Terri Lyne Carrington and Christie Dashiell's We Insist 2025! reimagines Max Roach’s groundbreaking 1960 protest album, We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, inspired by Roach's 100th-anniversary celebration. The project extends the original work with new compositions and features Julian Priester, who performed on the 1960 album.

Commercial success

• We Insist 2025! reached No. 48 on the November 2025 Jazz Album Chart, maintaining a presence for 20 weeks.

Cultural impact

• The album was featured at major jazz festivals, including a performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival in July 2025.

• The project has been recognized as a significant artistic statement in jazz, drawing direct connections between the civil rights era and present-day movements for social justice.

Critical response

• DownBeat praised the album's "subtlety and understatement," noting that Dashiell "appeals to our compassion, not our rage, and it is in its own way every bit as effective," and highlighted Carrington's innovative reconceptualization of the original suite. Read full review

• The Wall Street Journal commended Carrington for distilling Roach’s repertoire and message for a new moment, stating that "her Smoke engagement previewed the music of 'We Insist 2025!' (out now on Candid, the same label that released Roach’s classic). With it, in collaboration with vocalist Christie Dashiell, Ms. Carrington distills Roach’s repertoire and message for a new moment." Read full review