Max Roach - Percussion Bitter Sweet

Percussion Bitter Sweet, released in 1961 on Impulse! Records, is one of preeminent jazz drummer Max Roach’s most politically charged and musically expansive recordings. Recorded over two days in September 1960 at Universal Studios in Chicago, the record reflects Roach’s deepening engagement with themes of social justice and Pan-African identity. The ensemble features trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, and tuba innovator Ray Draper, alongside Roach’s own commanding blend of cymbal textures, mallets, and explosive rhythmic detail. The inclusion of vocalist Abbey Lincoln — Roach’s artistic and political partner at the time — adds urgency and emotional power to the project’s most pointed statements.

 While not formally structured as a suite, the album’s six tracks move fluidly between spiritual lament, militant swing, and improvisational abstraction. The opening piece, ‘Garvey’s Ghost’, sets the tone with Afro-Caribbean rhythmic undercurrents, while ‘Mendacity’ takes aim at hypocrisy with biting horn lines and Lincoln’s dramatic delivery. Elsewhere, ‘Mama’ and ‘Praise for a Martyr’ explore personal and collective grief through dynamic interplay and modal intensity.