Happy Birthday, Max Roach

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was an American jazz drummer and composer, one of the most influential and widely recorded modern percussionists.

A founder of modern jazz who rewrote the rules of drumming in the 1940s and spent the rest of his career breaking musical barriers and defying listeners’ expectations

He was a pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history.

Max was married to Abbey Lincoln 1962 – 1970

Born: January 10, 1924, Newland Township, NC
Died: August 16, 2007, Manhattan, New York, NY

Source: NY Times, Wikipedia, Britannica