Henry Grimes in the Midwest

[Lazaro Vega]

Henry Grimes Trio featuring Andrew Lamb and Newman Taylor Baker designated

"Best Jazz Trio of the Year" by "NYPress" in its "Best of Manhattan" issue,

2OO4!

"Henry Grimes plays the bass with absolute control, spinning tales without

words, enriching the room with the depth of his bass. Newman Taylor Baker

can capture any rhythm and will surprise you two or three times each show

with how far he can take percussion. And Andrew Lamb works his saxophone

and flute, paying close attention to the silence between the sounds,

layering.

When you see this trio listed ... stop what you're doing."

~ Steven Psyllos, Editor, NYPress

Stop what you're doing!

Sat, Oct. 22, 'O5: Henry Grimes Trio w/ Andrew Lamb & Newman Taylor Baker,

Edgefest, Kerrytown Concert House, 415 North 4th Ave., Ann Arbor, Michigan,

Henry Grimes master class at 5, trio concert at 8, 734-769-2999,

KCH@Kerrytown.com,

http://kerrytownconcerthouse.com/calendar/...=10%2F25%2F2005,

http://kerrytownconcerthouse.com/calendar/...79&d=10/25/2005 .

Sun, Oct. 23: Henry Grimes Trio w/ Andrew Lamb & Newman Taylor Baker,

HotHouse, 31 East Balbo Ave., Chicago, 7 & 9:3O p.m., 312-362-97O7,

www.hothouse.net.

Tues., Oct. 25: Henry Grimes Trio w/ Andrew Lamb & Avreeayl Ra*, Grinnell

College, Grinnell, Iowa, 641-269-494O, www.grinnell.edu.

Fri., Oct. 28: Henry Grimes Trio w/ Andrew Lamb & Avreeayl Ra* (IsWhat? duo

opening), Madame Walker Theatre, 617 Indiana Ave., Indianapolis, Indiana, 8

p.m., 317-236-2O99, www.mythopeic.org, www.madamcjwalker.com...

Missing from the music world since the late '6O's, master bassist HENRY

GRIMES has made an unprecedented comeback after receiving the gift of a bass

(a green one called Olive Oil!) from fellow bassist William Parker in

December, 'O2 to replace the instrument Henry was forced to give up some 3O

years earlier. Henry was born in Philadelphia in 1935 and was required to

master five instruments in order to graduate from Mastbaum Technical High

School; after continuing his education at Juilliard, he played brilliantly

on some 5O albums between the mid-'5O's and the mid-'6O's 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. In 1968 Henry took

his bass and drove to San Francisco with drummer Clarence Becton to work

with Jon Hendricks, Al Jarreau, and others; when these dates were over, and

not finding enough work in San Francisco to survive, Henry took his bass (by

then in serious disrepair) to Los Angeles and then to a repair man, who gave

him a high price for the necessary work, and since Henry was unable to pay,

the repairman gave him a small sum for the bass instead, Henry apparently

believing he'd be able to get it back after a while. Sadly, this turned out

not to be the case. Many years passed with nothing heard from him, as he

lived in a single-room occupancy hotel in downtown Los Angeles and sustained

himself with survival work not related to music (construction, maintenance,

janitorial, etc.), writing many handwritten books of poetry, philosophy, and

metaphysics, and studying yoga. Yet after only a few weeks with his new bass

from William Parker, Henry Grimes emerged from his tiny room in early 2OO3

to begin playing concerts again. Soon after, he moved back to New York

City, and in many venues around New York and on tour in the U.S., Canada,

and throughout Western Europe, working almost exclusively as a leader, he

has been making music with Marshall Allen, Fred Anderson, Roy Campbell, Jr.,

Marilyn Crispell, Andrew Cyrille, Bill Dixon, Dave Douglas, Hamid Drake,

Charles Gayle, Edward "Kidd" Jordan, Andrew Lamb, Joe Lovano, Sabir Mateen,

Bennie Maupin, Jemeel Moondoc, David Murray, William Parker, Marc Ribot, and

many more. To the astonishment and joy of all, Henry Grimes is playing at

the very height of his artistic powers (or indeed anyone's), just as though

he had never stopped at all! He's taught workshops and master classes at

City College of New York and JazzInstitut Darmstadt; he was named "Musician

of the Year" by "All About Jazz / New York" at the end of 'O3; he received

prestigious Meet the Composer awards in 'O3 and 'O5; he has been twice

nominated for an "L.A. Weekly" Best Jazz Artist Award ('O3 & 'O4); and he

was recently featured in "Downbeat" (July, 'O5), "JazzTimes" (August, 'O5),

and "Time Out New York" (September, 'O5).

For further information: www.HenryGrimes.com, MusicMargaret@earthlink.net.

ANDREW LAMB (saxophones, flutes) was born in Clinton, North Carolina and

grew up in Chicago and in South Jamaica, Queens. Having studied with AACM

charter member Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre, Mr. Lamb came into the City's

"avant-garde" community in the '7Os, becoming an active presence in the

vibrant Bedford-Stuyvesant arts world at that time, and winning a Brooklyn

Arts Council grant. In 1994, he got the chance to lead a session for

Delmark; he composed all the pieces on "Portrait in the Mist," which

featured a backing unit of vibraphonist Warren Smith, bassist Wilber Morris,

and drummer Andrei Strobert. Andrew Lamb has since recorded duets with

Warren Smith ("Duet," WISland, '99) and "Dance of the Prophet," made a trio

recording with Eugene Cooper and Andrei Strobert (Kiki Records), and in

2OO3 released "Pilgrimage" on CIMP with Tom Abbs and Andrei Strobert; his

latest release, with his group The Moving Form, is "Year of the Endless

Moment" (Engine Studios). Andrew Lamb and his ensembles remain a regular

presence in the New York area and have frequently played in the annual

Vision Festival, which began in 1996. In 2OO1, Andrew took part in Alan

Silva's big-band project called the Sound Visions Orchestra; the following

year he toured with AACM-affiliated drummer Alvin Fielder. This year,

Andrew has played in Henry Grimes's trio with Newman Taylor Baker in Berlin

and in the Henry Grimes Quartet with Marshall Allen and Hamid Drake in the

1Oth annual Vision Festival. Always, Andrew Lamb's music rises out of the

African-American jazz, blues and church traditions and is deeply spiritual,

profoundly emotional, and readily accessible to all who hear him. Wrote

Steven Loewy for "All Music Guide," Andrew Lamb is "a serious musician

seeking to uplift his soul through art, and, like John Coltrane and his

progeny, Lamb's vehicle is the psalm-like expression of his tenor saxophone.

The results reflect his quest, testifying to his musical abilities, enormous

potential, and depth of character."

Further information: theblacklamb@netzero.net,

www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=2660.

Virginia native NEWMAN TAYLOR BAKER (playing drums Oct. 22nd and 23rd),

termed a "ceaselessly resourceful percussionist" by "Village Voice" writer

Nat Hentoff, has long worked to bridge traditional African talking drum and

Western European tympani, creating a diatonically tuned enhanced drum set

that allows him to develop original compositions in a broad range of

musical expressions. As a young man he studied composition and percussion,

receiving a B.S. degree in Music Education from Virginia State U. and an

M.M. from East Carolina U. Newman has played and toured in over 4O

countries worldwide with Billy Bang, Kenny Barron, Bobby Bradford, Henry

Grimes, Billy Harper, Eddie Henderson, Joe Henderson, Fred Hopkins and

Diedre Murray, Ahmad Jamal, Leroy Jenkins, Jeanne Lee, James Moody, Dewey

Redman, Sam Rivers, Henry Threadgill, McCoy Tyner, Reggie Workman, the

Delaware and Richmond Symphonies, and more. Meanwhile, Newman is also a

dedicated educator of long standing, noted for his work with the Avodah

Dance Ensemble's Education Programs and with Mickey D. and Friends Dance

Company. Other projects include Celebration of the Drum Set: Give the

Drummer Some (Warwick, NY Summer Arts Festival), the Congolese Missa Luba

(St. Andrew and Matthew Church, Wilmington, DE), The 3 Willies (music by

Leroy Jenkins, libretto by Homer Jackson), Dialogue for 2OOO: A Duet for

Drum Set (Whitney Museum of American Art), the Obie award-winning Running

Man (music by Diedre Murray, text by Cornelius Eady), and Walcott Songs

(music by Henry Threadgill, text by Derek Walcott). Newman is the recipient

of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in composition for his

project Singin' Drums. He teaches privately, is a lecturer at Rutgers U. in

Newark, works with Young Audiences / New York, Arts Horizons, Arts Genesis,

Friends of the Arts, and Jazzmobile, and serves on the Board of the

Williamsburgh Music Center. About Newman's playing, Rich Scheinin advises

in his liner notes for Billy Harper's recording "If Our Hearts Could Only

See" (DIW), "Listen to the sparks, the effortless swing. With a single ping

on a cymbal, he moves the music into a groove that's wide enough for a

listener to lie down inside it."

Further information: ntbsd@hotmail.com .

Chicago master drummer / percussionist *AVREEAYL RA (playing drums Oct.

25th and 28th) was born in Chicago in 1947 and still lives there today.

He is a renowned musician always in demand by visiting jazz artists in

Chicago. Avreeayl's father, a tenor saxophonist, was mentor to many young

Chicago musicians, including John Gilmore, later the mainstay of Sun Ra's

Arkestra; Avreeayl's father played in one of Sun Ra's early Chicago bands,

and Sun Ra played in one of his groups as well. Avreeayl is a long-term

member of the Chicago AACM, his relationship with the seminal music

organization having begun with early studies with AACM co-founder Kelan

Philip Cohran. Avreeayl has performed and /or recorded with Fred Anderson,

Amiri Baraka, Fontella Bass, Lester Bowie, Ari Brown, Oscar Brown, Jr.,

Henry Butler, Henry Byrd ("Professor Longhair"), Hamid Drake, Malachi

Favors, Donald Raphael Garrett, Charles Gayle, Henry Grimes, Billy Harper,

Joseph Jarman, Edward "Kidd" Jordan, Nicole Mitchell, Sun Ra, Pharoah

Sanders, Malachi Thompson, and many more. The venerable "Chicago Tribune"

music critic Howard Reich wrote recently, "An indispensable Chicago

innovator, Avreeayl Ra shapes the music-making swirling around him with

remarkable precision and poise... extraordinarily sensitive percussion."

John Kelman of IndieJazz.com has described Avreeayl's playing as "part Tony

Williams, part Elvin Jones, and all Avreeayl Ra." And John Litweiler in "The

Chicago Sun-Times": "He supplies ingenious sound colors and textures."

Avreeayl considers himself greatly blessed to have come up in the richly

progressive Chicago "avant-garde" jazz community. Though he has lived

briefly in New Orleans and New York and has toured widely in the U.S.,

Canada, Europe, the Far East, and Africa, he has always returned home to

live in Chicago. Besides playing and recording music, these days Avreeayl

devotes much of his time and phenomenal energy to documenting on film the

hidden roots of Chicago music, focusing on the Congo Beach Initiative (which

was inspired by Congo Beach in New Orleans), a drum- and spirit-centered

society in which Chicago musicians, dancers, and artists of all

descriptions, young and elders alike, have congregated for many years at

63rd Street and Lakefront, playing music and practicing their spiritual and

healing arts throughout the night, while developing an undying, evolving,

spontaneous, organic communal life based in the rhythms, sounds, images, and

spirituality of the African-American soul. Avreeayl is also documenting the

Chicago jazz community, in particular life stories of the elders in the

music. And another project is the study and documentation of modalities for

healing and spiritual balance both inside and outside the music.

Further information: www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=2652,

liberationmusic@hotmail.com .

<< >> << >> << >> << >> << >>

P.S. from Vision Festival producer Patricia Nicholson Parker:

"Henry Grimes is a very special gift to this scene. He plays with so much

dedication and gentleness in his music. The group with Andrew Lamb and

Newman Taylor-Baker under Henry's leadership is filled with freedom and zest

and enthusiasm and great music. You really can hear the special voice of

each musician. They give each other all the space and yet all the fullness

of sound. It is wonderful to hear."

<< > >< >< >< > <> <> > > < > > < >

For bookings, interviews, press seats, high-resolution photos, & further

information:

Margaret Davis

Henry Grimes's partner (and manager),

www.HenryGrimes.com,

musicmargaret@earthlink.net,

Voicemail 212-841-O899.

NOTE: No recording or filming is allowed at any Henry Grimes concert

without written permission in advance. Photos are permitted if taken

discreetly without disturbing the audience (no flash during the music), and

we appreciate receiving JPEG copies or prints.

[sheldonm]

Lazaro,

Margaret sent me a note about the show in Indy. I spoke to her about photographing this; it should be a great show!

Thanks for posting!

Mark

[ghost of miles]

I'll be at that Indy show, Mark--will keep an eye out for you.