Milford Graves

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Milford Graves (center) with Bill Laswell (left) and John Zorn (right), London 2006 (Tribute to Derek Bailey)

Milford Graves (born August 20, 1941 in Queens ; † February 12, 2021 ) was an American drummer and composer of creative jazz .

Live and act

Along with Sunny Murray , Andrew Cyrille and Rashied Ali, Graves belongs to the generation of avant-garde jazz drummers who shaped drumming in the mid-1960s. In 1964 he recorded with Paul Bley and Giuseppi Logan . He also worked with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra and was a member of the New York Art Quartet with Roswell Rudd , Lewis Worrell and John Tchicai , which also performed with Leroi Jones . In 1966 he worked as a duo with Don Pullen and Andrew Cyrille. Then he played with Albert Ayler(1967–68) and with Sonny Sharrock . While he has been teaching alongside Bill Dixon as a teacher at Bennington College since 1973 and only appeared on a few tours as a drummer, he played from 1983 to 1986 in the percussion quartet "Pieces of Time", the Don Moye , Andrew Cyrille and Kenny Clarke (later Philly Joe Jones ) belonged to. During this time he also played with Sun Ra . In the 1990s he appeared mainly with solo performances; there were two solo albums on John Zorn 's Tzadik label , which, according to Richard Cook and Brian Morton, are "powerful statements that show his extraordinary talent". In 1991 he played in a duo with saxophonist David Murray on his album Real Deal . Graves received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vision Festival in Brooklyn in 2013. With Bill Laswell he recorded his last album Space / Time - Redemption (2014).

Discographic notes

Under his own name

collaborative albums

  • New York Art Quartet (ESP-Disk, 1964, with Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai, Lewis Worrell)
  • Kenny Clarke / Andrew Cyrille / Milford Graves / Don Moye: Pieces of Time ( Soul Note , 1983)
  • New York Art Quartet: 35th Reunion ( DIW Records 1999, with Roswell Rudd, John Tchicai, Reggie Workman and Amiri Baraka )
  • Anthony Braxton, Milford Graves, William Parker: Beyond Quantum (2008)

Lexical entry

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary. New Musical Express, February 13, 2021, accessed February 13, 2021 .
  2. ↑ FavId Adler: Vision Festival 18: Milford Graves - A Lifetime Achievement showcase for the drum legend in Brooklyn.
personal data
SURNAME Graves, Milford
SHORT DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH August 20, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Queens , New York City
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 2021