Max Roach passed away today at the age of 83, and while I could try to explain the influence he had on jazz and American music as well as on me personally, I know that I could never do him justice. Of course, Mr. Roach played with Charlie Parker, but he was a legend in his own right. I mean, think about it. It was 44 years ago that Max Roach strode on stage along with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus and Bud Powell and made the kind of music that will outlast us all.

He was an innovator, a believer in truth and freedom from injustice, and one of the last of the great ones. Parker, Mingus, Powell and Gillespie have been gone many years now. Max Roach was the only one left. Every time another jazz legend passes, I feel like the spotlight on jazz dims just a little bit more.