Rapp on Jazz: Max Roach

Published August 14, 2025 at 6:06 AM EDT

FILE - This June 16, 2001 file photo, shows Max Roach performing at the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)

TRANSCRIPT:

I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.

When it comes to polyrhythms in jazz, one name stands out—Max Roach.

This pioneer of bebop and beyond used the drum kit like a full orchestra. He played multiple rhythms simultaneously, often inverting time signatures.

In his 1960 album “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite,” Roach fused African and Afro-Cuban rhythmic traditions. The track “Triptych” is a raw, emotional, and rhythmically radical tour de force.

Max Roach believed that rhythm could speak the truth. Through polyrhythms, he gave voice to complexity, struggle, and liberation.

This has been Rapp on Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and SC Public Radio, made possible by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.