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Max Roach is a playful provocateur and doesn't see American music or musicians as static stereotypes, he is comfortable in a wide range of musical settings. In 1958 at the Monterey Festival he performed a piece for full orchestra and percusion written by Peter Philips entited, "Concerto for Max." That same year, he performed and recorded with the Boston Percussion Ensemble under the direction of Harold Farberman. In Milan, he composed, and performed with the Carme Chamber Orchestra at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatoy. Mr. Roach has collaborated with John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra, performing Noel DeCosta's, "Primal Rights." He was soloist in Fred Tillis' hour long tour de force composition, "Festival Journey," with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by George Hanson as part of the 1992 National Black Arts Festival. A champion of the Housing Authority Symphony Orchestra of New York City, Max Roach has performed twice with the group under conductors Kay George Roberts and Tania Leon. Fueled by the energy of Janet Wolf, The Housing Authority Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1971 to open musical doors for conservatory-trained people of color. Mr. Roach has also performed with the Kodo drummers of Japan; the Cuban group, Irakere; the music/dance troupe of renowned Nigerian percussionist, Barbarunde Olatrunji; and the great flameno artist, Enrique Morente. In the spring of 1993, he performed as soloist at the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra in a work composed by Henry Threadgill, "Mix for Orchestra," conducted by Dennis Russell Davies.
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