We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite

Released just under four years before the signing of the Civil Rights Act in the US, this album in no way hides its message--it's right there in the title. As an overview of Black history in America, from the dark nights of slavery right up to the dark nights of the civil rights struggle, music was always central to the suffering of a people who knew more than their fair share of degradation, and jazz became, in my opinion, tied for the greatest expressive voice in the fight (the other is folk). Take a moment, dear listener, to look at what is happening in the photograph on the album cover. Segregation... and that smug look on the bartender's face. Kinda makes you wanna scream. Well, spin this and hear the cries of Abbey Lincoln--sometimes melodious, sometimes screeching--for justice!