Customer Reviews

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite

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It's a crime that this title should remain out of print in the U.S., and still very difficult to find elsewhere (my order for it has been put on backorder three times).

Not only is this a landmark in jazz, but a landmark in the way it reflects the civil rights movement of the 60's. The music is intense and stirring, certainly the most powerful music Max Roach has ever recorded (even more so than his great, masterful work with Clifford Brown). Recorded with Abbey Lincoln, at the time married to Roach, and tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, this used to be a popular album among jazz enthusiasts, but for some reason it's been given some pretty shabby treatment, having been allowed to drift into relative obscurity. If you can get a copy for a decent price, pick it up.

We Insist! Freedom Now...
Is a beautiful record and the digital download is a major bargain. BUT, be aware this is mastered from a vinyl copy. It has several pops throughout and the surface noise associated with a good (but used for 30+ years) record. Works fine for me but thought I'd add this caveat...

Max Roach's "We Insist!" is one of the most powerful pieces of music ever committed to record. It is rarely available (although I was able to order a copy direct from Candid) but is worth taking the time to seek out, regardless of cost. With a band featuring trumpet genius Booker Little and sax legend Coleman Hawkins along with three percussionists (including Olatunji) and featured vocalist Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach and Oscar Brown, Jr., inspired by the sit-in movement, assembled a political album without parallel.

Before going any further, I'll speak of the most famous and most powerful piece on here-- "Triptych". Its a duet between Roach and Lincoln in three parts, an introspective, haunting opening, building in tension and power, before drifting to conclusion. It is beyond words to try and explain this piece, it really is something that needs to be heard. Listen to it alone with no other stimulus, it can be overwhelming.

The rest of the album admittedly has a hard time living up to this level of expression and power, but how could it? "Driva' Man", however, is nearly as stunning. A story of brutal slave owners, it begins with Lincoln over thin percussion before going into a positively haunting rendition of the melody and a moving solo by Coleman Hawkins (even with a squeaky reed). The rest of the album is, however, spectacular, and this is really an essential piece of music.

Hearing Abbey Lincoln scream during Max's drum solo in "Triptych Prayer/Protest/Peace" will send chills down your spine. You have never heard anything quite like this. This music says more about the civil rights movement than any jazz ever recorded. I can't believe this is out of print in the US --- actually, I can.... this music is just too powerful.

Wonderful music with one of the few narrative drummers in Jazz - a man who tells a story and develops a drum-line logically and humanely.

The music is one of protest yes but ultimately so is all of jazz in it's early golden age from '40-'70.

But I advise folks to not be taken advantage of by certain sellers! This can be had for about $23 from Candid's own site. The music certainly is valuable but people who try to profit from beauty should not be allowed to do so.

This is a rare cd indeed, as it's availability on Amazon will attest. The Penguin Guide to Jazz illustrates it's inextricable link to the social and racial causes Max Roach was fighting for at the time of it's release. As for the music itself, there's more singing than instrumental improvising and with a Giant of the art like Coleman Hawkins on board I would have liked more of him and less of Abbey Lincoln's impassioned but musically limited singing. Booker Little too is given scant opportunity to solo and the tracks are frustatingly short. You need to hear this album for what it is and not what you wanted it to be, as I did. Then, it's full power and historical importance will impact upon you. Needless to say but worth repeating, Roach's percussion skills and musical urgency and spellbinding.

Hearing Abbey Lincoln scream during Max's drum solo in "Triptych Prayer/Protest/Peace" will send chills down your spine. You have never heard anything quite like this. This music says more about the civil rights movement than any jazz ever recorded. I can't believe this was out of print in the US for a long time--- actually, I can.... this music is just too powerful.

This is a classic: Max Roach, Olatunji, Abbey Lincoln.... need I say more? I'm thoroughly pleased with this work of art. Highly recommended!

When musicians include their spouse I suspect the quality of their collaboration ! Earlier on when TRANE replaced Mc Coy with Alice I was not happy. But Alice lived up to the billing, And Abbey is a great singer so I really had no trouble knowing she could hold her own with the greatest of musicians ! Not really into singer that much but this is good music !

The great Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and friends didn't stand on the sidelines as spectators to Civil Rights. This work demonstrates art doesn't have to happen in a vacuum, in isolation. A far cry from 21st Century Black music that uses escapism as the root justification for existance (some HipHop, rap). Secondly We Insist! is a representation of continued vigilance, intentionality, at the street level where relevance gives voice to the people.

Thanks for archiving this moment of artistic brilliance that stands as a model for musicianship as a way artists can/should operationalize their sensitivities to the plight of the disadvantaged, underserved, disaparte at the population level, because... We Insist!

Yugen Fardan Rashad aka Gene the Jazz Machine KBOO 90.7 FM Sat, 4pm to 7pm (KBOO.FM) on the world wide web.