I love you Milford graves!!!

I love Milford's leader stuff, but a lot of the records he plays on as bandmember are great too. Esp. Sonny Sharrock's Black Woman.

"Regrettably, Milford Graves has not made a solo drum record, though he has come close. A mid-sixties ESP record makes a "percussion ensemble" out of a duet between Graves and Sunny Mordan - of course, Graves is an ensemble in himself. His two records of duets with pianist Don Pullen, Nommo (vols. 1 and 2), are free music underground classics and in spots they indicate the astounding sound of Graves by himself. He also appears on pianist Paul Bley's Barrage (with a rare non-Arkestra appearance from saxist Marshall Allen) and a couple of Giusseppi Logan records, all on ESP.

Graves recordings with the New York Art Quartet are also great - the self-titled NYAQ record with LeRoi Jones reading "Black Dada Nihilismus" is particularly hardcore, though Graves is better recorded on Mohawk (Fontana Records). Graves's work with Albert Ayler is available on Love Cry, and his slightly later recordings include a great record with guitarist Sonny Sharrock (Black Woman), and his own ridiculously overdriven trio with reedmen Arthur Doyle and Hugh Glover on Babi.

Graves applies his polyrhythmic approach to the piano with success on an obscure Japanese record, Meditation Among Us, which includes plenty of Graves's drumwork and playing by excellent Japanese improvisors like the late saxophonist Kaoru Abe and trumpet mad-hatter Toshinori Kondo. Last time I saw Graves live he was playing in a drum-quartet project with Andrew Cyrille, Famoudou Don Moye, and bop-giant Kenny Clarke, just before Clarke died (this project produced the record Pieces of Time). Over the last few years, Graves has played occasionally in a trio with saxophonist Peter Brotzmann and bassist William Parker - we could only be so lucky that this group would make a record."

does he play outside the US nowdays?

a brotzmann/bailey/graves gig would be a dream come true really.

yay for science!

Or maybe [most] modern rock and electronic music is just plain bad.

V

like his work on '1 thing'

New York Art Quartet limited-edition 5-LP set of unreleased recordings: http://www.triplepointrecords.com

(a little pricey, though...)

ooo

jeeze that is expensive!!

first 100 copies include a card personally signed by the artists

Wonder if they were able to get Tchicai's signature.

New York Art Quartet box nominated for a Grammy (Best Historical Album).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwkHCLI1j1w

Doc/interview somewhere, turns out he is quite big on martial arts.

Yeah, he's been doing/teaching martial arts (of various forms, I think; kundalini yoga is one I know he teaches) for decades. He's also an acupuncturist and herbal medic.

sat on the floor about 3 feet away from graves' kit last night at the stone. watching this dude work up close is totally bonkers. duo with laswell (with zorn for a couple minutes) but graves was definitely in charge and sounded amazing.

nice!

a friend of mine did a good interview with him recently:
http://www.thetrapset.net/milford-graves-albert-ayler-ny-art-quartet-pharaoh-sanders-anthony-braxton/

Always great to hear Milford speak.

This is a pretty wide-ranging interview as well:
http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/milford-graves-interview

Did you have much familiarity with Lou’s work before that?

No, man. They told me he was with the old Velvets. I said, “Well, who’s the Velvets?” Totally out of it, man. And we’re in that similar age group, but I didn’t know about that. I listened to doo-wop, but that was a group I missed.

Missing from both interviews is the fact that Milford was hired in 1973 by Bill Dixon for the Black Music Division at Bennington College.

(actually, teaching is missing entirely from the Trapset episode, though I guess 30 minutes isn't enough to cover everything)

true. really enjoyed watching this as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dpzI8xA9qc

as long as we are posting interviews i like this one http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/trends/columns/cityside/5380/

evidently you can watch this for $4.99 on amazon prime. will probably do that tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePiESZA2I7Y

Milford Graves Full Mantis - trailer | IFFR 2018

Whew, this revive scared me.

haha, yeah, me, too. Seems like we can barely get through a day without another jazz legend dying right now.

I want to see the movie, I've heard good things about it. I got to see him in two settings at Big Ears a few years ago — solo and with Jason Moran — and they were two of the best sets of the festival, he's amazing.

A fucking amazing movie by a friend of mine. Truly a must-see.

I did some of the artwork for this!

Missing from both interviews is the fact that Milford was hired in 1973 by Bill Dixon for the Black Music Division at Bennington College.

I didn't know Dixon hired him. I interviewed Whit Dickey last year and he talked about studying with both Dixon and Graves at Bennington:

https://www.osirispod.com/podcasts/burning-ambulance/burning-ambulance-whit-dickey/

Also, for those who don't know, Bäbi was reissued on CD in 2018, paired with a previously unheard second disc of 1969 recordings by the same trio:

http://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2018/10/16/album-babi/

An absolutely wonderful movie, one of the greatest music films ever made. Full of incredible archival footage of Milford, plus the great man in his basement laboratory and garden. And the World Of Cheese story is something else...

Saw him last year at Vision Festival, playing a duo with Andrew Cyrille. MG looked a little frail, but I understand he's better now. Their performance was gorgeous, a true dialogue between old friends, all deconstructed Latin rhythms and warm anecdotes.

It's actually free to watch if you have Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Milford-Graves-Full-Mantis/dp/B07NGRL22J/
There are so many great moments, but the footage with Milford and dancer Min Tanaka in a Japanese gymnasium in a school for children with cognitive disabilities is absolutely priceless.
I also saw both of his incredible sets at Big Ears. I remember feeling a little bad for Jason Moran...I felt like Milford was in a different, transcendental league!

Fantastic film, everyone should watch it.

I remember feeling a little bad for Jason Moran...I felt like Milford was in a different, transcendental league!

He was, but generous about it, he brought Moran along with him.

I had a great experience at the Big Ears festival this year with [pianist] Jason Moran. People were wondering, “Is that going to work?” I talked to Jason [before the set], and he’s cool. But [during the concert] Jason all of a sudden stands up off the stool, takes his shirt off, and says, “I’m hot, man!” And I looked at him, and Jason got back down and took some sort of rattle or something and started bouncing it all off the strings on that piano, and [now] he wasn’t that cool guy playing Monk for nobody, man! Jason got so emotional. And people noticed that! And I’m saying, “No, he got possessed, man.” All that coolness went out the window. If I have any part of it, he’s not going to be cool on me. You can still look conservative…but you’re gonna get more animated, and then people feel that. When you get animated, people say, “They’re feeling it!”

https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/january-2019-milford-graves/

Really loved Full Mantis. That footage with Min Tanaka and the kids was just the best.

To think he could've spent years in jail..

:-(

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/nyregion/milford-graves-drummer.html

“He did pretty much everything on his own, and it’s very important that his work continue, so he wants to leave everything in the right places with the right people,” his wife, Lois, said. “He knows he has more work to do and he’s going to get it done.”

right on. what an absolute gem of a human, a total champ. i wish him the strength to live many, many more years. to continue his research and to grace this world with his unparalleled art

His two duo albums with Don Pullen have been combined into a single CD. My copy hasn't arrived yet, but it's en route.

yeahhh, i've ordered that, along with CvD's new Joe McPhee thing.

Amazing article about Graves. Dude is truly an American hero.

Everyone should watch Full Mantis even if you don't have any interest in jazz, drums, or unfamiliar with his music, it isn't really about that, it is a movie about life

Interesting. Still alive 2 years or so after doctor thought he might only have 6 months

Since the 1970s, Mr. Graves has studied the heartbeat as a source of rhythm and has maintained that recording musicians’ most prevalent heart rhythms and pitches, and then incorporating those sounds into their playing, would help them produce more personal music.

He also believes that heart problems can be helped by recording a patient’s unhealthy heart and musically tweaking it into a healthier rhythm to use as biofeedback.

full mantis is such an incredible movie

Interesting. Still alive 2 years or so after doctor thought he might only have 6 months

Not surprised. I've never in my life encountered anyone who was as health-conscious and, for lack of a better term, in tune with the human body as Milford.

sounds like one of the more apt terms tbh !

I remember once during class he asked a student to hold Milford’s wrist, to feel his pulse. Milford closed his eyes, seemed to shiver a little, and the student said, “wait, the pulse is gone...[distressingly long pause]...[Milford shivers again]...oh, there it is.”

By day, Milford Graves is a mild-mannered jazz musician who leads a quiet life tending his zen garden and looking after a curious collection of African artifacts. When night falls, and duty calls, he becomes Full Mantis: a master of martial arts and the world's most dangerous freeform assassin. He can make your heart — or his — stop in an instant. He can unleash a killer fury of syncopated blows. But he always knows when to fall back in the groove, jack, so don't you skip a beat.

Hahaha

My copy of The Complete Yale Concert, 1966 finally arrived today after being shipped from Chicago to New Jersey on August 4.

Wow, Full Mantis. What an incredible film.

'Full Mantis' not just favorite music film of the year, it's just... favorite full stop

Like absolutely anyone who posts to this list, I can nearly promise you you want to see this film

Yes, it's an all time great!

BTW, you should sign up for this:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-discussion-of-milford-graves-full-mantis-with-director-jake-meginsky-tickets-128016592073

I'd seen his name on the credits of various records, but I didn't know anything about him personally until I read the chapter on Babi in John Corbett's Pick Up the Pieces. I'm making a point of seeing this film ASAP.

Finally got a chance to watch this doc - really good! I just wish someone had warned me how unexpectedly trippy it is. I took an edible before I watched it and that was uh, very interesting

thanks for the suggestion

you've been warned!

It really is, I got a bit drunk while watching it but the combined experience of the film and alcohol was more druglike/hallucinatory.

This is one of those threads that fills me with dread whenever it's revived.

I thought about that right after I posted, yeah. Sorry. I considered not clicking on the Ghedalia Tazartes thread yesterday for the same reason

watching the doc is totally like having a really good / profound trip. it's wonderful.

nourishing, inspiring, etc.

where did people watch this? is it worth paying for on vimeo

This is one of those threads that fills me with dread whenever it's revived.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, February 10, 2021 10:21 AM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Seriously, especially considering his recent health issues.

And yeah, the doc is brilliant. Absolutely a must-see for anyone even mildly curious about...well, music.

Pretty sure it's on Kanopy, possibly also Amazon, and is out on DVD.

(xp)

I did love this film, the warm videography captured the intimacy of his house and garden. It had a balance of his history, his current interests, and his philosophical thoughts.

NPR just got confirmation that Milford Graves — drummer, professor, researcher, gardener — died today from congestive heart failure. His music and way of being was an elevation, rhythmically moving with the universe.

— Lars Gotrich 🍷🌊 (@totalvibration) February 12, 2021

:-(

Gutted

what a lame week

This picture of Milford Graves and Chick Corea in the same band (led by conga player Roger "Montego Joe" Sanders) is great.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EuEIzCLWgAUdIbN.jpg

Glad I saw him once, with Jason Moran in a packed theater at Big Ears in 2018.

Glad I saw him live too — his folding chair, his bongos, it was a huge inspiration for me. I hope his beautiful spirit is at peace.

very sad. full mantis is a very enjoyable watch for those who haven't seen it.

i saw him play in the moma with john zorn in front of the pollock exhibit. def one of the best things that ever happened to me

fuck

RIP. Listening to Black Woman now.

shit. what an amazing artist.

How is the Yale Concert reissue???? In depth, please.

In terms of sound quality, or in terms of performance? It's mastered from ultra-clean vinyl, presumably Graves' own unopened copies, so there's a tiny bit of hiss and crackle here and there but not much. The recording quality is good if primitive — it was clearly taped live in a room not built for recording, but it's plenty loud, Graves' drums often louder than Pullen's piano. The music is extremely free, pounding and clanging, as heavy and out as free jazz ever got. I'd call it essential, and I'm sure it's gonna go out of print again very soon, so for anyone who doesn't already have it:

https://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2020/09/30/record-complete-yale-concert-1966__trashed/

If you can find a copy of thhe Bäbi reissue (Corbett vs Dempsey is out of stock), it's essential, too, especially since it contains a second, previously unreleased CD of the same trio (Graves, Arthur Doyle, and Hugh Glover) from 1969:

https://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2018/10/16/album-babi__trashed/

Shamefully unfamiliar with his work, any recommendations for where to start?

For something relatively straightforward (as in, he's playing a "beat" through much of it), try Sonny Sharrock's Black Woman. Albert Ayler's Love Cry is kinda easy to get into as well, at least as far as Ayler/free jazz is concerned. For something more recent, try Beyond Quantum, a 2004 or so trio album with Anthony Braxton on saxes and William Parker on bass.

Giuseppi Logan, Eddie Gomez, Milford Graves, 8th Street Bookstore, NYC, 1965

📸 Eddie Hauser pic.twitter.com/xkUMqRu06f

— jeff (@jazyjef) February 13, 2021

nice pic here as well

Jake Meginsky just made available this beautiful previously unreleased video of MIlford Graves in his garden ♥️♥️♥️ https://t.co/mGcwzxgOkM

— Fielding Hope (@fieldinghope) February 13, 2021

pic.twitter.com/2Uu3BNrzss

— Jake Meginsky (@jakemessmeg) February 13, 2021

RIP :(

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/feb/13/milford-graves-jazz-drummer-dies-aged-79

Thanks guys!
Graves' drums often louder than Pullen's piano. The music is extremely free, pounding and clanging, as heavy and out as free jazz ever got. Ah, say no more, I'll get on it, and seek out the Corbett V Dempsey and Ayler (Black Woman has long been a v. personal talisman).

I think I'm mainly just listening to the New York Art Quartet's Call It Art collection today because of course they are one of the best bands ever to exist

My oiriginal copy of the New York Art Quartet's ESP Disc. My first exposure to Milford Graves! Sorry for the terrible physical shape the cover is in, i got it when I was 13, still one of my favorite albums. pic.twitter.com/KD2Iqzx7tT

— Alan Braufman (@AlanBraufman) February 14, 2021

"Love Cry" is the first time I ever heard him, when I was getting into jazz and trying to find all these records/artists I was reading about. His drumming struck me immediately, different from anything else I had heard, flat & cardboard-y, the drums didn't drive the music, they pushed and spread everything out, they were everywhere at once. I always kept a look out for his name, "Milford Graves" always signified an otherness to me, that if his name was on there it was going to be a special record.

And not a huge discography (or at least one that was easy to track down) so aside from those ESP-Disk records and dodgy boots of "Babi" and "Nommo" over the yrs he was always someone I looked out for, esp after seeing that Mouthful of Sweat footage of him with Brotz & Parker. And I knew from interviews that he had a totally different take on the world then even other "out" dudes

But man that movie made me fall in love him so much more and suddenly so much of his music & playing made real sense to me, all the talk of Chi & heartbeats & cosmic radiation & nervous system electricity, going back I can hear all of that so clearly in the music.

The scene with him & Min Tanaka playing for the autistic children is maybe the most powerful example of music as an artform I've ever seen

Anyway, a beautiful soul and player and thinker and man, RIP

Director Alan Roth has made his documentary The Breath Courses Through Us, about the New York Art Quartet, available on Vimeo for a short while. It documents their 2000s reunion, when they opened for Sonic Youth:

https://vimeo.com/59617230

Yeah, Left, that's a perfect example of shifting blame and responsibility from the offenders to the victims. Pretty reprehensible.

Lol how did that get there.

My memories of the ‘99 NYAQ show are of Milford being extremely poorly miked (at least, the PA mix in the hall — the mix in the film sounds much better), and of Reggie Workman killing it. It was the only time I’d seen Workman, and I was floored.

I also remember their reunion record being meandering and generally awful, but I haven’t listened to it in years.

and of Reggie Workman killing it. It was the only time I’d seen Workman, and I was floored.

I saw Workman with John Zorn, Derek Bailey and Susie Ibarra at Tonic one night. I was extremely surprised, because I had always thought of him as a total jazz guy (even if he worked in free-ish contexts at times) but this was obviously Improv with a capital I.

Beautiful piece by percussionist-composer Ben Hall: https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/the-patterns-are-already-there-remembering-milford-graves

(Slight correction: the Black Music Division at Bennington was dissembled/absorbed into the Music Division in 1985, not in the mid-‘90s.)

Jason Moran
@morethan88
6:30 PM · Apr 1, 2021
Graves/Moran live at @BigEarsFestival
2018 releases at midnight. Features another performance from @ICAPhiladelphia
/ @ArsNovaWorkshop
. Mind-Body.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ex7OGgJW8AISGn5?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

https://jasonmoran.bandcamp.com/album/graves-moran-live-at-big-ears

The new Brotzman/Graves/Parker lp is predictably very good, the stuff with Graves talking to the crowd and singing on the fourth side is just fantastic

https://milfordgraves-blackeditionsarchive.bandcamp.com/album/historic-music-past-tense-future

rewatched full mantis last night, still such a pleasure

"A mind-body deal" can be purchased directly from the inventory press website. free shipping in the US + a holiday code i found on their instagram meant it was only $36

Thanks! the xpost New York Art Quartet album is all here:
https://newyorkartquartet.bandcamp.com/

Bandcamp also has MG's own sole ESP-Disk, Percussion Ensemble, with Sonny Morgan:
https://milfordgraves.bandcamp.com/album/percussion-ensemble

re: full mantis:

This video is currently unavailable to watch in your location

i wish I would've bought / downloaded / ripped this when i had the chance. anybody know how i can see it?

nvm, i figured it out.

by the way, the "mind-body deal" book is fantastic!

Also: https://jasonmoran.bandcamp.com/album/graves-moran-live-at-big-ears

new '76 recording from the Glover/Doyle trio:

https://www.strandedrecords.com/collections/newsletter/products/milford-graves-arthur-doyle-hugh-glover-children-of-the-forest-2xlp?mc_cid=de146c7992&mc_eid=ad2240ad80

Been trying to convince myself I don't need this. I need this, don't I?

It’s pretty great…

Prolly shoulda put this here.

LA Institute for Contemporary Art is hosting a Milford Graves listening party for a new album, and a screening of the film about him the next day at their Arts District location. RSVP required, and I don't know if any are left.

https://www.theicala.org/en/events/494-milford-graves-album-release-listening-party

This is the Children of the Forest release noted above.

And the film is Full Mantis

Interesting that the Corbett vs Dempsey reissue of the Complete Yale Concert from a couple years back made a point to note that the original master tapes were lost so they sourced from a mint condition original LP, yet the new Superior Viaduct reissue claims that it's sourced from the original master tapes.

Yeah, I think they might be bullshitting and hoping no one notices.

Unless...I mean, there's a chance that Graves himself didn't know where the tapes were, but that someone in his family found them after he died...but I think it would have been bigger news.

I have sent the following email to Superior Viaduct:

Hi!

Your website says that your Milford Graves reissues are "sourced from the original master tapes." The Corbett vs Dempsey CD reissue of the same recordings, from 2020, says, "The master tapes for both volumes of the Yale concert were lost. This reissue was culled from mint copies of the LPs, transferred and noise-reduced by Alex Inglizian."

Were the tapes found by another member of Graves' family after his death? What's the story here?

Thanks

I guess it would answer my question about whether I should upgrade my CvsDs

There's no way the tapes were miraculously discovered and they just failed to mention it in the copy. They are surely bullshitting just like every other record label does.

Also CvD are (imo) a trustworthy entity and I agree — if the tapes were suddenly found, that would be news and therefore worth mentioning

It's funny to me that record labels bullshit about stuff like that for artists that probably don't sell a ton - pretty low value false advertising.

I was under the impression these were just vinyl pressings of the CvsDs CDs, the SV website even mentions Corbett's liners, so it is weird phrasing at best. I'm betting they are using the word "sourced" in a very...er flexible manner.

"Once upon a time, there were master tapes for this album."

I got an answer from Superior Viaduct! The label owner says:

The tapes were found prior to Milford’s passing.

So if you were hesitant about buying, go for it, I guess.

New live set coming in June! WEBO is a live recording from June 1991 with Charles Gayle, William Parker, and Graves. It's coming out digitally and as a fancy 3LP set with a bunch of extra stuff in the box.

Bandcamp pre-order link

A legendary concert by one of the great unrecorded bands in free jazz history is here at last. WEBO, the third installment in the Black Editions Archive series of previously unreleased recordings from Milford Graves' private tape library, roars into the station June 21st. For the first time, Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, & William Parker —three lions of the Black American jazz avant-garde— are finally heard together on record across three audiophile-quality LPs for two brutalizingly joyous hours of real ju-ju & musical mastery.

The trio of Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, & William Parker gave only seven public performances between 1985 & 2013, & released no recordings. Their June 1991 two-night stand at the short-lived Lower East Side venue Webo, long referenced as a signal event in New York free jazz’s 1990s resurgence, has been a topic of discussion among close followers of the music for decades. In the uncompromising grassroots spirit of the 1970s New York Musicians Organization & loft jazz movements from which they had emerged, the band produced & promoted the Webo concerts themselves. Photography and audio recording were not allowed at the concerts, & this official recording, commissioned by the artists, was never released —until now.

So vivid was the lore surrounding Webo that it topped the list of recordings sought by Black Editions Archive from Graves’ private collection. The tapes maximally substantiate eyewitness accounts describing extra-sensory levels of communication within the band, & the extraordinary clarity & impact of their performance. From William Parker's liner notes: “Imagine a village or choir of drummers, horn players & strings. You can hear the bass & drums churning with a call & response, a melodic-rhythmic propulsion. In reality there is only one drummer, one bass, & one saxophone.”

Age 52 at the time of these concerts, Charles Gayle had only recently made his first recordings. To all but the most immediate insiders he was still more myth than reality. Milford Graves, two months out from his 50th birthday, was about halfway into his body of recorded work & had sanctioned just one appearance on a commercially released recording in the last 14 years (Pieces of Time by an all drummer quartet with Kenny Clarke, Andrew Cyrille, & Famoudou Don Moye). William Parker, the young man of the group at age 39, was a mere fifty entries into his discography, now 500+ entries & counting. All three musicians were at least a quarter century into passionately developing a personal & collective music rooted in the cultural values & radical aesthetics of the 1960s & ‘70s Black American avant-garde.

30+ years after the Webo concerts, Black Editions Archive is honored to make these historical recordings available to the public. The x3 LPs are presented in a heavy black, pigment-stamped box with mounted cover painting along with liner notes by William Parker, commentary from Alan Licht (witness to night one of the Webo concerts), a reproduction of the original concert flyer, & a set of 6x9 printed photos from the 2021 Webo reunion outside MoMA PS1, Queens, NY. Cover Painting by Jeff Schlanger / musicWitness, made June 8, 1991, at Webo during the band’s performance. Vinyl pressed at RTI, lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. —Michael Ehlers