The Coronet Theatre Jazz Festival 2024: Max Roach Centenary With Rod Youngs
(This is a past event and is no longer running)
A moving tribute to legendary drummer Max Roach from Rod Youngs
MOBO nominated musician Rod Youngs, along with four of the UK’s best jazz musicians, pay tribute to legendary American drummer and composer Max Roach in an exclusive set as part of The Coronet Theatre’s 2024 Jazz Festival. Youngs will also celebrate the life and work of pianist and composer Bud Powell and acclaimed drummer Roy Haynes.
Rod Youngs has established himself as one of the most expressive and versatile drummers on the contemporary music scene. For over two decades Youngs’ approach to music has been all embracing covering a wide spectrum of genres but remaining firmly rooted in the the jazz tradition.
Max Roach was one of the two leading drummers of the bebop era (along with Kenny Clarke) and was one of the leading musicians, composers, and bandleaders in jazz since the 1940s. His often biting political commentary and strong intellect, not to mention his rhythmic innovations, kept him at the vanguard of jazz for more than 50 years.
Earl “Bud” Powell is generally considered to be the most important pianist in the history of jazz. Noted jazz writer and critic Gary Giddins, in Visions of Jazz, goes even further, saying that “Powell will be recognized as one of the most formidable creators of piano music in any time or idiom.”
Roy Haynes was a highly influential jazz drummer whose flexibility and constant evolution made him a go-to choice for everyone from Lester Young to John Coltrane to Chick Corea. his energetic style, which also encompassed fusion and avant-garde jazz, earned him the respect of many contemporaries across a career that began in the mid-1940s. He died on 12 Nov 2024 at the age of 99.
Rod Youngs
Drums
Byron Wallen
Trumpet
Renato Paris
Piano
Tony Kofi
Alto Saxophone
Larry Bartley
Bass
Christ-Stéphane Boizi
After Max Roach Centenary, join us in our atmospheric stalls bar for a short solo set from trombonist, composer and bandleader Christ-Stéphane Boizi!
Christ-Stéphane Boizi is currently in his third year at Trinity Laban. His main influences in developing his sound and craft as a trombonist range from the great bop trombonists in Jay Jay Johnson and Slide Hampton to more contemporary figures such as Corey Wilcox and Robert Edwards. As a composer and bandleader, Christ-Stéphane draws on the influences of hard bop artists including Horace Silver and Jackie McLean and is particularly inspired by Art Blakey and his use of instrumentation with the Jazz Messengers. Christ-Stephane blends this hard-bop psyche with elements of Gospel and Contemporary jazz in his own stunning compositions that are becoming the hallmark of this exciting emerging artist.
The Drum Also Waltzes
Rod Youngs’ set will be preceded at 6:15pm by a screening of The Drum Also Waltzes, a documentary exploring the life and music of Max Roach, his creative peaks, personal struggles and re-inventions from the Jim Crow to Civil Rights eras, from heady days of post-war jazz to hip hop and beyond. Find out more here.
The Coronet Theatre Jazz Festival 2024
BBC Jazz Innovation award-winner Byron Wallen returns to The Coronet Theatre to curate a sensational festival of jazz.
The Coronet Theatre is the perfect festival venue; grab a drink in “the most atmospheric bar in the known universe” (The Telegraph), celebrate with friends or family, and enjoy incredible jazz performed live in one of the most beautiful venues in London.
After each show, there will be performances by some of the best young jazz musicians in the UK in our intimate candlelit bar.
Also in the festival: Hurricane Bells
Book tickets to both Jazz Festival 2024 events and get 25% off!