CLARKE, Kenny (1914-1985) and Dante AGOSTINI (1921-1980). Méthode de batterie. Paris: Dante Agostini, 1967.

First edition, signed and inscribed by Kenny Clarke to Max Roach: ‘To Max! All praises to my best friend and co-worker! May all your days be like the ones we spend together. Love, Kenny Clarke’, together with Kenny Clarke’s Solfège Rythmique pour Méthode de Batterie Vol. I., and Kenny’s Practice, 1969 and 1988, the latter posthumously published and inscribed to Max Roach by Clarke’s son Laurent on behalf of himself and his mother ‘Just to Uncle Max with love, Daisy and Laurent.’

One of the founding fathers of bebop and a major innovator in jazz drumming, Clarke pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time and the use of the bass drum for irregular accents or “bombs”, which earned him the nickname “klook”. After moving to Paris in 1956, Clarke set up a drum school with Italian drummer Dante Agostini at the headquarters of instrument manufacturer Selmer. The Méthode de batterie was produced as a textbook for use at the school, and the Solfège… for supplementary exercises, with the posthumously published Kenny’s Practice further extending the course. Max Roach is quoted on the lower cover of Méthode: ‘For many years I have been searching for a serious drum method. At last I have found that method and I thank with all my heart Mr. Kenny Clarke and Mr. Dante Agostini.’

The first named quarto (319 x 250 mm), original red spiral binding with blue card covers; the latter two publications wire-stitched in original wraps; all three housed together in a modern custom cloth solander box. Provenance: Max Roach (1924-2007; authorial presentation inscription in black felt pen on the first page of Méthode).