The great drummer Max Roach was a determined advocate of social justice, particularly of the Afro-americans, and recorded his landmark album Members, Don’t Git Weary (Atlantic, 1968) during the turbulent year of 1968 – after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy and amid widespread social unrest, representing Roach’s commitment and call for perseverance in the fight for justice.
Almost fifty years later, drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey, a big fan of Roach, who says that he saw his music as a weapon, decided to prove that jazz is still relevant, not only as a revered traditional art form, but as a vivid, progressive heritage that is connected to all aspects of our lives as decent and politically aware human beings.
Sorey interpreted Roach’s seminal album anew, as a tribute to his heroic predecessor, and as a way to connect the message of resilience in the face of struggle to the present day. Sorey keeps a similar instrumentation to Roach’s then new quintet – himself, as Roach, on drums; trumpeter and electronics player Adam O’Farrill (as trumpeter Charles Tolliver on the original recording); tenor sax player Mark Shim (as alto sax player Gary Bartz); pianist Lex Korten (as pianist Stanley Cowell, who doubled on electric piano, and composed three pieces for the album); double bass player Tyrone Allen II (as double bass player Jymie Merritt, who contributed one piece); and vocalist Fay Victor who sings the title piece (as vocalist Andy Bey).
Sorey sees Roach’s music as living material, music that needed to be reshaped and reimagined as a ninety-minute suite for our own turbulent time, and Sorey’s quintet’s powerful, intense performance faithfully reflects that commitment. His arrangement expands and reframes the music in a way that acknowledges the latest era of John Coltrane and the symphonic works and the extended works of Charles Mingus, but also as a collective effort, a message that goes beyond music. The album was recorded live at the end of a four-night residency at New York’s Jazz Gallery in June 2015, when Sorey’s quintet was in a top form, building its ecstatic, cathartic intensity, even in the minimalist and reserved, two-part interpretation of Cowell’s «Equipoise». The album reaches its emotional climax with the interpretation of Roach’s title piece, with Fay Victor acting as a high priest that empshizes the deep connection of the gospel and blues to the free jazz in her charged delivery, calling for all of us to remain resolute and persist «until the work is done».
Members… Don’t! keeps the fresh, creative, and emotional urgency of Roach’s album, honoring Roach’s lasting legacy in a commanding, inspiring, and uplifting manner.
Eyal Hareuveni
Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Adam O’Farrill (trumpet, electronics), Mark Shim (tenor saxophone), Lex Korten (piano), Tyrone Allen II (double bass), Fay Victor (vocals)
