Max Roach. Julian Joseph introduces recordings by the great drummer and composer who was a major driving force in the evolution of postwar American music. His quintet with trumpeter Clifford Brown was one of the most influential small groups of the early 1950s. Roach continued to explore new ground with tenorist Sonny Rollins and laterwith vocalist Abbey Lincoln , with whom he recorded the politically charged Freedom Nowsuite in 1960.