Posted on 
August 27, 2013
Remembering the
50th Anniversary of
The March on Washington
– “We Insist!
Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite”
(videos)
I wasn’t around when the historic March on Washington took place on 28 August 1963. How is America today – fifty years later? What would Dr. King think about what’s going on here and now? Is the nation progressively better or deplorably worse than it was in the early to mid 1960s? So many questions, so many unclear answers.
Please note that I didn’t find a videoclip of the last part of the suite entitled Tears for Johannesburg.
If you want to know a little about the background of We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, the following excerpt is from the Wikipedia page for We Insist!:
With the album, Roach was among the first artists to use jazz as a way of addressing racial and political issues during the 1960s.[4] In a retrospective five-star review of the album, Allmusic‘s Michael G. Nastos called it a crucial work in the African American civil rights movement of the early 1960s, Roach’s discography, and African-American music in general because of the emotional range and resolve of the music and the enduring relevance of its message: “Every modern man, woman, and child could learn exponentially listening to this recording — a hallmark for living life.”[7] Piero Scaruffi cited it as Roach’s masterpiece.[8] John Morthland ofeMusic gave the album four-and-a-half stars and wrote that, as a “jazz landmark” and enduring civil rights statement, it provided the model for a numerous amount of subsequent musical suites and presentations that dealt with the same subject.[5]
In 2007, We Insist! was reissued by Candid in honor of Roach after his death.[6] John Fordham of The Guardian gave the reissue four stars and called it a “landmark jazz album” that “testifies simultaneously to Roach’s remarkable playing, his clout in the jazz world, and his politics.”[6]
Where does America go from here? ~ Donna