Four-time GRAMMY-winning drummer, composer, producer and NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington joins forces with GRAMMY-nominated vocalist Christie Dashiell to release We Insist 2025!, a powerful reimagining of Max Roach’s groundbreaking 1960 protest album. The highly anticipated project is out now via Candid Records. The release of the album highlights the unveiling of the final single from the project, “Freedom Day (Part 2)”, which follows "Freedom Day (Part 1)", "Driva' Man," and "Tears For Johannesburg".
Listen to 'We Insist 2025!' HERE
Originally released in 1961, We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite was a formative protest album, created by Roach in collaboration with lyricist Oscar Brown Jr. and legendary vocalist Abbey Lincoln. The work commemorated the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and served as a rallying cry during the civil rights movement. Recognised by the Library of Congress and cited among the most essential jazz recordings in history, its message remains as vital today as it was when it was released. Carrington and Dashiell’s reimagined version honours this legacy while expanding its sonic palette, blending jazz with influences from gospel, neo-soul, funk, Afro-Latin, West African, and blues traditions.
We Insist 2025! arrives just ahead of Juneteenth National Independence Day, which observes and marks the abolition of slavery and celebrates African-American history, culture and progress in the United States. The track “Freedom Day” from the original We Insist!—reimagined as “Freedom Day (Part 1 and Part 2)” on Carrington and Dashiell’s version—reflects the moment enslaved people in the U.S. first learned of their freedom, marking what would become known as Juneteenth. The new recording preserves Oscar Brown Jr.’s original lyrics, grounding the reinterpretation in the same powerful message that echoed through Roach’s seminal suite:
Freedom Day / Freedom Day (Part 1)
- Whisper, listen, whisper, listen.
- Whispers say we're free.
- Rumors flyin', must be lyin'.
- Can it really be?
- Can't conceive it, can't believe it.
- But that's what they say.
- Slave no longer, slave no longer, this is Freedom Day.
- Freedom Day, it's Freedom Day.
- Throw those shackle n' chains away.
- Everybody that I see says it's really true, we're free.
The album features an extraordinary lineup of musicians, many of whom are Candid recording artists, including Weedie Braimah, Milena Casado, Morgan Guerin, Simon Moullier, and Matthew Stevens. A special guest appearance is made by Julian Priester, the only living musician from the original recording. Together, they breathe new life into Roach’s timeless album, infusing it with the spirit of collective improvisation, meditation and joy as forms of resistance.
Reflecting on the project, Carrington shares, “I set out to make an album that not only captures the spirit of resistance as did the original recording but also acknowledges joy as a form of protest. Maintaining joy can be an important part of being free, and the unapologetic expression of joy is a form of resistance to oppression.”
We Insist 2025! is more than an album—it’s a call to action, a commemoration of resilience, and a tribute to the enduring power of music to inspire change. With its fusion of tradition and innovation, the album not only honors the past but also points toward the future of jazz as a dynamic and comprehensive art form