Percussion Bitter Sweet

1961 studio album by Max Roach

Percussion Bitter Sweet

Studio album by

Max Roach

Released| Late 1961
Recorded| August 1, 3, 8 & 9, 1961
New York City
Genre| Jazz
Length| 40:50
Label| Impulse!
A-8
Producer| Max Roach
Max Roach chronology
| We Insist!
(1960)  | Percussion Bitter Sweet
(1961)  | It's Time
(1962)

|
|

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
Down Beat| [1]
AllMusic| [2]
Tom Hull| B+ ()[3]

Percussion Bitter Sweet is an album by jazz drummer Max Roach recorded in 1961, released on Impulse! Records. It was trumpeter Booker Little's penultimate recording before he died from uremia in early October 1961.

## Track listing

[edit]

All compositions by Max Roach, except where noted

1. "Garvey's Ghost" - 7:53
2. "Mama" - 4:50
3. "Tender Warriors" - 6:52
4. "Praise for a Martyr" - 7:09
5. "Mendacity" (Chips Bayen, Max Roach) - 8:54
6. "Man From South Africa" - 5:12

Tracks 1 and 5 recorded on August 1, 1961; #2 and 3 on August 3; #4 on August 8 and #6 on August 9, 1961.

## Personnel

[edit]

* Booker Little \- trumpet
* Julian Priester \- trombone
* Eric Dolphy \- alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet
* Clifford Jordan \- tenor saxophone
* Mal Waldron \- piano
* Art Davis \- double bass
* Max Roach \- drums, percussion
* Carlos "Patato" Valdés \- congas (1, 3, 6)
* Eugenio "Totico" Arango (credited as Carlos Eugenio) - cowbell (1, 3, 6)
* Abbey Lincoln \- vocal (1, 5)

## Production

[edit]

* Margo Guryan \- liner notes

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Down Beat: January 4, 1962 vol. 29, no. 1
2. ^ "Percussion Bitter Sweet - Max Roach | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
3. ^ Hull, Tom (June 2, 2020). "Music Week". Tom Hull – On the Web. Retrieved June 20, 2020.

* v
* t
* e

Max Roach

Albums|

* The Max Roach Quartet featuring Hank Mobley (1953)
* Max Roach + 4 (1956)
* Jazz in 3/4 Time (1956–57)
* The Max Roach 4 Plays Charlie Parker (1957–58)
* Award-Winning Drummer (1958)
* Booker Little 4 and Max Roach (1958)
* MAX (1958)
* Max Roach + 4 on the Chicago Scene (1958)
* Max Roach + 4 at Newport (1958)
* Max Roach with the Boston Percussion Ensemble (1958)
* Deeds, Not Words (1958)
* Moon Faced and Starry Eyed (with Abbey Lincoln, 1959)
* Quiet as It's Kept (1959)
* Rich Versus Roach (and Buddy Rich, 1959)
* The Many Sides of Max (1959)
* Long as You're Living (1960)
* Parisian Sketches (1960)
* We Insist! (1960)
* Percussion Bitter Sweet (1961)
* It's Time (1962)
* Money Jungle (and Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, 1962)
* Speak, Brother, Speak! (1962)
* The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan (and Hasaan Ibn Ali, 1964)
* Drums Unlimited (1965)
* Members, Don't Git Weary (1968)
* Lift Every Voice and Sing (1971)
* Re: Percussion (M'Boom, Strata-East, 1973)
* Birth and Rebirth (and Anthony Braxton, 1978)
* Historic Concerts (and Cecil Taylor, 1979)
* M'Boom (1979)
* One in Two – Two in One (and Anthony Braxton, 1979)
* Pictures in a Frame (1979)
* The Long March (and Archie Shepp, 1979)
* In the Light (1982)
* Live at Vielharmonie (1983)
* Collage (M'Boom, 1984)
* It's Christmas Again (1984)
* Scott Free (1984)
* Survivors (1984)
* Easy Winners (1985)
* Bright Moments (1986)
* Max + Dizzy: Paris 1989 (and Dizzy Gillespie, 1989)
* To the Max! (1990–91)

With Clifford Brown|

* Best Coast Jazz (1954)
* Brown and Roach Incorporated (1954)
* Clifford Brown All Stars (1954)
* Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954–55)
* Daahoud (1954)
* Jam Session (and Clark Terry, Maynard Ferguson, 1954)
* Clifford Brown with Strings (1955)
* Study in Brown (1955)
* Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street (1956)

Compilations|

* Alone Together: The Best of the Mercury Years (1954–60)

* v
* t
* e

Clifford Jordan

Year(s) indicated are for the recording(s), not first release.

leader or
co-leader|

* Blowing in from Chicago (1957)
* Cliff Jordan (1957)
* Jenkins, Jordan and Timmons (1957)
* Cliff Craft (1957)
* Spellbound (1960)
* A Story Tale (1961)
* Starting Time (1961)
* Bearcat (1962)
* These are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly (1965)
* Soul Fountain (1966)
* In the World (1969)
* Glass Bead Games (1973)
* Half Note (1974)
* Drink Plenty Water (1974)
* Night of the Mark VII (aka, The Highest Mountain, Muse, 1975)
* On Stage Vol. 1 (1975)
* On Stage Vol. 2 (1975)
* On Stage Vol. 3 (1975)
* Firm Roots (1975)
* The Highest Mountain (SteepleChase, 1975)
* Remembering Me-Me (1976)
* Inward Fire (1977)
* The Adventurer (1978)
* Hello, Hank Jones (1978)
* Hyde Park After Dark (1981)
* Repetition (1984)
* Dr. Chicago (1984)
* Two Tenor Winner (1984)
* The Rotterdam Session (1985)
* Royal Ballads (1986)
* Live at Ethell's (1987)
* Masters from Different Worlds (1989)
* Four Play (1990)
* The Mellow Side of Clifford Jordan (1989–91)
* Play What You Feel (1990)
* Down Through the Years (1991)

With
Art
Farmer|

* Mirage (1982)
* You Make Me Smile (1984)
* Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (1987)
* Blame It on My Youth (1988)
* Ph.D. (1989)

With
Charles
Mingus|

* Cornell 1964 (March 1964)
* Town Hall Concert (April 1964)
* Astral Weeks (April 1964)
* Mingus in Europe Volume I (April 1964)
* Mingus in Europe Volume II (April 1964)
* Right Now: Live at the Jazz Workshop (June 1964)

With
Lee
Morgan|

* Here's Lee Morgan (1960)
* Expoobident (1960)
* Take Twelve (1962)

With
Max
Roach|

* Percussion Bitter Sweet (1961)
* It's Time (1962)
* Speak, Brother, Speak! (1962)

With
Cedar
Walton|

* Spectrum (1968)
* The Electric Boogaloo Song (1969)
* A Night at Boomers, Vol. 1 (1973)
* A Night at Boomers, Vol. 2 (1973)
* The Pentagon (1976)

With
others|

* Paul Chambers Quintet (1957)
* Sonny Clark Quintets/My Conception (1957)
* Epistrophy & Now's the Time (Richard Davis, 1972)
* Dealin' (Richard Davis, 1973)
* Iron Man (Eric Dolphy, 1963)
* Conversations (Eric Dolphy, 1963)
* To Bird with Love (Dizzy Gillespie, 1992)
* Roots (Slide Hampton, 1985)
* Luminous (John Hicks and Elise Wood, 1985)
* Shades (Andrew Hill, 1986)
* J.J. Inc. (J.J. Johnson, 1961)
* Con Alma! (Charles McPherson, 1965)
* Any Old Time (Carmen McRae, 1986)
* Carmen Sings Monk (Carmen McRae, 1988)
* Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris, Vol. 1 (Mingus Dynasty, 1988)
* Live at the Theatre Boulogne-Billancourt/Paris, Vol. 2 (Mingus Dynasty, 1988)
* Pony's Express (Pony Poindexter, 1962)
* Manhattan Project (Dizzy Reece, 1976)
* The Jazz We Heard Last Summer (Sahib Shihab, 1957)
* Further Explorations (Horace Silver, 1958)
* Music Inc. (Charles Tolliver, 1970)
* What It Is (Mal Waldron, 1981)
* Money in the Pocket (Joe Zawinul, 1967)

* v
* t
* e

Booker Little

Years indicated are for the recording(s), not first release

As leader
or co-leader|

* Booker Little 4 and Max Roach (aka, The Defiant Ones, 1958)
* Booker Little (Time, 1960)
* Far Cry (with Eric Dolphy, 1960)
* At the Five Spot (with Eric Dolphy, 1961)
* Booker Little and Friend (aka, Victory and Sorrow, 1961)
* Out Front (1961)

With
Max Roach|

* Award-Winning Drummer (aka, Max Roach, 1958)
* Deeds, Not Words (1958)
* Max Roach + 4 on the Chicago Scene (1958)
* Max Roach + 4 at Newport (1958)
* The Many Sides of Max (1959)
* We Insist! (1960)
* Percussion Bitter Sweet (1961)

With
others|

* Africa/Brass (John Coltrane, 1961)
* Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty (1959)
* Straight Ahead (Abbey Lincoln, 1961)
* Fantastic Frank Strozier (1959–60)

Compilations|

* Alone Together: The Best of the Mercury Years (Max Roach, 1958–59)

* v
* t
* e

Mal Waldron

Year(s) indicated are for the recording(s), not first release.

leader

co-leader|

* Mal-1 (1956)
* Mal/2 (1957)
* The Dealers (1957)
* Mal/3: Sounds (1958)
* Just Wailin' (1958)
* Mal/4: Trio (1958)
* Left Alone (1959)
* Impressions (1959)
* The Quest (1961)
* Sweet Love, Bitter (1967)
* Ursula (1969)
* Free at Last (1969)
* Tokyo Bound (1970)
* Tokyo Reverie (1970)
* Blood and Guts (1970)
* Spanish Bitch (1970
* The Opening (1970)
* Mal: Live 4 to 1 (1970)
* The Call (1971)
* First Encounter (1971)
* Number Nineteen (1971)
* Black Glory (1971)
* Mal Waldron Plays the Blues (1971)
* Signals (1971)
* Journey Without End (1971)
* Blues for Lady Day (1972)
* A Little Bit of Miles (1972)
* Jazz a Confronto 19 (1972)
* A Touch of the Blues (1972)
* Mal Waldron on Steinway (1972)
* Mal Waldron with the Steve Lacy Quintet (1972)
* The Whirling Dervish (1972)
* Meditations (1972)
* Up Popped the Devil (1973)
* Hard Talk (1974)
* Moods (1977)
* Mingus Lives (1979)
* Mal 81 (1981)
* Live at Dreher, Paris 1981 (1981)
* What It Is (1981)
* One Entrance, Many Exits (1982)
* In Retrospect (1982)
* Breaking New Ground (1983)
* Mal Waldron Plays Eric Satie (1983)
* You and the Night and the Music (1983)
* Encounters (1984)
* Dedication (1985)
* Sempre Amore (1986)
* Left Alone '86 (1986)
* Update (1986)
* The Git Go – Live at the Village Vanguard (1986)
* The Seagulls of Kristiansund (1986)
* Our Colline's a Treasure (1987)
* Remembering the Moment (1987)
* The Super Quartet Live at Sweet Basil (1987)
* Mal, Dance and Soul (1987)
* Evidence (1988)
* Art of the Duo (1988)
* No More Tears (For Lady Day) (1988)
* Crowd Scene (1989)
* Where Are You? (1989)
* Quadrologue at Utopia (1989)
* More Git' Go at Utopia (1989)
* Spring in Prague (1990)
* Hot House (1990)
* I Remember Thelonious (1992)
* My Dear Family (1993)
* Waldron-Haslam (1994)
* After Hours (1994)
* Communiqué (1994)
* Mal, Verve, Black & Blue (1994)
* Two New (1995)
* Silence (with David Murray, 2001)

With
Gene
Ammons|

* Jammin' with Gene (1956)
* Funky (1957)
* Jammin' in Hi Fi with Gene Ammons (1957)
* The Big Sound (1958)
* Groove Blues (1958)
* Velvet Soul (1962)
* Angel Eyes (1962)
* Sock! (1962)

With
Jackie
McLean|

* 4, 5 and 6 (1956)
* Jackie's Pal (1956)
* Jackie McLean & Co. (1957)
* Makin' the Changes (1957)
* A Long Drink of the Blues (1957)
* Strange Blues (1957)
* McLean's Scene (1957)

With
Charles Mingus|

* Jazz Composers Workshop (1954)
* Mingus at the Bohemia (1955)
* The Charles Mingus Quintet & Max Roach (1955)
* Pithecanthropus Erectus (1956)
* Blues & Roots (1959)

With the
Prestige
All Stars|

* Baritones and French Horns (aka, Dakar, 1957)
* Four Altos (1957)
* Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors (1957)
* The Prestige Jazz Quartet (1957)
* Wheelin' & Dealin' (1957)

With
others|

* All Night Long (Kenny Burrell, 1956)
* Earthy (Kenny Burrell, 1957)
* 2 Guitars (Kenny Burrell & Jimmy Raney, 1957)
* Where? (Ron Carter, 1961)
* The Teddy Charles Tentet (1956)
* Coolin' (Teddy Charles, 1957)
* Cattin' with Coltrane and Quinichette (John Coltrane & Paul Quinichette, 1957)
* Coltrane (1957)
* Dakar (John Coltrane, Pepper Adams & Cecil Payne, 1957)
* At the Five Spot (Eric Dolphy, both volumes, 1961)
* Tuba Sounds (Ray Draper, 1957)
* Hornful of Soul (aka, Catwalk, Bennie Green, 1960)
* Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday at Newport (1957)
* Lady in Satin (Billie Holiday, 1958)
* So Warm (Etta Jones, 1961)
* After Hours (Thad Jones, 1957)
* Olio (Thad Jones, 1957)
* Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk (1958)
* Straight Ahead (Abbey Lincoln, 1961)
* Teo (Teo Macero, 1957)
* On the Sunny Side (Paul Quinichette, 1957)
* Percussion Bitter Sweet (Max Roach, 1961)
* It's Time (Max Roach, 1962)
* Speak, Brother, Speak! (Max Roach, 1962)
* For Lady (Webster Young, 1957)

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