In 2007, the music world lost one of the longest-lived and noteworthy percussion talents of the 20^th Century. It also lost one of the drummers who, both through his life and his music, had the most to say about the world.

Maxwell Lemuel Roach was born Jan. 10, 1924, (some sources, including Roach himself, have suggested the true date was Jan. 8) in Newland Township, Pasquotank County, N.C. The region, near the Atlantic coast and bordering the Great Dismal Swamp, is one of the least wealthy areas of the state. By the time he was 4, Roach’s family had moved to Brooklyn, N.Y.

Max Roach grew up in a musical home. His mother was a gospel singer, and he began playing bugle in parade bands at a young age. By his 10^th year, he was a drummer for gospel bands, and at just 18 years old, just graduated from Boys’ High School in Brooklyn, he was tabbed to fill in for Sonny Greer backing the Duke Ellington Orchestra in a performance at New York’s Paramount Theatre.

At around the same time, 1942, Roach began playing in the jazz clubs on 52^nd Street and at Georgie Jay’s Taproom at 78^th and Broadway. He was among the originators of bebop percussion, and brought the style with him to stints and gigs with jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Bud Powell, Miles Davis and fellow eastern North Carolinian Thelonius Monk.

In 1952, Roach and bass player Charles Mingus founded Debut Records. The label released an album – “Jazz at Massey Hall” – that is considered by some to be “the greatest concert ever.” The performance featured Parker, Gillespie, Powell, Mingus and Roach. Another key release by Debut Records was the groundbreaking recording of free improvisation with bass and drum, an album called “Percussion Discussion.”

In 1954, Roach formed a quintet with trumpeter Clifford Brown, saxophonist Harold Land, pianist Richie Powell (Bud’s brother) and bassist George Morrow. Land left the following year, to be replaced by Sonny Rollins, and the though the group was a noteworthy contributor to the “hard bop” style also made famous by artists such as Art Blakey and Horace Silver, the group was to be short-lived. Brown and Powell died in a car accident in June 1956. Roach tried to rebound with an album called “Max Roach Plus Four,” but he lost another bandmate in 1961, when trumpeter Booker Little died of kidney failure at just 23 years of age.

While he continued to play freelance gigs, Roach studied musical composition at the Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1952.

During the next decade, Roach’s music also became a message. In 1960 he composed “We Insist! – Freedom Now,” a suite with lyrics by Oscar Brown Jr. The work was Roach’s contribution to the commemorations of the hundredth anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. His outspokenness through music on civil rights matters continued though it harmed him financially; he was even blacklisted by the U.S. recording industry during this decade.

Despite being on the “outs” with the industry, Roach made lasting contributions to music throughout the 1960s. His recording “Money Jungle” in 1962, with Mingus and Ellington, is regarded by some jazz aficionados as among the greatest trio albums ever made. In 1966, his album “Drums Unlimited” – which includes several tracks of nothing but percussion solos – proved that the drums could stand on their own.

Constructed upon his personal music-making philosophy – that his compositions were an effort at “organized sound” – Roach formed a percussion group called M’Boom. It featured Fred King, Joe Chambers, Warren Smith, Freddie Waits, Roy Brooks, Omar Clay, Ray Mantilla, Francisco Mora and Eli Fountain, all of whom at times composed for the group, beyond their contributions on numerous different percussion instruments.

Long involved in music education, Roach became a member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1972.

By the 1980s, Roach had stripped all the other music away and was presenting entire concerts as a soloist. A memorable series of three solo concerts were issued on a Japanese label, Bay State, but the record now is nearly impossible to obtain.

He released a series of duet recordings with jazz legends, avant-garde musicians and even one, “I Have a Dream,” with orations from Dr. Martin Luther King. He wrote music for the theater, including plays written by Sam Shepard. And he found new ways to present music played in groups, including “The Double Quartet” -- a foursome led by Roach along with a quartet led by his daughter, Maxine Roach -- and the “So What Brass Quintet,” a five-member group with four horns and Roach on drums, but no bass.

Roach played with orchestras and gospel choirs. He played a concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He even arched some eyebrows among his fans by playing a hip hop concert with rapper Fab Five Freddy and the New York Break Dancers.

More innovation came from Roach in the 1990s, as he performed with the Beijing Trio – pianist Jon Jang and erhu player Jeibing Chen – and laid down his last recording, “Friendship,” with trumpeter Clark Terry. He also appeared in 1994 on Rush drummer Neil Peart’s “Burning For Buddy” album.

Roach’s final performance was for the 50^th anniversary celebration of the original Massey Hall concert in Toronto, during 2002, for which he performed solo on the hi-hat.

Roach, who suffered from hydrocephalus (often known as “water on the brain”), died early in the morning on Aug. 16, 2007, in Manhattan. He was survived by five children: son Daryl and daughter Maxine from his first marriage, to Mildred Roach; son Raoul Jordu from a 1954 relationship with singer Barbara Jai (Johnson); and twin daughters Ayodele and Dara Rasheeda, born to Roach’s third wife, Janus Adams Roach.

More than 1,900 people attended his funeral at Riverside Church in Manhattan.