musicmargaret

Hi, "hardbopjazz." Henry Grimes and Kidd Jordan have actually played together several times before, including August 3Oth and 31st, 'O8 at Fred Anderson's great Velvet Lounge (Chicago Jazz Festival after-fest sets), and again at the Velvet Lounge this past March for Fred's 8Oth-birthday concert series celebrations (and supposedly Delmark is considering releasing some of the concerts from Fred's birthday night, including the set with Kidd and Henry), and in Montreal in a group led by Henry in June, 'O4, and in a Vision Festival benefit for Katrina victims in New Orleans that took place in New York in September, 'O5. And of course Henry hopes to play much more music with Kidd Jordan in the future. Kidd is a supreme master musician and being! Henry's giving some more amazing concerts in June, and I suppose I should post those somewhere else, so I guess I'll put that information here: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...hl=Henry+Grimes. You can also always visit Henry's site, http://www.henrygrimes.com. Thanks for your interest! Margaret Davis Grimes musicmargaret@earthlink.net I'm attaching a small photo of Henry playing his violin in the Bang on a Can Marathon just yesterday. It was taken by Vic Offray:

Thanks for the information. Now it's apparent that this is listed in the Henry Grimes discography: Date: September 10, 1965 [note date difference] Location: Village Gate, New York City Label: [television broadcast] Cecil Taylor (ldr), Jimmy Lyons (as), Cecil Taylor (p), Henry Grimes (b), Andrew Cyrille (d) a. 01 Number One (Cecil Taylor) b. 02 Octagonal Skirt And Fancy Pants (Cecil Taylor) Both titles on: Ozone LP 12" [note label difference] Jimmy Lyons (as) on b; Henry Grimes (b) on b. This was not a live performance. Broadcast by WNET-TV as part of the series "The Arts In America." Material also exists on video. Incorrectly listed in some sources as January 18, 1966 at the Half Note.

Does anyone know the date for the "rare broadcast" from which the bonus tracks were taken? It couldn't have been in 1971, because Henry wasn't playing then. Also, does anyone have contact information for the label Free Factory?

Bill Withers was born July 4th, 1938, the youngest of nine children in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. Raised in nearby Beckley, he was 13 when his father died. He joined the Navy at 17 and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing. He began writing songs to fill a need for lyrics that expressed his feelings. Following his discharge from the Navy in 1965, he moved to L.A. in 1967 to pursue a career in music. He worked assembling toilets for Boeing 747's while recording demo tapes he shopped around and performing in the juke joints during the night. When he debuted on the music scene with "Ain't No Sunshine," he refused to give up his job because of his belief that the music business was a fickle industry and that he was still a novice compared to other working acts like The Temptations or Sammy Davis, Jr... (etc.). See http://www.billwithersmusic.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Withers. And Bill Withers is still alive, handsome, healthy, humorous -- and, oh, yes, he can still sing!! On August 9th, 'O8, Hal Willner produced a huge Bill Withers celebration during the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival at Prospect Park bandshell. The musicians were Rob Berger, Sarah Bernstein, Steven Bernstein (conductor/ musical director), Charles Burnham, Cornell Dupree, Melanie Dyer, Melvin Gibbs, Corey Glover, Henry Grimes, Jeff Haynes, Nona Hendryx, Marika Hughes, Jim James, Angelique Kidjo, J.T. Lewis, Dana Lyn, Eric Mingus, Janine Nichols, Christine Ohlman, the Persuasions (Jimmy Hayes, Reggie Moore, Joe Russell, Ray Sanders, & Jayotis Washington), Lenny Pickett, Brandon Ross, Sandra St. Victor, Jane Scarpantoni, Jared Scharff, the Swell Season, Howard Tate, James Blood Ulmer, Bill Withers himself (!!), and Kori Withers (Bill's incredibly beautiful and talented singing / songwriting daughter). Here's a photo of Bill Withers nowadays:

P.S. If you want to hear Henry Grimes play solo (and you haven't really heard him until you've heard him play solo), please see http://www.henrygrimes.com/schedule.html for news of a short solo on April 26th that will be Webcast, and see the home page, http://www.henrygrimes.com, for news of solo concerts on June 12th (International Society of Bassists Convention at Penn State U.) and June 13th (Vision Festival, NYC).

Yes, we were sorry that the record company chose not to index the continuous music on the two CD's so that there would be specific starting and stopping points designated and numbered and the sections named as individual pieces, even if the names were only Part 1, Part 2, etc. of a single suite. That way the listener could go back to Part 3 (let's say) and listen to that specific section several times if the listener found that section particularly demanding or intriguing. The logical points for indexing would have been the times when Henry paused to switch from bass to violin or vice-versa. I also have problems with the packaging design chosen by the record company (no photos, no liner notes, no illustrations, no CD booklet, and the printing of the name of the CD and other bare-bones information in very thin black writing on a very dark blue background, so that unless you have 2O / 2O vision in broad daylight, you probably won't be able to tell what that square dark-blue item you're holding is. Then again, as far as the packaging goes, in the field of the blatant and the obvious, maybe sometimes being elusive, inscrutable, understated, mysterious works best.

Hi, everyone. The Henry Grimes discography by Michael Fitzgerald is somewhat out of date. Please look here to find the answers to your questions about Henry Grimes recordings: http://www.henrygrimes.com/discography.html. And all of Henry's current news may be found at http://www.henrygrimes.com. Thanks!

Vision Festival XIV, June 9th-15th, NYC http://www.visionfestival.org [nothing up yet] info@visionfestival.org The Vision Festival locations this year will be Abrons Arts Center (part of Henry St. Settlement) from Tuesday, June 9th through Sunday, June 14th, 466 Grand St. (betw. Pitt & Willet St's), Manhattan, http://www.henrystreet.org/site/PageServer...name=abt_dirAAC, info@henrystreet.org; plus Monday, June 15th, closing day, at Angel Orensanz Center, 172 Norfolk St. just below Houston St. & just east of Ave. A, http://www.orensanz.org, info@orensanz.org. Day 1: Tuesday, June 9th All on the Main Stage Host Lewis Barnes 7:30 Opening Invocation: Hamid Drake/ Patricia Nicholson/ William Parker 8:15 Brass Bang Billy Bang - violin Ted Daniel – trumpet James Zollar – trumpet Ahmed Abdullah - trumpet Dick Griffin - trombone Russell Carter – drums 9:15 Douglas R. Ewart and Inventions “Dawn” featuring Shaku Joseph Jarman - flute, sax, poetry Douglas R. Ewart - winds, percussion, voice J.D. Parran - flute, clarinets and bass sax Donald Smith – piano Thurman Barker - drums and vibes 10:15 "Vision of New York" video by Luciano Rossetti 10:30 Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris Conducts A Chorus Of Poets and String Ensemble “Conduction® No. 187, Erotic Eulogy” Chorus of Poets: Yasha Bilan, Mark Gerring, Chavisa Woods, Nora McCarthy, Justin Carter, Alex Bilu, Helga Davis, David Devoe String of Ensemble: Nicole Federici, Jason Kao Hwang - viola Shawn McGloin, Jane Wang - bass Skye Steele, Charlie Burnham - violin Greg Heffernan, Alisa Horn - cello Text by Allan Graubard Day 2: Wednesday, June 10th All on the Main Stage Marshall Allen – A Lifetime of Achievement Host Steve Dalachinsky 7:30 Special Set Marshall Allen - reeds Kidd Jordan - tenor sax William Parker - bass Henry Grimes - bass and violin Hamid Drake - drums 8:30 Bill Cole’s Untempered Ensemble Bill Cole - double reeds Joe Daley - tuba Shayna Dulberger - bass Warren Smith - drums Atticus Cole - percussion Althea SullyCole - vocals 9:30 The Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen Marshall Allen - alto, EVI, flute, clarinet, vocals Knoel Scott - alto, vocals Charles Davis - tenor sax Yahya Abdul-Majid- tenor sax Danny Thompson - baritone sax Rey Scott- baritone sax Fred Adams - trunpet Cecil Brooks - trumpet Dave Davis-trombone Dick Griffin - trombone Bill Davis - tuba Dave Hotep - guitar Farid Barron-piano and organ Wayne A. Smith Jr.-drums Elson Nascimento - surdo special guests Billy Bang – violin and John Ore - bass Day 3: Thursday, June 11th - on the Main Stage Host James Keepnews 7:00 Yvonne Meier’s Score Yvonne Meier – choreography and dance Christopher Williams - dance Gabi Glinz - dance Arturo Vidich - dance Mystery Guest - dance Michael Jaeger – tenor sax Dave Gisler – guitar Christian Jaeger-Brown – drums/percussion 8:30 William Hooker’s Silent Film/Live Music Project “Symbol of the Unconquered” film by Oscar Micheaux William Hooker - drums Adam Lane - bass Darius Jones – sax 9:30 Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble Ernest Dawkins – sax, clarinet, flute Stephen Berry - trombone Darius Savage - bass Isaiah Spencer - drums 10:30 Sunny Murray Quartet Odean Pope - sax Sabir Mateen - sax and flute Lee Smith - bass Sunny Murray - drums Day 3: Thursday - in the Experimental Theater 7:45 David Budbill / Hamid Drake / William Parker ‘The Fire of Compassion / Meaning of Jazz’ in words and music. David Budbill – words William Parker – bass, donso N’goni Hamid Drake - drums 9:15 Video Installation by Lili White Day 4: Friday, June 12th- on the Main Stage Host David Budbill 7:00 Miriam Parker - dance Jason Kao Hwang – violin Joseph Daley - tuba 7:30 Charles Gayle Trio Charles Gayle - sax Lisle Ellis - bass Michael Wimberly - drums 8:45 "The Ras Ensemble" Ras Moshe – tenor sax & flute Matt Lavelle – trumpet Dave Ross - guitar Shayna Dulberger - bass Charles Downs - drums 10:00 Ayler Project Roy Campbell - trumpet Joe McPhee – sax and trumpet William Parker - bass Warren Smith - drums 11:00 Collective Quartet featuring Zim Ngqawana - sax Matthew Shipp - piano William Parker - bass Nasheet Waits – drums Day 4: Friday, June 12th - in the Experimental Theater 5:00 Panel Discussion – FREE Establishing Rights / Meeting Needs / Building Community in the Arts 8:15 Reaching into the Unknown – w/ special musical guests A Rogue Art Book Release - Steve Dalachinsky, poet / Jacques Bisceglia, photography / guest appearances by great musicians 9:30 Video, Jo Wood Brown As The Crow Flies - Rob Brown live music Day 5: Saturday Afternoon, June 13th - on the Main Stage Host James Keepnews 2:00 Seth Meicht’s Big Sound Ensemble Matt Bauder, alto saxophone Seth Meicht, tenor saxophone Charlie Evans, baritone saxophone Aaron Meicht, trumpet Steve Swell, trombone Adam Lane, bass Mike Pride, drums 3:00 Bear and Eagle Catherine Sikora – saxophone Jeremy Bacon - piano 4:00 Chaedria LaBouvier poet 4:30 Darius Jones Trio Darius Jones - sax Cooper-Moore – piano, diddley bow Bob Moses – drums Day 5: Saturday Afternoon, June 13th - in the Experimental Theater 5:30 Panel discussion – FREE Art and Politics past, present, future Day 5: Saturday Evening, June 13th - on the Main Stage host Julia Wilkins 7:00 Matthew Shipp – solo piano 8:00 Rob Brown Trio Rob Brown - sax Craig Taborn - piano Nasheet Waits - drums 9:00 Milford Graves Quartet Milford Graves - drums Langford Grant - sax DD Jackson - piano William Parker – bass 10:15 Lisa Sokolov Trio Lisa Sokolov – voice, piano Jake Sokolov-Gonzalez – cello Cameron Brown - bass 11:15 Joe Morris GoGo Mambo Joe Morris - bass Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng - percussion Jim Hobbs - alto saxophone Timo Shanko - tenor saxothone Luther Gray - drums Steve Lantner - piano Bill Lowe - trombone Joe Moffett - trumpet Forbes Graham - trumpet Willie Martinez - percussion Day 5: Saturday Evening, in the Experimental Theater 9:45 Henry Grimes Solo – poetry & violin & bass 10:45 Paul Harding, spoken music featuring Hill Greene on bass Day 6: Sunday Afternoon, June 14th - on the Main Stage Host Patricia Nicholson 1:00PS 182Q (Jamaica, Queens) K-2 Recorder & Percussion Ensemble Steve Swell & Michael T.A. Thompson – orchestra directors 1:30 Achievement First Bushwick Middle School Orchestra Daniel Levin – director 2:00 Brooklyn Friends School Jazz Band All-Stars Jessica Jones – director 2:30 York College Blue Notes (HS Big Band) Tom Zlabinger – director 3:30 Panel discussion – FREE Innovative Music in our Schools Day 6: Sunday, June 14th - on the Main Stage Host Lewis Barnes 5:00 Planet Dream Steve Swell – trombone Rob Brown - drums Daniel Levin – cello 6:00 Fred Anderson Trio Fred Anderson - sax William Parker – bass Hamid Drake - drums 7:15 Michele Rosewoman and Quintessence plus Guests Michele Rosewoman - piano, keyboards Brad Jones - acoustic, electric bass Tyshawn Sorey - drums Loren Stillman - alto, soprano saxophones Jacob Yoffee - tenor saxophone Guests: Vincent Gardner - trombone Richard Padron - guitar 8:15 Carter/Dickey/Yamamoto Whit Dickey - drums Eri Yamomoto – piano Daniel Carter – saxes, trumpet, clarinet, flute 9:00 FULL BLAST Peter Brötzmann – sax Marino Pliakas – elec. bass Michael Wertmüller – drums Sunday Evening, in the Experimental Theater 6:45 Patricia Spears Jones, words / Jason Kao Hwang, violin 8:00 Bill Brand short film / TBA live music Day 7: Monday, June 15th at the Angel Orensanz Foundation 172 Norfolk Street near Houston Celebrating the Art and Sculpture of Angel Orensanz Bringing together Sound, Sculpture, Movement, Color A Collaboration between Angel Orensanz Foundation and Arts for Art All within the context of the artwork - projections and sculpture of Angel Orensanz 7:00 Jason Kao Hwang’s Spontaneous River 25 + String Ensemble 8:00 Trio X Joe McPhee – sax and trumpet Dominic Duval – bass Jay Rosen - drums 9:00 Patricia Nicholson – dance Miriam Parker – dance Mariko Kumanomido – dance Jason Jordan - dance Cooper-Moore – hand-crafted instruments Jason Kao Hwang - violin William Parker - bass 9:30 William Parker Quartet + surprise William Parker - bass Rob Brown - sax Lewis Barnes - trumpet Hamid Drake – drums, percussion + Special Guest Tickets: $25/night advance $30/night at the door $20/night students, seniors and members $150 for 7 night pass (this includes June 15 performance) Advance tickets for Abrons Art Center performances are available at (212) 598-0400 or online at http://www.henrystreet.org/site/PageServer...ACHOME_homepage. Tickets for the Angel Orensanz performances can only be purchased at the door on June 15.

Hello, all! Here's a current short biography of the great Henry Grimes: Master jazz musician (acoustic bass, violin) HENRY GRIMES has played more than 3OO concerts in 23 countries (including many festivals) since May of 'O3, when he made his astonishing return to the music world after 35 years away. He was born and raised in Philadelphia and attended the Mastbaum School and Juilliard. In the '5O's and '6O's, he came up in the music playing and touring with Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson, "Bullmoose" Jackson, "Little" Willie John, and a number of other great R&B / soul musicians; but drawn to jazz, he went on to play, tour, and record with many great jazz musicians of that era, including Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Haynes, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Sunny Murray, Sonny Rollins, Roswell Rudd, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner, and Rev. Frank Wright. Sadly, a trip to the West Coast to work with Al Jarreau and Jon Hendricks went awry, leaving Henry in Los Angeles at the end of the '6O's with a broken bass he couldn't pay to repair, so he sold it for a small sum and faded away from the music world. Many years passed with nothing heard from him, as he lived in his tiny rented room in an S.R.O. hotel in downtown Los Angeles, working as a manual laborer, custodian, and maintenance man, and writing many volumes of handwritten poetry. He was discovered there by a Georgia social worker and fan in 2OO2 and was given a bass by William Parker, and after only a few weeks of ferocious woodshedding, Henry emerged from his room to begin playing concerts around Los Angeles and shortly afterwards made a triumphant return to New York City in May, 'O3 to play in the Vision Festival. Since then, often working as a leader, he has played, toured, and / or recorded with many of today's music heroes, such as Rashied Ali, Marshall Allen, Fred Anderson, Marilyn Crispell, Ted Curson, Andrew Cyrille, Bill Dixon, Dave Douglas, Andrew Lamb, David Murray, William Parker, Marc Ribot, and Cecil Taylor. In the past few years, Henry has also held a number of residencies and offered workshops and master classes on major campuses (including Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the University of Gloucestershire at Cheltenham, and several more). He has released several new recordings, made his professional debut on a second instrument (the violin) at the age of 7O, has now published the first volume of his poetry, "Signs Along the Road," and has been creating illustrations to accompany his new recordings and publications. Henry has received many honors in recent years, including four Meet the Composer grants and a grant from the Acadia Foundation. He can be heard on more than 8O recordings on various labels, including Atlantic, Ayler Records, Blue Note, Columbia, ESP-Disk, ILK Music, Impulse!, JazzNewYork Productions, Pi Recordings, Porter Records, Prestige, Riverside, and Verve. He now lives and teaches in New York City. Please visit his Web site for more information: http://www.henrygrimes.com. Thanks! Margaret Davis Grimes http://www.henrygrimes.com musicmargaret@earthlink.net

Getting back to the subject of the music of Cecil Taylor, if I may, he played solo on June 2Oth at the Ethical Culture Society auditorium here in New York City as part of the JVC Jazz Festival; George Cables also played solo as the opener. They had an enormous Steinway to play, but it was not in top condition, and it was painted bright red as though it were a garish piece of furniture. There was a review in "The New York Times," but apparently the critic heard some other concert than the one we heard. Ah, well, no surprise. Mr. Taylor is scheduled to play duets with Tony Oxley at the Village Vanguard, also here in New York City, July 15th-2Oth ('O8), www.villagevanguard.net/html/schedule.htm. Doubtless there are more Cecil Taylor concerts scheduled as well, but one I know about is listed at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco on Friday, October 24th in the San Francisco Jazz Festival: www.sfjazz.org/concerts/2008/fall/artists/Taylor.asp. (photo by Vanita or Joe Monk, Berlin, 'O3) About what Prof. Braxton may have paid the musicians in his opera project, I haven't done any research or made any inquiries on this, but I heard that he had just won his MacArthur "genius" award (some $3OO,OOO in cash at the time), and that is how he wanted to spend it. And he did. (Does anyone know the Sara Teasdale poem that includes the line "Spend all you have for loveliness"?) Very briefly, on the topic of what individual musicians get paid for concerts (or recordings), often it's the producer and / or manager and/ or booking agent who handles this, and it's a great relief to the leader not to have to get involved with the business side of things at all, though the leader CAN set down a ruling such as "Everybody in my band gets paid the same as I do" (I hate to tell you how rare those leaders are, but they do exist), or "I get half, and you divide up the other half with the rest of the musicians," or "Give the trumpet player more because he wrote three of the arrangements," or.... If sidemen / woman have complaints, they can address them to the leader, but most likely their contract, if they have one, will come from a business entity such as the booking agency. Sometimes there isn't any contract because only the leader has one, and of course the side players don't know its provisions, so it's impossible to know what to ask for. And without an individual contract, there is no recourse. "King Ubu," no doubt you were joking, but about musicians exploiting their colleagues, whether young or not, it's very sad when this happens. Not only does it cause the exploited ones hardship (unless they have independent means), but it teaches them the wrong lessons.

The great bassist (and now violinist and published poet) Henry Grimes has a one-hour solo bass CD recorded at the WKCR studios, Columbia University, New York City on June 1st, 2OO3, only about four months after his return to the music world after more than 3O years away. WKCR held a five-day 'round-the-clock Henry Grimes radio festival in celebration, and Henry played and spoke on the air daily. On June 1st, the last day of the radio festival, someone mentioned the Philadelphia pianist known as the Legendary Hassan, a great musician Henry had known and worked with when they were youngsters. The spirit of Hassan Ibn Ali entered and filled Henry's awareness that evening, and when Ben Young asked Henry how he would like to end the broadcast, Henry decided to play a solo in gratitude to all, to express all his feelings at this momentous time in his life, and to honor Hassan Ibn Ali. Henry's hour-long solo was based on a line Hassan showed him and wanted him to learn, as Henry was supposed to record with him and Max Roach, a date that Art Davis ended up playing instead, since Henry for some unremembered reason couldn't make the record date. You can hear Art Davis playing the same line on the piece Hassan named "Three-Four Vs. Six-Eight Four-Four Ways." (If anyone would like to purchase a copy of Henry's bass solo, please send me an Email: musicmargaret@earthlink.net. It has an original drawing by Henry Grimes on the cover.) Hassan Ibn Ali is remembered by musicians as someone with such an enormous need to play the piano that he would climb into musicians' windows if he found out they had a piano, go straight to it and start playing, and it would be very difficult to get him to leave, which makes me wonder whether he had a home with no piano, or worse still, no home. Henry remembers the last time he saw Hassan was at Tadd Dameron's place on the lower East Side of Manhattan rehearsing with a big band.

Jazz at Lincoln Center recorded the trio in concert last March, using some extremely advanced "surround-sound" technol-oh-gee. Afterwards we were taken into a control booth that looked like the cockpit of the Mother Ship inside and were permitted to listen to a few minutes of the recording, and the music came at us from all directions, glowing and soaring and totally gorgeous. We have never received a copy of the recording, and we were told Lincoln Center would use it "for educational purposes only," and Henry was never given a release to sign, so I don't know what will ever come of it. As to other recordings being released, that would be something for Cecil Taylor and his people to handle, and we have heard nothing about this possibility so far. By the way, Cecil Taylor is playing with William Parker and Pheeroan akLaff on the 31st of this month at the Blue Note in New York City. Cecil called Henry for the date a couple of weeks ago, but we'll be in Norway then at the start of the Spiritual Unity tour.

Marc Ribot's Spiritual Unity, with Marc Ribot (leader, guitars, voice), Roy Campbell, Jr. (trumpets), and Chad Taylor (drums), and featuring Henry Grimes (double-bass, violin), on tour in Norway, Denmark, Turkey, Switzerland, and France: Friday, February 1st: concert at Sardinen USF in Kulturhuset USF, Nordnes, Georgernes Verft 3, Bergen, Norway, 1O p.m., +47 55 31 55 7O; Saturday, February 2nd: Henry Grimes workshop, 2:3O-4:3O p.m., & Marc Ribot workshop, 4:3O-6:3O p.m., followed by concert at 8, all at Hall Toll, Skansengaten 2, 4OO6 Stavanger, Norway, +47 51 51 72 32, www.hall-toll.no/index.cfm?id=126574, post@hall-toll.nom, sjf@maijazz.no; Sunday, February 3rd: concert at Copenhagen Jazz House, Niels Hemminsens Gade 1O, 1OO9K Copenhagen, Denmark, 8:3O p.m., +45 33 152 6OO, +45 33 932 O13, www.jazzhouse.dk, live@jazzhouse.dk, www.vinterjazz.dk/Start.aspx, info@vinterjazz.dk; Tuesday, February 5th: concert at Is Sanat Arts & Culture Centre, Istanbul Hall, Is Kuleleri, Kule 1, Kat:17, 3433O Levent, Istanbul, Turkey, 8 p.m., +9O (O2) 12 316 1O 83, www.issanat.com.tr, www.issanat.com.tr/About.aspx?LanguageID=2, tickets from www.issanat.com.tr/ticketsales.aspx?LanguageID=2; Thursday, February 7th: concert at Moods in Schiffbau, Schiffbaustrasse 6, Zurich, Switzerland, 8:3O p.m., +41 (O)44 276 8O OO, www.moods.ch, info@moods.ch; Friday, February 8th: concert at Pole Sud, 1, Rue de Bourgogne, 671OO Strasbourg, France, 8:3O p.m., +33 (O)3 88 39 23 4O, www.pole-sud.fr, infos@pole-sud.fr; Saturday, February 9th: concert at Cite de la Musique, 221, avenue Jean Jaurs, 75O19 Paris, France, 8 p.m., +33 1 44 84 45 58, +33 (O)1 44 84 44 84, www.cite-musique.fr/anglais/spectacles/_database/S04495.htm, www.cite-musique.fr (Metro Porte de Pantin, line 5). Opening: Laurent Bardainne w/ Dean Bowman, Mami Chan, Arnaud Roulin, Vincent Taeger, Nicolas Villebrun. Find the Spiritual Unity CD at: www.pirecordings.com/pi15/index.html! From "The Village Voice," 6/13/O5: "The phone rang shortly after I put on Spiritual Unity's self-titled CD for the first time. And recognizing track two as Albert Ayler's 'Spirits' from the next room, I thought for a moment there that I was hearing a tenor saxophone -- it was Marc Ribot on guitar, heavy on the tremolo... Leaving out the saxophone works in Spiritual Unity's favor: Ribot, trumpeter Roy Campbell, drummer Chad Taylor, and back-from-oblivion bassist Henry Grimes are going for Ayler's essence, not his sound, and invidious comparisons are avoided. Turning cowboy on 'Bells,' Ribot sounds like he's thinking about his darling Clementine rather than Ayler's holy ghost, a lovely, reflective moment before the crash-bang ending. More than just lending a touch of authenticity, Grimes's powerful bowing keeps everyone on an even keel as they switch from Slug's-era lurch to square dance to (I swear) polka. Taylor dances nimbly on his cymbals, and the criminally underrated Campbell is his usual puckish self. Spirits rejoice! Just what we needed to complete the long overdue Albert Ayler renaissance." -- Francis Davis. marcribot.com, henrygrimes.com, roycampbellmusic.com, centerstage.net/music/whoswho/ChadTaylor.html. (Margaret here. I tried to upload a photo of the group, but the "upload" symbol just kept going 'round and 'round with no results, so you can see the photo at henrygrimes.com/schedule.html.)

We're doing fine, Chuck, and thanks for asking. We think of you and Ann often and hope to be back in Michigan one fine day soon. Henry has rehearsals next week for Marc Ribot's Spiritual Unity tour, taking place in Europe the first part of February (tour details can be seen at www.henrygrimes.com and click on the "schedule" button). We fly to Norway on January 29th, which is why Henry couldn't join Cecil Taylor at the Blue Note on the 31st. We've lots of big plans for the rest of 2OO8, but I shouldn't really be posting them into this particular thread. But are you releasing any new recordings on your wonderful label? If so, let's be in touch about that!

To put it bluntly, the "CTResearch" list seems to be mostly people involved in furtive concert taping without asking the musicians or venues for permission, and swapping the tapes, and maybe in some cases bootlegging (meaning selling) them. That stuff is zero percent cool with me. But once in a while I post in a concert listing to that list, hoping that a few ticket sales will result from people who genuinely want to hear Cecil Taylor play in person. In case you're in Austria (or can get there), at www.porgy.at/e-index.html, there's a listing for Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley on Sunday, February 24th at 8:3O p.m. (2O:3O) at the club Porgy and Bess, Riemergasse 11, A-1O1O Vienna, Austria, +43 1 5O3 7O O9, tickets and reservations +43 1 512 88 11, www.porgy.at, ticket@porgy.at, porgy@porgy.at.

Many thanks for the good wishes! I notice I haven't posted Henry's very busy schedule here lately, so here it is for October-December, 'O7. Some of the dates have already taken place: Monday, October 1st-Sunday, October 7th: Yoriyuki Harada (piano) with Tobias Delius (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Henry Grimes (double-bass, violin), Tristan Honsinger (cello), and Louis Moholo (drums, percussion), tour in Japan & Korea: Monday, October 1st: Concert at Suginami Kokaido Concert Hall, Tokyo, Japan, www.suginamikoukaidou.com; Tuesday, October 2nd: Concert at Sakura-Za, Kofu City, Japan, http://sakuraza.jp; Wednesday, October 3rd: Concert at Nagoya City Theatre, Nagoya, Japan, www.bunka758.or.jp/02shisetsu/02shisetsu_16.html; Thursday, October 4th: Concert at Kyoto Cultural Museum, Kyoto, Japan, www.bunpaku.or.jp; Sunday, October 7th: Concert at Buam Art Hall, Seoul, Korea, www.buamart.co. Saturdays, October 2Oth, December 8th, December 22nd: Henry Grimes (acoustic bass, violin, poetry) & Senegalese drummer Ibrahima Diokhane, Le Grand Dakar Senegalese restaurant, 285 Grand Ave. betw. Lafayette Ave. & Clifton Place, Brooklyn, NY, sets at 8 and 1O p.m., 718-398-89OO, delicious Senegalese cuisine, www.granddakar.com, legranddakar@gmail.com. "A" train to Hoyt / Schermerhorn and change to "G" to Classon Ave., or "C" to Clinton-Washington. Saturday, October 27th-Friday, November 2nd: Henry Grimes trio w/ Andrew Lamb (saxophones, flutes, clarinet) & Newman Taylor Baker (drums, percussion) (Sublime Communication), tour in the Azores and continental Portugal: Saturday, October 27th: Festival Internacional de Jazz de Ponta Delgada, Teatro Micaelense, Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal, www.teatromicaelense.pt; Tuesday, October 3Oth: 2nd-grade workshop with the trio at the Carlucci School, Sintra, Portugal, www.caislisbon.org, photos at www.caislisbon.org/about.cfm?subpage=698; Wednesday, October 31st: Galeria Ze dos Bois (ZDB), Lisbon, Portugal, www.zedosbois.org/zdbmuzique/index.htm; Thursday, November 1st: Forum Cultural, Moita, Portugal, cmmoita@cm-moita.pt, www.cm-moita.pt/cmm/index.php; Friday, November 2nd: Encontros Internacionais de Jazz de Coimbra, Salão Brazil, Coimbra, Portugal, http://salaobrazil.blogspot.com; Tuesday, November 13th in Paris, France, and Wednesday through Saturday, November 14th-17th in Dudelange, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg: Sunny Murray's New Change of the Century Orchestra, "Sunny's Time Now" documentary project covering travel on the band bus, rehearsals, recording, and grand-finale concert in the main auditorium of the Centre Culturel Regional in Dudelange, with Tony Bevan (bass, tenor, & soprano saxophones), John Edwards (double-bass), Bobby Few (piano), Henry Grimes (double-bass, violin), Khan Jamal (vibraphone, marimba), Sabir Mateen (tenor and alto saxophones), Grachan Moncur, III (trombone), Odean Pope (tenor saxophone), Richard Raux (tenor and soprano saxophone), Sonny Simmons (alto saxophone), Monnette Sudler (guitar), www.ptd.lu/stn.htm, www.dudelange.lu/culture, info@pdt.lu, www.opderschmelz.lu, info@opderschmelz.lu: Tuesday, November 13th: musicians arrive in Paris, France and spend the night; Wednesday, November 14th: documentary filming of bus travel from Paris to Dudelange and first rehearsal of the orchestra; Thursday & Friday, November 15th & 16th: documentary filming of orchestra rehearsals; Saturday, November 17th: grand-finale concert (to be filmed for documentary), Centre Culturel Regional, 1 rue du Centenaire, L-3475 Dudelange, www.dudelange.lu/culture, culture@dudelange.lu; Sunday, November 18th: documentary filming of musicians' return to Paris by bus. Also Sunday, November 18th: Henry Grimes (double-bass, violin) & Sabir Mateen (saxophones, flutes, clarinets) quartet featuring Rasul Siddik (trumpets) & John Betsch (drums), Sunset Club, 6O Rue des Lombards, Paris, France, part of the club's 25th anniversary celebration, 9 p.m., +33 (O)1 4O 26 84 41, info@sunset-sunside.com, www.sunset-sunside.com. Wednesday, November 21st: Henry Grimes (double-bass, violin) w/ Paul Dunmall (tenor saxophone)and Mark Sanders (drums), presented by Leeds Jazz at the Wardrobe, 6 St. Peter's Square, Leeds LS9 8AH, England (U.K.), www.thewardrobe.co.uk, www.leedsjazz.org.uk/tickets.html, music@thewardrobe.co.uk, tickets also available from Jumbo Records, St. John's Center, Leeds, +44 (O)1 13 245 557O. Thursday and Friday, November 22nd & 23rd: Henry Grimes (double-bass, violin) with Paul Dunmall (tenor saxophone) & Roger Turner (drums), University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, England (U.K.), www.glos.ac.uk/departments/externalrelations/wpu/comdev.cfm, www.glos.ac.uk/faculties/mac/whatson/index.cfm, Henry speaking at the University on Thursday, + trio concert at Xposed Club on Friday, Pittsville Studios, Media Atrium Bldg., Albert Road, +44 O1 242 714 94O, http://myspace.com/thexposedclub... ... and much more to follow ... For bookings, high-res photos, further information, or to purchase a recording or book by the NEW Henry Grimes, please contact Margaret Davis, musicmargaret@earthlink.net, Voicemail 212-841-O899. www.henrygrimes.com. Thanks!

People who find themselves in New York City this summer (and I can't think of a better place to be) might want to make all three of the following dates. They're all free and open to the public! I might add that the outdoor concerts are part of a well-funded series, though, so the musicians do get paid quite decently. (L-R) James Zollar, Henry Grimes, Newman Taylor Baker, J.D. Allen Tuesday, July 17th, 12:3O-1:45 p.m. (as mentioned above by Mark Sheldon & J. Larsen): The Henry Grimes Quartet featuring J.D. Allen, James Zollar, & Newman Taylor Baker, "Summer on the Plaza" series at the Grace Building, southeast corner of 43rd St. & 6th Ave. (Ave. of the Americas), Manhattan, outdoors, free and open to the public. The quartet will celebrate our African-American heroes by playing pieces written by or made known by musicians whose images are shown in the photo exhibit "Let Your Motto Be Resistance" across the street (northwest corner) at the International Center of Photography, including Louis Armstrong, Nat "King" Cole, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Jimi Hendrix, Billie Holiday, Paul Robeson, Bessie Smith, Billy Strayhorn, Sarah Vaughan, Mary Lou Williams, and many more, information 212-417-7O72 (concert), 212-857-OOOO (exhibit only), www.brookfieldproperties.com/grace-concerts (click on "Summer on the Plaza"), http://tinyurl.com/2y9l34 (concert listing on the ICP Web site), www.icp.org, http://tinyurl.com/2brtwn (about the ICP exhibit), hwall@brookfieldproperties.com, info@icp.org. Take M5, M6, M7, or M1O4 bus, or A, B, C, D, E, F, N, Q, R, S, V, W or 1, 2, 3, 7 train to Times Square / 42nd St. / Port Authority. Also Tuesday, July 17th, 7 p.m: Marc Ribot's Spiritual Unity, w/ Roy Campbell, Jr. and Chad Taylor and featuring Henry Grimes, River to River Festival at the World Financial Center on the plaza, West St. betw. Vesey and Liberty St's, Manhattan, free and open to the public, 212-945-O5O5, www.worldfinancialcenter.com/calendar/default.asp?typeId=1, info@worldfinancialcenter.com. NOTE: Marc Ribot will also play solo and with his group Ceramic Dog. Take 2, 3, 4, 5, C, J, M, Z trains to Fulton St./ Broadway-Nassau, E or PATH train to World Trade Center, R or W train to City Hall, 1 train to Rector St., M1 or M6 bus to Broadway & Liberty St's, M9 bus to South End Ave., or M2O or M22 bus to North End Ave. Wednesday, July 18th, 8 p.m: Henry Grimes reading his poetry from his first published book, "Signs Along the Road," and playing his violin, Deacon Blue Cafe, 417 Prospect Place at Grand Ave. near Eastern Parkway & the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, 8 p.m., free and open to the public, 347-529-O3O7, www.deaconbluecafe.com, deaconbluecafe@optonline.net. Take 4 or 5 train to Franklin Ave. Let our motto be resistance! For bookings, additional photos, interviews, CD's, books, etc., please contact Margaret Davis, musicmargaret@earthlink.net, Voicemail 212-841-O899. www.henrygrimes.com

Tony Scott & Henry Grimes, Rome, 2OO3, photo by Barbara Ledda:

Wow, thanks! I'll print it out and give it to Mr. Cecil Taylor in case he doesn't have it already. I know he will love it. He's very proud of their concert together, and he considers her "Zodiac Suite" an absolute masterpiece.

Also Andrew Cyrille. Geri Allen and Reggie Workman used to live there. I guess I should mention that they lived there separately so the rumors don't start.

Sorry for this late notice (I just happened upon this), but Ted Curson is on the air in person right now on New York's greatest radio station, WKCR, 89.9 FM in the New York area, or on the Web at www.wkcr.org. I heard mention that he will be playing on May 2Oth at Victory Hall, 186 Grand St., Jersey City, NJ, 2O1-333-795O or 2O1-2O8-O51O, www.victoryhall.org, and on May 25th at the Priory, 223 West Market St. in Newark, NJ, 973-242-8O12.

Lazaro the Great wrote, "Andy Bey, the singer/pianist? with Cecil Taylor?" Dear wonderful Lazaro, please check out the *** Cecil Taylor *** thread, maybe starting just about here: www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=526&st=75 and read pages 6 & 7, and don't miss the photo of Cecil Taylor as a Boy Scout around age 11! (I don't know who put the stars into the topic heading, but they may be making the thread hard to find.)

Paul Secor wrote, "But - Cecil as a Boy Scout?" Yes, well, last night Henry and I went to a glorious concert by Olu Dara outdoors in the courtyard of the Studio Museum in Harlem, and we met the actor Terry Carter there, and he gave us a card for an upcoming screening of an Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington documentary he made (it's being shown at the Walter Reade Theater "Come Sunday," April 29th), and I gave Terry a Henry Grimes concert card for May, and he saw that Henry is playing with Cecil at the Blue Note on May 6th. Then he told us that he and Cecil were Boy Scouts in Brooklyn together when they were children and that there was a photo of the two of them on his (Terry's) Web site. So that's how that came about.

Tom Storer wrote, "Cecil Taylor trio featuring Andy Bey? The world's most iconic 'free jazz' pianist meets the world's best singer of standards? Jesus God, I hope someone records that." Cecil Taylor and Andy Bey collaborated in a musical theatre piece called "A Rat's Mass" based on a poem by Adrienne Kennedy back around 1976. And Henry Grimes believes he went to Sunday school with Andy Bey many years before that. Andy Bey is indeed the greatest living singer of standards I know about, but he also has great musical courage and freedom, and he can do just about anything with his voice, and he's also a phenomenal pianist. If any in this group don't know about the great Andy Bey, please see: www.andy-bey.com; a short but solid bio by Alex Henderson at www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3ifwxqt5ld6e~T1; www.myspace.com/andybey; and www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1638560.

Nate Dorward commented on the "steep ticket price though ($55) for a solo gig." To me, $55 is a low price to hear a genius, especially when you think about what people pay to hear Wynton Marsalis or Diana Krall (or, getting silly with it, Madonna). Also, those are presumably Canadian dollars, worth somewhat less than U.S.