Max Roach was an American drummer, one of the defining figures in modern jazz and bebop. His work helped transform the drum kit into a fully articulate solo and ensemble voice.

In the Pristine catalogue he appears in The Quintet: Massey Hall, Toronto, with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Charles Mingus.

Roach’s drumming combined rhythmic fire, structural intelligence and melodic imagination, making time itself feel elastic and alive.

His page is essential for the jazz strand. Roach gives the catalogue a drum pulse with bebop brains and a dancer’s wrists.