As practically everybody who loves music has heard by now, master bassist HENRY GRIMES, missing from the music world since the late '6O's, has made an unprecedented comeback after receiving the gift of a bass (a green one called Olive Oil!) from William Parker in December, 'O2 to replace the instrument Henry had been forced to give up some 3O years earlier. Between the mid-'5O's and the mid-'6O's, the Philadelphia-born, Juilliard-educated Henry Grimes played brilliantly on some 5O albums with an enormous range of musicians, including Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Haynes, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Charles Mingus (yes, Charles Mingus!), Gerry Mulligan, Sunny Murray, Perry Robinson, Sonny Rollins, Roswell Rudd, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, Charles Tyler, McCoy Tyner, Rev. Frank Wright, and many more ... and then one day, for reasons largely related to troubles in the music world at the time, he disappeared. Many years passed with nothing heard from him, yet after a short while with his new bass, he emerged to begin working with Bobby Bradford, Nels and Alex Cline, Joseph Jarman, and others at the World Stage, the Howling Monk, the Jazz Bakery, and Schindler House in the Los Angeles area. On his triumphant return to New York City in May, 'O3, Henry Grimes played as special guest on two nights of the six-night Vision Festival, gave live concerts and lengthy interviews on the air daily during a five-day WKCR Henry Grimes Radio Festival, and offered a bass clinic before 5O New York-area bassists who haven't stopped talking about him since. These days, Henry Grimes lives, works, and teaches in New York City and has been working almost exclusively as a leader with Fred Anderson, Roy Campbell, Jr., Marilyn Crispell, Andrew Cyrille, Hamid Drake, Charles Gayle, Jane Getz, Edward “Kidd" Jordan, Sabir Mateen, Bennie Maupin, Jemeel Moondoc, David Murray, William Parker, Marc Ribot, and many more. He has toured extensively in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Holland, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S. in 'O3 and 'O4, with more to follow. To the astonishment and joy of all, he's playing at the very height of his artistic powers (or indeed anyone's), just as though he'd never stopped at all! The recipient of a “Meet the Composer" award in 'O3, Henry was also named “Musician of the Year" by “All About Jazz/ New York" that year. Still in his 6O's, he's healthy and strong, and his gentle, humble bearing and courageous life story have inspired all those privileged to know him, hear him, play music with him. As described by the Sounds for the People Festival in Montreal, “Henry Grimes's bass playing is supple yet can go into multiple directions at once, in constant variations in tone and rhythm. He was the backbone of the '6O's free-jazz avant-garde movement; he returns now when there is a rebirth in this musical legacy. This is an opportunity to see a true hero." For further information: www.HenryGrimes.com, [email protected].
CHARLES GAYLE was born in Buffalo, New York in 1939. A true multi-instrumentalist, these days primarily an alto saxophonist, he is a torrid player, as unyielding in the free-jazz tradition as any alive. Roaring and soaring into divine ecstasy and taking everyone with him who can hear the truth and bear the heat, he has been mesmerizing audiences for decades. In earlier, harder times, he spent almost twenty years living and playing music on the streets of New York rather than on bandstands and in recording studios, though at this point he has taught for several years at Bennington College and has recorded with some of the greatest improvisers alive, including Rashied Ali, Sunny Murray, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, and John Tchicai. The searing voices of both angels and demons come boiling out of his horn as the past and future collide. Prepare to be transformed! As Creative Music Archive puts it:
CHARLES GAYLE was born in Buffalo, New York in 1939. A true multi-instrumentalist, these days primarily an alto saxophonist, he is a torrid player, as unyielding in the free-jazz tradition as any alive. Roaring and soaring into divine ecstasy and taking everyone with him who can hear the truth and bear the heat, he has been mesmerizing audiences for decades. In earlier, harder times, he spent almost twenty years living and playing music on the streets of New York rather than on bandstands and in recording studios, though at this point he has taught for several years at Bennington College and has recorded with some of the greatest improvisers alive, including Rashied Ali, Sunny Murray, William Parker, Cecil Taylor, and John Tchicai. The searing voices of both angels and demons come boiling out of his horn as the past and future collide. Prepare to be transformed! As Creative Music Archive puts it:
For more information contact All About Jazz.
