Jazz Quotes by Max Roach

“In your lifetime, if you can come up with one original idea, you have accomplished a great deal.”

— Max Roach

My point is that we much decolonize our minds and re-name and re-define ourselves . . . In all respects, culturally, politically, socially, we…

— Max Roach

The people who really got me off were dealing with the musical potential of the Instrument.

— Max Roach

The American drummer is a one-man percussion orchestra.

— Max Roach

I didn't even apply. There was no warning.

— Max Roach

Jazz is a democratic musical form. We take our respective instruments & collectively create a thing of beauty.

— Max Roach

I will never again play anything that does not have social significance. We American jazz musicians of African descent have proved beyond all doubt…

— Max Roach

You can't write the same book twice. Though I've been in historical musical situations, I can't go back and do that again. And though…

— Max Roach

Music mirrors where we should go, have gone and can go. Music is an abstraction.

— Max Roach

Jazz is a very democratic musical form. It comes out of a communal experience. We take our respective instruments and collectively create a thing…

— Max Roach

Monk encouraged me to emancipate the drums from their subservient role as timekeepers.

— Max Roach

I think that the rhythm sections, drummers in particular, are the unsuing heroes of the music. It's the rhythm section that has changed the…

— Max Roach