I love you Milford graves!!!

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