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Often cited by top drummers as an important influence in their own playing, Max Roach is considered by many to be one of the great all time jazz drummers. Born in 1923 on the edge of North Carolina's famous Great Dismal Swamp, by the age of ten Roach was already playing regularly in gospel bands for his local church community. During his early twenties he was in the vanguard of the bebop style which defined American jazz in the late 1940s. Roach played with some of the finest exponents of the genre, drumming for leading bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk. In the 1970s Roach formed a percussion orchestra known as M'Boom and against all predictions turned it into a successful concert ensemble able to captivate an audience without resorting to conventional melodic instruments. During his long and successful career Roach became a household name and played with some of America's biggest jazz ensembles. He went on to become one of the world's most famous jazz percussionists and is one of the leading players of the modern drumming era.
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