I love you Milford graves!!!

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