Max Roach Centennial Celebration Featuring Makaya McCraven

Makaya McCraven, drums and bandleader
Marquis Hill, trumpet
Greg Ward, saxophone
Junius Paul, bass
Others TBA
Note: All personnel except Makaya McCraven subject to change

We told you we had a banger of a jazz series happening for you. And this event, well let’s just say it packs a lot of bang.

This fall, we’re joining colleagues from across the UMass campus — and in particular, our co-presenters in the Department of Music and Dance, the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, and the College of Humanities and Fine Arts — to take part in an international celebration of the 100th anniversary of Max Roach’s birth.

Max Roach the drummer, composer, and bandleader whose work defined a new era in jazz. Max Roach the artist-activist whose unflinching advocacy of civil rights was felt well beyond his music. Max Roach the educator who spent two decades as a member of the music and Afro-Am faculties at UMass, during which time he was instrumental in the campus’s transformation into an international center for jazz education.

To lead our part of the celebration, we’ve tapped Makaya McCraven, who stands among the finest and most innovative drummers, composers, and bandleaders working in jazz today. McCraven also has a lifelong association with Roach. McCraven grew up in Amherst, the son of jazz drummer Stephen McCraven. And Roach was a mentor to Stephen and a family friend. McCraven is also an alumnus of UMass and of Jazz In July, the Fine Arts Center’s summer jazz education program, which Roach helped found.

Join us for this very special tribute to a true legend.