 6:09
3 TRIPTYCH: PRAYER/ PROTEST/ PEACE (Max Roach) 8:10

SIDE B:
1 ALL AFRICA (Max Roach-Oscar Brown Jr.) 8:02
2 TEARS FOR JOHANNESBURG (Max Roach) 9:42
3 OH YEAH, OH YEAH (Kenny Dorham) 7:00*