Scott Free

Max Roach | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 11, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Soul Note Records
• ASIN: B000003ZZD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #771,407 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Scott Free, Pt. 1

2. Scott Free, Pt. 2

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful modernist work, February 14, 2001

By 

Tyler Smith (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scott Free (Audio CD)

Max Roach is one of jazz's greatest musicians. A tremendous percussionist (not just a drummer), he has spanned bebop, New Thing, Free Jazz and every movement in between without missing a beat (pun intended). On this mid-80s release, he is joined by three brilliant musicians (trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, saxophonist Odean Pope and bassist Tyrone Brown), all of whom take full advantage of their time with a master craftsman.

The release is an extended composition in two parts by Bridgewater. While the pieces were clearly created to give the musicians plenty of freedom to improvise, the two sections are by no means unstructured. Rather, Bridgewater builds the piece around musical figures that each musician uses to craft his own highly personal statement within a block of time. And of course Roach holds all the pieces together, juggling rhythms, creating timbres, and tapping out percussive melodies all his own.

Bridgewater delivers two highly satisfying solos, one in each part of the suite. He delivers a stabbing, fragmented attack on trumpet, and for me makes every fragment sound like a firmly stated declaration. Odean Pope shows why he is one of the great saxophonists out there, even though he doesn't get much publicity. If you need proof of his power, check out Part II, where he delivers an unaccompanied tenor solo that is chilling in its purity. Tyrone Brown unleashes more than a dollop of funk when he solos. His technique is incredible, but he does not sacrifice a shred of passion.

Soul Note put out a slew of fine, if underappreciated albums. Don't miss this one if you're a fan of Max Roach or if you are looking for jazz in its purest form, played by musicians who are in it for the long haul.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent, February 12, 2010

By 

Bill Your 'Free Form FM Handi Cyber Print DJ ... (Mahwah, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Scott Free (Audio CD)

Calling Max Roach a jazz drummer is true, but completely uninformative--Paul McCartney being a rock bassist and Elvis a singer is ture, but this says nothing.

Most know Max as a bop drummer, but with civil rights manifestos like The Impulse! twins Percussion Bitter Sweet It's Timeand We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite, Roach made some of the most inventive jazz of his era.

In the late 1970s, he formed his last great band and did the Suite Scott Free-where all the instruments except the bass are aoccustic.

Scott Free mines and few changes and is a fatastic improvasation vehicle. I like this album a whole lot and while this is great work, the sound is a little flat and thin and the playing at times stilted.

It does not quite have the grandure of the three above albums. Saying a Max Roach album is excellent and not an unqualfied classic, is, however, akin to being a little pregnent, and anybody intereated in Max beyond "Scrapple In The Apple" should own this.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute must!, August 2, 2008

By 

K. Bowman "Arrowboy" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scott Free (Audio CD)

This album packs a wallop! I first owned this release in it's original LP format, after first catching the awesome musicianship on my favorite jazz station WBGO in New York City. It's one of those compositions that leaves an everlasting impression upon you. I long ago left the LP format--regrettable in many respects--after moving to Los Angeles. Max Roach's drumming and "Scott Free" in particular haunted me for years. I recently got a mp3 recording of this piece (finally!!) and it's as if no time had passed between NY and LA.

The sound, let alone the idea for this composition, is brilliant. Max Roach weaves a tapestry that allows the other musicians to sail through with dexterity and virtuosity. For those of you who are not familiar with the historical basis for "Scott Free" you might want to take a stroll down the information highway b/c the story is, well, an American one. There was also a film of this shocking 1930s event that involved accusations, arrests, lynch mobs, rape, mistrials, and suicide. The Max Roach Quartet captures the ups & downs, and ins & outs of the Scottsboro Boys with awesome verisimilitude through the different personalities involved in this court drama and their competing perspectives.

Let the music speak for itself; but do give it a listen. You won't regret it.