Hollywood Swinging �'�Morgancelebrated�r birthday as well � release of�r yet to be titled �ming album (dueFeb.14),witha mallga�ring offricnds a� Rox-bury's on � SUIr t Strip. Roxbury' is pan-owned by Debbi Allen and �r husbaOO nn Nixon, who were on hand along with actor Wesley Snipes, actress V�Bell Qlllowayand a bost of othets. Meanwhile, Allen 18 once again beennamcd cOOrcographetof musical seqierees for the �­ �64thAnnwl�my Awards. Strictly Business Tre film "Strictly Bus�" is a romantic comedy, quiie different from many of � Black filrrs that bave come out this year, � by Kevin Hooks and starring Ja;eph C � Halle Barry, Am Marie Johmon, and Tommy Davidson, best koown esa series regular on "In Living Color", is getting raves for his portrayal of a mailroom clerk with his eye on the executive suite. He says it was his own similarities with the clmacSer as well as the movie's �me that made him want to be in it Davidson, of course would li1ce to oorrore filrrs, but in the mean­ time, will contin� ooing his stand up act Jackson launches new company Jackie Jackson � la� an iOOeperdenl featwe film and 1V production company,-Legacy , E�rtainmenl First on the docket is '� Legacy", is a film about a � of five multicultwal boys woo sing 8lX1 dance (soum familiar). Tbe boys were haOOpicktd by Jackson atkr a national talent search. Tbe goo! of � CO!llJl8I1Y is to create rmsic-besed family enter­ tainment Black Panthers hit the big screens Grammy winning producer- ngwnter Nile Rodps is resur­ facing as a film prodoccr with "�TerriIory", t.c.d on � Blade Pantms, (mJ scm1uled to ��xtyear). Rodgers, aom-� memberof the BJaclC Panther Party, will also score � film...Also being sOOt in 1992 is ''ShacJdd' about Black PantmlawyerFay�. �l' Strep will star. - complied by K Banes - contnbutors: Usa O>llim (BehiOO the Sce�) & RadioScq>e­ ,�hmn z • GETO BOYS MEMBERS- Willie D, Scarface and Bushwick Bill. By NATHANIEL SCOTT St." Writ., D1I'HRB.D--I grew up with Max Road18lX1 other jazz misiciars. I grew up scatting. . .dropping vocal dnun licks like Rooch is roed for. Ani like many from that bebop era, I carry a mental picture of what jazz sbould sound like. And row, yeatS laser, wren tre oppornmity to inter­ view Max Roach rna rialized, to say til! least, I was nervous. Max Roach walked into the room with an air of gentle reserve. He carried his 67 years with til! grace of Ali in his prime. 1m eyes dareed emhesiesrn behiOO small-rinuned glasses am brought to mind any nwnber of � college professors l'� had. But his � tIDe lIlOOs that have ka-boomed: Ka-boorred � Bird, Prez, Dizzy, Miles, QifIoro, Sonny' (Rollins and StitB), Boo, Monk, Colnare and many more tneSIrerized me am all I could think of wm: th:y were created to swing, Max Roach, at 67, is swinging. He is "enjoying" the music that sunounds him am he connmes to be a 'force in creative m\Bic;jB7Z. HE MAINf AIN that j82Z is til! l11\6ic of th: a>th Century am be believes it will cootime to be a force in the 21st cmtury .. He has played � cutting edge of jazz for five plus decades, acquiring such awards as honorary doctorates, the French "GnuJ:1 Prix do Disque" twice and an "Obie" Award. But mide from music, or to be specific, iqpincd in � m�icofMaxRooch, there . a deept2' side-a ide 1mt W$ born in Nor1h caroum and theI} battered and bruised into rnanl¥xx1 in New York aty. In 1924, Max Roach�kickingand � ink> the world destined, som: might y, so beadrununer. Butdrurnmets are drurnmets. Ani then th:ir are th: Shadow Wilsons, th: Art Blakclys, the Qick Webm, tre PhiUy Joe Jonescs and Max Roach. 1lnsc were mj are the dnunmers that Rooch said "play with all four lim ; both feetml both haOOs." . , When Max Roech talks about jazz re 18lks about "our mlSc"-rnusic that has evolYcd out of the African American ex- perierre. • Officials with the independent reootd 1 sought a oompit1ble dis­ tribution oornpany after Digital Audio Di c Corporation declined to manufacture and Geffen Records refuied to re � Gek> boysm ic in 1900bB:d on lyrical consent Now, all Rap-A-Lot Reoords prod\C1S are distnbuted through Priority Records, "I knew it would go big mainly because in the beginning �re W$ just politics oolding 15 back," said Rap-A­ Lot Records founder, James Smith. Tbe Geto Boys' persistent struggle to fight against controversy 8lX1 over­ come, rrusic iOOustty rejection bas earred tbem reoognition as serious competitors in � world of rap. From Hooson's Ftfth Ward ghet­ m, Tbe Boys' nationally reccgnzed music offers a sOOck:ing and realistic glimpse at life on tre stree . "For tbose who are in the gOOtto, it feels like a losing situation to tty and pull yourself out," said Smith woo grew � in HoLSton's Fifth Ward. "My best description of lire in the ghet- 10 would be 'Hell. living in Hell.''' 111: gro� is currently working on -JA U Y "Being in a sta of Jm800ia is 00 different from always lookingoveryou ooulder because of all ire bad � you've done in the past; roping it's rot time to pay the piper," said WLllie D. Parxer, Malcolm X. Martin Lu1her King. Michael Jordon 8lX1 IXx:1or J exernpnry (and exemplified ) Black genius, thesekid$ (theoncs woo� rap) exemplify genilS." Max Roach 1m beglll to produce music, he said "I am going to reoonS much � as I can with y� peq>1e'." And in the "deroocratic" m15ic that he plays you will hear the kB boom, hap. Bap,blp. Pow! Ka boonllboom. Boom. Rat tat. Tat/tat/latltat Splal Rat tat TaVlaVtat/lat Ka boomA>oomboom. e 1 �1 and this five decades phs playing legeoo i till winging. He is till rolling tbose S�, riding cymbals ard kicking that bass. Ka- rn. Ka-boom. AND WHEN HE talks about his for­ mative ycan;.-the years that shaped and made him one of the world's leading and authoritative j82Z musicians, be talks about being raised in the atmospbere oftre ''Hard Shell"-Primitive Baptist Church, play­ ing rmsic at "house rent parties" and that "our music (born out of the African American experience) is fluid" He talks about how .. duringtre '2Q;and , the church was his day care center. About how his family. because they were unable to pay the rent, freqiently moved during tbose depression years, and about ' how tbe era that produced tbe Harlem Renaissance brought him into contact with great teachers in literature and music. Max Roach said he began playing ire drums wren he was unable to produce sounds on tbe trumpet an older brother played and be has Searched for the expres- HEADD D "Different people make sionofwhat's inside him ever ince. a definite imp ion." But MaxRoach' recantation is more And then there is the personal ide- caise am effect. the family ide of Max Roach, He talks about the envimnrnent of mar- Max Roach said he has been manied ching bands, which he said, "louis three times and from two of Un;e mar- Armstrong tarted in that kirxl of environ- nag be has five children. ''Two men and ment," ard the supp ion that produced three women" is his terrnimlogy. Bl�k piri�, jazz ard blues which be : The mal • Daryl and Raoul, live in said gave b� to country ard tern, Calltorniaard tIl!yarepursuingactingand ACCOrding to Max R h, Fletcher musical careers, respectively. Henderso�, gave b.irth to.,tre b,ig band' A'daugh r Maxine has. a musical soundand Nobel Sizzle am Hubie Blake, group ard tre twins Ayo and Dam, are in Shum� Alo� set tbc tempo for Broad- �ttending Spelman College. way musicals. " There is more, but wren you write He ad� Heddy Ledbetter ard ire about Max Roach, words are precious, blues ll8Trallves are til! source of country �y are so preci us that for days I was aoo western (music)." baffled about how to approach Max Roach's la t album, ''To � Max." An album on which he oompa;cd all of � tunes except two. ' But then I lard (l � I really lard) that gc6pel cooir, � riffs, t� soort coopping sta men� nmning freely along tre stn.cture of sonr.one else's t:menl aIX1 I mewhat \.U1detstood what Max Rooch was ying in ''To � Max." I heard ire anger, til! commentary, th: whispered lo\e aIX1 tre gutted sounds of damn your widccd ways (particularly on "0 t �r'') arx1 I W$ proud thatMax R charxl I went OOck to Ire C � togetrer. I ked Max ut tre album aIXl about "0 t Dancett and � said it about re 'at Wowx1ed KIv:.e. If you don't remem r WouOOed Yet, trere is another side to Max Roach. Aside that is mysterious, wonder­ ful aIX1 refreshing. There is a ide that brings to mind James Baldwin, Richard Wright and Langston Hughes. A side that is socially conscious. To set the stage for that side of Max Roach, let's reminisce about some of ire things resaid about hirnselfand his music. ''This music Ona) is deroocratic," be said. "Itdepcnds n who' with you(rel1o Bird, Dizzy, M nk, Mil Boo, both Son­ nys am Trane to mention a few) deter­ mines the way it urds." MAX ROACH believ that we, Black Americans, ex I in rertain areas and that "until we are, n a iaVpolitical level, enjoying a parity with others-in America, we will oontinue to 00 so." ''1 grew upon Bli rx:1 Lemon," Max said. "I remember playing on tre bread lirrs in the' " Max began playing at the a of six or seven, re said. But he llidn't tart learning music until re was 12 or 13. ' "We learn m ic from ourerus, oot our eyes,"he 'd"M i' utemoti affecting people." However, Max R compls thatcormnue to hiIX1erourprogress that Ik: in the aeation of rap. RAP, to Max Roach. is oot m\5ic; it' wolds. Poetl)'. Storytelling of, about am by the � woo "aeated their own sourm (beca ) �re were 00 imtru­ me in the 000Is, (beca\5e) nobody gave them imtructions or ta� them" Max Roach said, "J t like Cll8rtie