Max Roach
Drums Solo on
Crazeology

About

Max Roach closes out the solos on drums with a quarter of the form, following Tommy Potter at approximately 259 BPM. Set within a swinging rhythmic framework, the 32-bar AABA form and the key of B♭, the solo navigates the chord changes with purpose. The tune borrows its harmonic structure from "I Got Rhythm," a set of changes that generations of improvisers have used as a testing ground for new ideas. Coming last in the solo order, Roach has the task of building on everything that came before while steering the performance back toward the closing head. J. Roach solos over the last 8 bars of the form before the band comes back to take the head out.

Max Roach was 22 to 23 years old at the time.