Max Roach, perhaps the greatest jazz drummer ever, died yesterday at the age of 83. Roach played with every major jazz artist of his day: Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, and many more. He pioneered major innovations in drumming, and was considered the architect of bebop. He was also a leading voice among his peers for civil rights, and was the receipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called "genius grant." One of the true greats of all time.
