I've been revisiting Max Roach lately with some of my students, four of whom are working on this particular solo. None of them have written it down yet. Rather, we've been learning it by ear in the lesson, going phrase by phrase and playing it on the kit. Admittedly, it's been awhile since I've transcribed this way myself, but I think it's the superior approach, and one that we should all try to do more often; as opposed to jotting down a bar at a time as we listen to it at 50% speed on a laptop and then trying to learn it like a percussion ensemble piece.
With this approach the students got a better overall feel of the big picture of phrasing and language, and what makes it tick. Even if they're not playing every note exactly as Max did, the essence of the solo gets into their own vocabulary more quickly and naturally.
I also found that from listening to it so much with them and working through orchestrations and stickings, that when it came time to write it down I could put about 75% of it to paper without even listening to the track.
So, while I may be handing you the notes for this particular solo, I would still consider trying to transcribe by ear behind the kit on this, or another solo. An old friend of mine who taught me a lot about this music always said:
- Listen
- Sing
- Play
- Write
Do steps 1-3 multiple times each before going on to step 4.
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