SKF NOTE: I think collecting well-written, first-person, live performance reviews of the great jazz drummers is useful. This was review was in Radio Free Jazz: The Magazine of the Pros, which, its name notwithstanding, was a newspaper out of Washington, D.C.

“[Max] Roach‘s first solo seemed reflective, while the second displayed his knowledge of African percussion sound; his snare was turned off and the flat tone blended perfectly with his tenor tomtoms [sic]. His articulation here was not concerned with speed and showcase effects, but with the vocal properties he knew he could coax from the kit. Roach is simply a master at accompaniment and perhaps the most structured drummer ever.”

Source: An Evening With Betty, Dexter And Max: Avery Fisher Hall, June 25, by Ron Wellburn, Radio Free Jazz: The Magazine of the Jazz Pros, August 1978