The
double bill of Tito Puente and his orchestra and
drumset great Max Roach with his jazz quartet
presented on December 15, 1998 at the 92nd Street
YMHA in New York City was one of the musical highlights
of the year. The program began with Max's quartet
followed by Tito's 11 piece band. At the end,
Max joined the Latin orchestra on drumset to show
the beautiful marriage that can be made when jazz
and Latin are combined. Max, according to Tito
was one of the pioneers in joining these powerful
musical forms.
There
was an anxious moment at the end of the show when
Max keeled over backwards. He was assisted back
to the drums and finished the drum duet he was
performing with Tito and I was assured that Max
is fine and that the problem was a faulty drum
throne. Max is 74 and the King, Tito Puente is
75.
I
wasn't quite 18 years old in 1956 when I first
heard Max Roach in Birdland in New York. His recordings
with Clifford Brown and Sonny Rollins were some
of the first jazz recordings I bought and his
music has shaped my musical taste that has no
doubt helped in guiding me on the path that led
to the creation of my
company, LP®. This evening
was the first chance that I had to meet Max when
Tito introduced us. I found it necessary to correct
Max when he said "...his and Remo, another rich
drummer" that I wasn't a drummer.
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