“We’d have jam sessions at Minton’s where the tenor players were long-winded,” Roach explained. “Don Byas would play 20 minutes on ‘Cherokee,’ and then Johnny Griffin would play another 20 minutes, and then somebody else would play. And then they’d turn to you and say, ‘You got it.’ They’d wear you out and then give you a solo, right? So I had to learn to not give it all up right away so I would have something left an hour later.
Those sessions were unbelievable, but it makes you strong and teaches you how all four limbs have the responsibility to create the illusion that you’re playing super fast.”
– Max Roach
Quoted from Roach’s Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame entry.