max roach – Practicing Drummer

Max Roach Drum Clinic and Masterclass

I recorded this drum clinic on February 21, 1991 when Max Roach was at Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN. It was recorded on a cheap cassette tape recorder. Please forgive the imperfections.

Thanks to my friend Mike who cleaned up the file after I digitized it. He saved this recording from being almost unlistenable and I’m very grateful.

I hope some of you enjoy this recording. There are some great stories and bits of wisdom from Max Roach.

Below is a transcript. Please contact me if you can fill in any of the missing names/words or if you find errors.

Max Roach Interview

There are a couple of new videos up on Youtube that I discovered last week that lead me to an amazing resource: The Howard University Jazz Oral History Project. Some great stuff there.

The first video I want to share is a one hour interview with Max Roach. It’s full of gold. He not only plays drums and piano, he also shares stories dating back to his days playing in parades as part of his church band.

Enjoy!

When you’re done, don’t miss the Philly Joe Jones interview.