Track Listing

1. You Stepped Out of a Dream
2. Filide
3. It's You or No One
4. Jodie's Cha-Cha
5. Deeds, Not Words
6. Larry-Larue
7. Conversation
8. There Will Never Be Another You

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106983 in Music
• Brand: Max
• Released on: 1991-07-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Customer Reviews

Roach Does The Deed
With the tragic deaths of Clifford Brown and pianist Richie Powell in 1956, Max Roach's first great quintet literally lost two of its members. Kenny Dorham and Ray Bryant would replace Brown and Powell and Max's new group was called the Max Roach Plus Four, and it featured the tenor saxophone talents of none other than Sonny Rollins. By 1958 it proved too difficult to keep a band with this many individual stars together, and Roach founded a new quintet, featuring George Coleman on tenor sax and another young, immensely gifted trumpeter (who himself would die tragically in few short years) named Booker Little. This group made excellent recordings for Mercury (recently collected with other sessions as "The Complete Mercury Max Roach Plus Four Sessions on the Mosaic label), and this title "Deeds, Not Words" for Riverside. This album is a classic, solid hard bop affair led by Raoch's driving stick work, and surprisingly by Ray Draper's robust tuba! Not that Little, Coleman and bassist Art Davis (he is replaced on one track by Oscar Pettiford) aren't in great form too, because they are indeed. You can take my word that "Deeds, Not Words" is a great disc, or better yet you can do the deed yourself. Go out and buy it!

drums and melody
I first bought this record when it came out in 1959. I had heard of Max but had not heard him play. This record was a revelation to me in that drums are not just a time keeping instrument but interact with the front line in a musical manner.
The drum solo track shows that drums can be played melodically and that one can write compositions for drums.
This record made me a Max Roach fan.
And the rest of the band is just as great. Booker Little already was showing his greatness. George Coleman before he joined Miles working harder here and the great rhythm team of Art Davis on bass and Ray Draper on tuba. Everyone swings madly on this record. And that is largely due to the prodding and pushing---the rhythmic accompaniment---provided by Max Roach.

Overlooked Classic
One of the best hard bop albums from one of the best hard bop drummers...the title says it all...Max Roach has always let the music do the talking...this album shows it.