We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite
by Max Roach

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite by Max Roach
Year: 1960
Release date: 1960-12-15
Overall rank: 2,315th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 122 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 1960 (7th)
Award Top albums of of the 1960s (208th)
Award Best albums of all time (2,315th)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY
Product Details
Availability

eBay
eBay
Max Roach We Insist Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite Records & LPs New
Condition: New


eBay
eBay
We Insist! Max Roach's - Freedom Now Suite [CD] ROACH,MAX [Ex-Lib. DISC-ONLY]
Condition: Acceptable


eBay
eBay
Max Roach - We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite (180g) [New Vinyl LP]
Condition: New


  My favourite store:  

Max Roach bestography

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite is ranked as the best album by Max Roach.

Max Roach album bestography « Higher ranked
-
This album (2,315th)
We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite
Lower ranked (7,700th) »
It's Time

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Listen to We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,315th | 1960s rank: 208th | 1960 rank: 7th

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite collection

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 122 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 122 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
60/100
 !
30 hours ago Dingerbell  Ratings distribution  4,09362/100
 
100/100
 !
06/07/2026 18:35 CellarDoor  Ratings distribution  8,62879/100
 
85/100
 !
03/01/2026 16:55 sweetness  Ratings distribution  1,12779/100
 
75/100
 !
02/27/2026 10:51 Leginlists  Ratings distribution  3,62283/100
 
0/100
 !
12/15/2025 06:56 shanelovesyou111  Ratings distribution  71571/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 4% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.3/100, a mean average of 75.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 19.0.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite favourites

Showing all 16 members who have added this album as a favourite

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite comments

Showing all 9 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
75/100
From 02/06/2025 16:56 | #307445 | TOP COMMENT
'Tears for Johannesburg' is my favorite track on 'We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite'; it's where it all comes together for a big finale.
'All Africa' is another standout track on the album.
Abbey Lincoln, and Max Roach nicely accompany each other on vocals, and Roach's drum, and Olatunju's congas sound great together.
'Driva' man' is good opener, and 'Freedom Day' is pretty cool. I'm not crazy about 'Triptych: Prayer/Protest/Peace'.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 07/20/2022 09:45 | #287630 | TOP COMMENT
An interesting and unique listen that shocked me quite a lot when I first heard it. They start with the best song on the record with Driva'man which has fantastic performances both vocally and instrumentally. The rest of the record then follows suit but it isn't as strong as the opening track. I do love the percussion solo on All Africa very much. The vocals are also extremely haunting and add an edge to the music that makes it stand out against other jazz records. However, the music can be a little slow and repetitive at times. The performances are a little weak in a few areas and it is quite easy to switch off whilst listening to this album. Overall, a unique and interesting listen but not one that I am dragged back to very often.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 04/07/2022 23:21 | #283913
Magnificent,why i didnt heard this masterpiece before
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 04/06/2022 16:43 | #283870
Ahead of its time, perhaps. Difficult and thought provoking.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 01/15/2021 01:34 | #264440 | TOP COMMENT
This album is so wonderful, oh my god. I had no idea who Max Roach was (even liking jazz since my childhood), and I finished this album totally impressed. It is so fast-paced yet so meticulous, so angry yet so sensible. My favorite track is "Freedom Day", with the amazing Abbey Lincoln. Recommend!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 10/18/2020 23:48 | #259409 | TOP COMMENT
82/100

Best track: Triptych
Worst track: Tears for Johannesburg (still 7/10!)

A really really beautiful but haunting album. Those vocals!!! I feel the pain through the music and it hits a spot that few albums can hit.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 03/16/2016 22:51 | #162049 | TOP COMMENT
A very interesting record. Challenging and angry not for all tastes.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 07/15/2015 00:28 | #145774
This album, man..
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (2 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
30/100
From 05/05/2011 02:33 | #21155
This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -4 votes (0 helpful | 4 unhelpful)
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite

Anonymous
Let us know what you think of this album by adding a comment or assigning a rating below.
The top comments are featured on our aggregated charts!
Log in or create a FREE account to assign a rating or leave a comment for this album.