Henry Grimes: Purchase CDs & Books

Newly released !!:

Henry's astounding, impassioned non-stop 2&1/2-hour-plus bass and violin session for ILK Music (Denmark) that took place in March, 'O8 was released in January, 'O9 (ilkmusic.com #151 CD, available from downtownmusicgallery.com, amazon.co.uk, buycd.com). Here's a review from Bruce Lee Gallanter of Downtown Music Gallery:

"Since moving back to New York in July of 2OO3, after a disappearance of some thirty years, master bassist Henry Grimes continues to astound us all with his leaps and strides. Since his grand return, he has jumped into the fire and played with other giants like Cecil Taylor, David Murray, Rashied Ali, Marshall Allen, Dave Douglas, Marc Ribot, Bill Dixon and so many others. This fabulous two-disc set features an entire unedited and uninterrupted solo bass and violin performance. Henry takes his time and works his way through many layers and textures of plucked and bowed double bass and violin, digging deep into his most creative world of sounds. One would think that it is difficult to sustain interest throughout a long solo bass performance, but not here. This disc is superbly recorded and Henry's bass sounds warm, strong and life-affirming. I turned this disc up while listening to it at home and in the store and let it wash over me like layers of warm molasses. It sounds and feels so good to me and no doubt will work its magic over you."

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And writes professor and music journalist Marc Medwin of American University in Washington, D.C:

"I just love to try to follow Henry's mind as it jumps, whirls, whirls back, jumps again, wraps around an idea, holds on for a moment or two, or longer, parenthesizes, contrasts, goes contrapuntal, and then off again ... Thanks to Henry for this music!!!!"

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Marc Medwin also wrote this review for "Dusted" Magazine:

"Finally, here is a beautifully recorded two-disc document capturing the phenomenal improviser Henry Grimes in full flight. Ilk Music offers up two-and-a-half hours of solo Grimes, on both bass and violin, in some of the free-est music he’s committed to disc… Bill Dixon defines a soloist as 'the smallest orchestra possible', and nothing could encapsulate Grimes’ polyphonies more accurately. The entire pitch spectrum becomes his plaything as he glides effortlessly through dense overtonal and microtonal labyrinths of his own creation, switching between arco and pizzicato, each reinforcing the other with pithy motivic fragments. At key moments in these rich notestreams, Grimes introduces modal repose. He may discover a rhythmic or melodic pattern, then transpose, repeat, possibly augment. The tempo, relative as it is in late Coltrane, slows considerably, and there is often a drone as Grimes weaves melodies above or below it. Much of the intrigue of his playing comes from the emergence of these movements in his mind. So unpredictable is each motivic and timbral transformation that when Grimes trades bass for violin, you’d never guess that a half-hour has already passed. His first violin excursion is quite brief, lasting only a few minutes, followed by a breathtaking display of pizzicato melodic invention on bass, reminiscent of Charlie Haden’s pioneering improvisations with Ornette Coleman… [Mr.] Grimes is singularly inventive here, ideas flowing more smoothly and with the utmost variety of tempo and harmonic implication. On violin, he rarely employs pizzicato, preferring bowed runs, leaps, and falling cascades of double stops. Amidst these, we are treated to drone-based passages where he’ll let one string ring as he interjects the others with counterpoint. One memorable moment finds him in uhr-blues mode as he caresses a swinging old-timey riff, conjuring his own past. He takes off only to return a minute later, coaxing new life from the dance-like rhythms ... All the vigor and beauty one performer can offer."

Thank you, Marc!

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Mitch Myers wrote this review for "JazzTimes":

Since 2OO3, ’6Os free-jazz bassist Henry Grimes has experienced a resurgence on the performance scene that has been touching and inspiring. His new two-CD set of solo improvisations emphasizes that remarkable comeback, which can now be considered complete. With more than two and a half hours of fairly continuous playing, Solo is a dramatic tour de force. Alternating between long passages on the bass and violin, Grimes plucks and bows with great clarity and imagination, and a seemingly endless supply of bold musical ideas. Clearly, Grimes is the medicine man in residence, playing bass equal to any of his ’6Os contemporaries and evoking fond memories of the late Leroy Jenkins on the fiddle. It’s the fearless confidence Grimes exudes on bass that is most impressive, and his stream-of-consciousness solo work puts him right up there in the pantheon of rare improvisers like his old boss Cecil Taylor. Grimes’ technical mastery is sometimes overshadowed by his amazing creativity, but his organic skill with string-driven-things should serve as a clinic for devotees. There’s a lot of music to digest here and it would be difficult to absorb the entire collection in one sitting, but a brilliant thread of continuity runs through the performances and the end result is never contrived... his unencumbered process shows him gaining in all ways at the age of 7O, and he’s a true model of self-realization through music.

Thank you, Mitch!

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From "All About Jazz" / Italia: On the surface of Grimes's album is a monologue with a narrative pace: the powerful sound, round and sharp, richness of rhythm with bowing variations, with a consciousness of the flow of the piece, where the rhythmic aspect and overtones speak loudly to the listener. A swinging passage stretches in and leads us on through an irregular rhapsodic journey. Pieces of familiar melodies emerge and quickly draw us into a whirlwind of a fantastic history. Grimes masterfully controls the sound, exploring the harmonies with the wisdom of a master painter who suffuses whitewashes with tones. He enfolds the melodic designs with infinite variations of tact and sensibility. Yet the sense of drama of the narrative is always alive. In instances, he takes up the violin, an instrument he had studied as a child, and darting through the piece are arrows of sweet brightness. -- Giuseppe Segala.

Thanks, Giuseppe!

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And this from "Bass World," the publication of the International Society of Bassists:

"Solo" is a 2&1/2-hour improvisatory tour de force by Henry Grimes. In this remarkable two-disc set, we hear up close and in thrilling detail the variety and depth of timbres Henry creates on the bass and violin. It is relentlessly energetic and all-inclusive. Grimes consistently surprises with lightning-quick changes of material. The music is at turns disjunct and conjunct, atonal and diatonic, non-pitched and melodic, arhythmic and grooving; it is a study in variety and timbral / rhythmic / melodic opportunity. Congratulations to Henry Grimes for this fascinating and deeply moving recording. We look forward to hearing many more. -- Mark Urness.

Thank you, Mark!

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We are also very proud to announce the release of the Profound Sound Trio's thrilling Vision Festival concert of June, 'O8, released by Porter Records (PRCD-4O32) in June, 'O9 under the title "Opus de Life." The Profound Sound Trio, a co-leader group, comprises Andrew Cyrille (drums), Paul Dunmall (tenor saxophone, bagpipes), and Henry Grimes (acoustic bass and violin), porterrecords.com/id53, available from cduniverse.com, JR.com, dustygroove.com.

Wrote Derek Briggs, reporting from the 'O9 Cheltenham Jazz Festival:

What’s free jazz? At its worst, it produced gut-wrenching noise, at its rare best, massively memorable music, advancing improvisational and rhythmic skills to new heights. And the Profound Sound Trio is the best, with U.S. originators bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Andrew Cyrille, and younger -- but still a free veteran –- UK saxist Paul Dunmall. Grimes kicked off with an intriguing extended solo bowing. Dunmall developed a classic blues phrase into something phenomenal. Cyrille watched silently, like an extinct volcano, but then erupted into a silver shimmer of cymbals and driving drum lines. Forget about tunes: The trio in full flight was awesome, pure telepathic improvisation. Free jazz is back. All it needed was the virtuosity these players displayed in solo spots. Images linger: Grimes’ mystical harmonics on violin, Dunmall’s release to churning late-Coltrane exploration, Cyrille’s transformation of a march beat into a drum symphony.

Thank you, Derek!

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And Ed Hazell in the Fall 'O9 issue (#55) of "Signal to Noise":

This is the kind of set free improvisers and their fans always hope for and rarely get. One expects music full of energy, subtlety, and exploration from saxophonist Paul Dunmall, bassist Henry Grimes, and drummer Andrew Cyrille, the players who make up the Profound Sound Trio; it's the kind of music they routinely make. But something happened on this stifling hot night at last year's Vision Festival that lifted all three of these men at the same time to the peak of their capabilities. This hour's worth of music simply overflows with life and passion, bursts explosively open into one sonically amazing area after another, but never loses its focus along its twisting pathways. In its effortless grace, musicality, wit, boundless ideas, and swing, Cyrille's performance is extraordinary in every way. His snare and bass drum manage to sound like both a talking drum and Kenny Clarke; his conversational approach to rhythms (swinging but not necessarily anchored to a stated beat) and nuanced cymbal work are always perfectly attuned to what's going on in the music. Grimes sounds totally alert and engaged on both bass and violin. He plucks out his lowest notes to form a troubled bed for the music, with an urgency that keeps the music moving without pushing it aggressively. His bowed work is celestial, yearning, beautiful, and also fueled by a forward momentum that keeps Cyrille and Dunmall at a boil. This is one of his best post-comeback recordings. And Dunmall is a tenor gladiator, strong, cathartic, and detailed in his improvising. His phrases build up ridiculous momentum and tension, and then disintegrate into wails and rasps. He spirals upward into his altissimo register in response to Grimes' violin and lodges himself deep in Cyrille's rhythmic abstractions. It's a performance in which they just keep challenging one another, and the challenge is met every time. -- Ed Hazell.

Thank you, Ed!

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Having shared recent dates in England with lost but now found bassist Henry Grimes, British saxophone colossus Paul Dunmall returned the compliment here, with masterful drummer Andrew Cyrille, in one of the Vision Festival’s highlights. Over the years Dunmall has forged and tested his muscular playing in almost every conceivable situation, such that he dealt authoritatively with whatever he faced, evidenced by one dazzling passage which saw Grimes’ abstract violin playing instantly echoed back at him by Dunmall’s tenor. As a trio they were incredibly responsive, and their attention to detail ensured that their free-form outing took on the structural coherence that sets the great apart from the merely good. -- John Sharpe, “All About Jazz,” August, ‘O8.

Thank you, John!

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This music not only has the elemental sound of human beings, the blood pumping, the synapses snapping, but it has that astronomical scope too, the crackle, shudder of space. All three make sounds that contain multiple layers of timbre, tone and overtone, which on the surface might sometimes feel like chaos, but if it is chaos, it contains all manner of truths and beauties. -- Peter Bacon, "The Jazz Breakfast," May, 'O9.

Thanks, Peter!

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What’s free jazz? At its worst, it produces gut-wrenching noise, at its rare best, massively memorable music, advancing improvisational and rhythmic skills to new heights. And the Profound Sound Trio is the best, with U.S. originators bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Andrew Cyrille, and younger -- but still a free veteran -- U.K. saxist Paul Dunmall. Grimes kicked off with an intriguing extended solo bowing. Dunmall developed a classic blues phrase into something phenomenal. Cyrille watched silently, like an extinct volcano, but then erupted into a silver shimmer of cymbals and driving drum lines. Forget about tunes: The trio in full flight was awesome, pure telepathic improvisation. Free jazz is back… -- Derek Briggs, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, "Crackerjack."

Thanks, Derek!

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Henry Grimes and drummer Andrew Cyrille bring their legendary wares to the proverbial table, in concert with powerhouse tenor saxophonist Paul Dunmall. Sparks were flying during the concert amid Dunmall’s colossal sound and pressure-cooker-like element, where the trio tackles the free zone with a vengeance. Grimes’ authoritative single-note lines and Cyrille’s inventive polyrhythmic fury offer Dunmall an unrestricted yet fertile launching pad, contrasted by the artists’ open-ended dialogues. The tenor saxophonist sojourns into tension-and-release statements while injecting melodic hooks into the grand scheme of matters. It’s improvisation that makes near-perfect sense, an element that should come as no surprise, given the respective musicians’ credentials and enviable feats within these expansive frameworks. The trio stimulates your neural network with a myriad of highs, lows, and climactic opuses. Cyrille’s whirlwind-style undercurrents help generate a vast plane along with Grimes’ buoyant phrasings in concert with Dunmall’s plaintive cries … -- Glenn Astarita, "EJazz News."

Thanks, Glenn!

(L-R) Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts, Avreeayl Ra, Henry Grimes, Andrew Lamb,
on tour in Indiana, 'O5, photo by Mark Sheldon

AVAILABLE NOW: The Henry Grimes Trio: “For Ibn Pori” featuring Henry Grimes (leader, acoustic bass), Andrew Lamb (tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, small instruments), Avreeayl Ra (drum kit, percussion, bamboo flute, mbira, small instruments), and special guest Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts (spoken word), recorded by Mike Chrastil, Production Director, and broadcast over WFHB, Bloomington, Indiana in 2OO5. This is a limited-edition collector’s item CD available only from Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts’s family as a fund-raiser to help with his medical expenses; the musicians have waived all compensation for this recording. Tragically, Ibn Pori suffered a massive stroke in 2OO8, and as of this writing (July, 'O9) has been in a coma ever since. Contact <Email> or <Email> for purchase information or information on his condition, or to donate towards his medical expenses. Asante sana!

Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts comes from an extraordinarily gifted family of 1O children. He was one of the forerunner artists/ poet-performers/ printmakers / video documentarians of the Black Arts movement of the ‘6O’s, especially his Ogun urban monument projects (site-specific sculptural and performance-space memories). He’s shown and performed at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Cranbrook Museum of Art, National Center of African American Artists, Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History, Research Institute of African and African Diaspora Arts, Pitch Black Community Arts Institute, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and numerous galleries and exhibition spaces nationally and internationally. He has toured the Midwest with master jazz musician Henry Grimes and his trio, as well as collaborating with many of Detroit’s finest jazz musicians. “Black Graphics International” was Ibn Pori’s first magazine of the arts; he later became an independent publisher of books/ videos/ fine-arts catalogues / poetry. His public murals have been documented in Camilo Jose’ Vergara’s photo book “American Ruins, African American Motifs by the Dreamkeeper, Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts,” published in anthologies by Wayne State University Press and Broadside Press. The “Detroit MetroTimes” named him Artist of the Year in ‘O6; please read the article by Rebecca Mazzei at metrotimes.com/editorial/story.

AVAILABLE NOW: Henry Grimes's first published book of poetry, "Signs Along the Road," purchase from: Downtown Music Gallery (see above) or from SPD Books, 1341 7th St., Berkeley, California 9471O-14O9, 51O-524-O852, spdbooks.org, <Email>. NOTE: We still have around 9O hand-written notebooks of Henry's writings to be transcribed and published, and Henry continues to write almost daily, so we are looking for a good book contract so more Henry Grimes books can be published!

"Signs Along the Road’ seems to read itself aloud inside one’s head as one reads. It’s a phenomenon that I don’t recall ever happening to me with any other kind of poetry – the voice that plays itself out in my head is not that of Henry Grimes, nor is it mine, and perhaps it is not even fully a voice, but it does exist in some capacity. This sounds fanciful, but one could describe it as the voice of the poem itself, speaking independently of writer and reader but emerging only from the encounter between them. Such philosophical considerations arise from the conditions which it creates – it makes one think in this way. It forces one’s experience to become enriched, with the gentlest and most studious of touches... Such poetry is incredibly honest, and incredibly generous; it is what is meant by being aware, awake, and alive. --David Grundy, Cambridge University (U.K.); Editor, "Eartrip" Magazine.

"Signs Along the Road" is a selection of poems that Henry Grimes jotted down in hundreds of notebooks between 1978-2OO5, some of which took months, perhaps years, to fully complete. By becoming a poet, Grimes rebirthed himself, sloughing off his old skin to take stock of himself and find a new expression. Poems such as "Ortherama the King" and "Adama and Pourquory" have their roots set in legend, religion, and history, suggesting that the poet spent much of his time studying ancient tracts or poring through dusty volumes in his public library. There is a sense of scholarship here, together with a love of language: how it reads, how it looks on the page, how it sounds when read out loud. Grimes's sense of rhythm was still strong during this seemingly fallow period in his life, only he was working with a different instrument, and the music he was composing and playing emerged as words. -- Edwin Pouncey, "The Wire."

If you're looking for a quick read, a comfortable sofa of poetry, jump back! Don't touch this book. It's hot! Henry Grimes' poems bite. Henry Grimes' poems dig. Henry Grimes' poems whirl. Henry Grimes' poems twist. Henry's poetry takes work. If you are willing to fill in the blanks, drown in words, listen to an improvisation come true, take this book and read it. Henry's making wordmusic. Words and music mingle in Henry Grimes' poetry in a confluence of sonority. If you are brave, curious, ready to be seared, read these poems. -- Carol Pearce Bjorlie, "Bass World."

Henry Grimes the musician commands an energy the drummer Denis Charles described: "Henry could make the bandstand shake. I thought his bass was going to explode." And his poems have this energy too. This poetry embodies the archaic that lies buried within us; it reminds us of the unpredictable, the unknown, the mysterious in life; and in its own way, it makes a political statement as well." -- Barbara Frenz, Ph.D.

Grimes's poems are a document of numerous years: poems which rhyme, and some that do not; metaphors, word creations, with an abundance of ideas, and laden with genius. One can feel a tremendous sense of depth and a confrontation with the nature of things. Content-wise, the words evolve around everything that constitutes the human existence: everyday life experiences, as well as contemplations about higher powers, spirituality, politics, and the meaning of life itself. -- Carina Prange, "Jazz Dimensions."

I recommend “Signs Along the Road” to anyone interested in jazz, poetry, twentieth-century American history, or esoteric individualism. This book should be more widely known. It is provocative, compelling, soulful, and wonderful. Its publication should cause controversy in the rarefied world of poetry and in the ampler and deeper and expanding universe of the mind, to which it belongs. -- David Francis, "Metaphysical Free."

RELEASE PENDING:

Date: February 7, 2OO9
Location: Gordon Theatre, Camden Center for the Arts, Rutgers University
Label: Porter Records, "Spirits Aloft " (Summer, 2O1O)

Henry Grimes (ldr, bass, violin, voice) and Rashied Ali (drum kit)

NOTE: Downtown Music Gallery in New York City carries a lot of old and new Henry Grimes recordings, as well as "Signs Along the Road," and will ship them to you if you place an order on the Web or by phone. You can go to downtownmusicgallery.com and enter Henry Grimes's name in the "QuickSearch" box and click "go," and a list of available recordings and the book (presently 48 items in total) will appear. However, a few of them seem to be listed erroneously and do not have Henry Grimes playing on them, so please make sure about this before you buy.

TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK...

"Sublime Communication," a CD release recorded in the WKCR studios on July 16, 'O4 by the Henry Grimes Trio featuring Andrew Lamb & Newman Taylor Baker (chosen "best jazz trio of the year" in 'O4 by New York Press!), contact Margaret Davis Grimes for purchase.

The Henry Grimes Trio featuring Andrew Lamb & Newman Taylor Baker (chosen "best jazz trio of the year" by New York Press in 'O4), "Sublime Communication 2," live from Edgefest, Ann Arbor, Oct., 'O5, contact Margaret Davis Grimes for purchase.

Dennis Gonzalez's Inspiration Band CD entitled "Nile River Suite," a beautiful quintet recording featuring Roy Campbell, Jr., Sabir Mateen, Michael Thompson, and special guest Henry Grimes, 'O3. Please contact Dennis Gonzalez at DennisGonzalezx [at] aol.com for purchase information.

In the realm of "Ripley's Believe It or Not," regarding the matter of ESP-Disk owing Henry Grimes more than 4O years of back royalties, the company has now made things right (with a few relatively minor details still to be worked out) and seems to be operating in good faith with a new management team. Musicians who recorded on ESP-Disk and are owed royalties are urged to contact the company and ask for Tom: artist@espdisk.com or call 1-8OO-685-2163.