About

This fall, the College of Humanities and Fine Arts will join the the Department of Music and Dance, the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, and the Fine Arts Center to take part in the Max Roach Centennial Celebration from Oct. 20-26 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Max Roach’s birth.

Together, we celebrate Max Roach the drummer, composer, and bandleader whose work defined a new era in jazz. Max Roach the artist-activist whose unflinching advocacy of civil rights was felt well beyond his music. Max Roach the educator who spent two decades as a member of the music and Afro-Am faculties at UMass, during which time he was instrumental in the campus’s transformation into an international center for jazz education.

The Max Roach Centennial Celebration was made possible through funding from the Chancellor’s Office. The celebration was created in collaboration with the Max Roach Estate, as well as the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center, W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, Department of Music and Dance, and the UMass Minuteman Marching Band.