Steve Wyzard MORE COMPLEX - NOT FOR BEGINNERS

One of the main reasons for writing this review is to correct an egregious error that appears in multiple editions of the Penguin Guide. To wit: "Scott Free is a hefty two-part suite dedicated to the brilliant young bassist Scott LaFaro, who died in a motor accident in 1961." Of course, with super-percussionist Max Roach, the truth is just a little more complicated than that. If one were to read the actual liner notes for this amazing album, one would find: "Scott Free was inspired, in part, by the case of the Scottsboro Boys, who, in 1931, were convicted (with evidence that can, at best, be called nonexistent) of the rape of two white girls aboard a train in Alabama. Although they were later exonerated, some of the Scottsboro Boys were in prison for over 15 years". There is no mention of Scott LaFaro.

Now that's taken care of, what of the actual music, recorded in May 1984 for the Soul Note label. Max's compatriots on this album are Cecil Bridgewater, trumpet & flugelhorn, Odean Pope, playing a snarly tenor sax, and Tyrone Brown on the electric upright bass. Composed by Bridgewater, this two-part suite (19:58 / 20:17), while not quite "blowing up a monsoon of music" (as the liner notes claim) gives ample opportunity for these phenomenally virtuosic players to truly strut their stuff. Part One opens with a quartet fanfare statement before launching into solos: Bridgewater, Pope, Brown, and Roach in that order. Part Two jumps immediately into the four soloists (in the same order) before closing with a repeat of the opening fanfare statement.

According to Bridgewater himself: "Basically it's a simple piece that just becomes more complex by the way everyone solos." So yes, this album would definitely qualify under that time-honored epithet "blowing session". Yet we're also told that there was some definite rehearsal (including a 90-minute version) before recording, so this is not an entirely improvised album. While categorized as Post Bop, Scott Free thankfully has no vocals and occasionally will push across boundaries into Avant-Garde free playing. Whether you like it or not will depend on how you already feel about the individual styles of the four extraordinary players, who shine like the stars they should be.

js One of the most innovative and interesting piano players in jazz history, Hasaan Ibn Ali, was almost never recorded, but fortunately Max Roach put pressure on Atlantic records to record the guy and Atlantic finally relented under the stipulation that the album featuring Hasaan be released under Max’s name, hence the album, “The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan’ came to pass. After the release of this album there was enough interest in Hasaan to have him come record some more, but unfortunately incarceration over drugs got in the way and his recordings were shelved and presumed lost. Fortunately some of those recordings have been dug up and released, so now there are a few more recordings under the Hasaan name, but without this one Roach album, everything would have probably been forgotten.

All of the song’s on ‘Max Roach Featuring Hasaan’ are Hasaan’s compositions, and they reveal his very personal take on what jazz could be. It is an avant-garde album for its time, but it is far from free jazz. Hasaan lays out what he wants from his musicians, and Roach and bassist Art Davis are creative enough to pick up on his vision. A casual listen might reveal a rather dissonant hard bop album, but closer listens show that the rhythmic concepts of this album were way ahead of their time. The musicians seem to hold a pulse together, but it is constantly morphing and changing every couple of bars. The musicians seem to be almost independent of each other, yet they manage to keep it all together somehow.

Tonally, Hasaan is often compared to a cross between Monk and Cecil Taylor, more or less a very dissonant hard bopper. He was also heavily influenced by outside bebopper Elmo Hope and can sometimes recall Herbie Nichols, Jaki Byard and maybe some of Mal Waldron’s more outside excursions. Throughout the album, harsh atonal tone clusters can come slamming down followed by scattered skittish rapid flurries of single notes tempered with unpredictable rhythmic variations. Since Hasaan’s music sounds right at home in the 21st century, you could also reference Matthew Shipp and Jason Moran as pianists who cover somewhat similar ground. This is one of those albums you can listen to over and over again and always find something new.

Mssr_Renard A magnificent record blending all styles possible to an almost new style/genre.

Musically this is post-bop, but with all the vocals going on, there's gospel, soul and r&b aswell. This album can be considered a heavy variant on what Marvin Gaye and Aretha franklin were up to.

If only there were more cross-over albums like this. One could also consider this to be spiritual jazz, because of the lyrical concept, but it is too heavy and swinging to be considered spiritual jazz. It is almost impossible to define its genre/style.

Amidst all the vocals there's also Billy Harper playing some heave almost free-ish saxophone. The piano of George Cables really fit the gospel/blues-approach of the album. A wonderful line-up, if you ask me.

The only one really missed here is Abbey Lincoln, but Dorothy White and Ruby McClure can also really sing loud and powerful.

This really is one of Roach's masterpieces, and perhaps one of jazz's masterpieces.

js If you are looking for a midway point on that line that runs from ‘out there’ bebop to free jazz, Max Roach’s “Deeds not Words” would be a good place to start. Max is one of those young guys in the 1940s who helped invent the new radical style that became known as bebop. As time moved on, Max always stayed involved in what was happening, making him the perfect musician in the late 50s to craft a sound that bridged that short gap from Yardbird to Ornette. His crew on here share a similar vision, particularly trumpeter Booker Little, who eschewed the bluesier sounds of Miles and Lee Morgan for a busy and angular bop approach much like his frequent band mate, Eric Dolphy. Although the hectic energy on here is east coast, Max’s use of a three horn front line to build complex arrangements and intertwining contrapuntal lines is more like the west coast innovators of the day. Along with Booker, the front line includes George Coleman on tenor and Ray Draper on tuba.

Most of the tracks on here fall in the up tempo range, plus there is one ballad, and one odd sort of Latin groove titled “Filide“. “Filide” is a Draper original and it features the tuba prominently. Tuba can not be an easy instrument to solo on and Ray does about as good as anyone could hope to. The ballad, title track “Deeds not Words”, gives Little a great vehicle to show off how much he can do with and to a melody. Its interesting to note that Max’s drumming foreshadows the way drummers play today. Instead of just keeping time on the ride cymbal, Max is all over the kit and quite free in his approach as he maintains a constant interchange with the soloists. Although the original version of this album probably carries a hefty tag, the vinyl re-issue titled “Converstion” can be found at a very reasonable price.