Henry Grimes(1935-2020)
- Actor
Master bassist Henry Grimes, missing from the music world since the
late '6Os, has made an unprecedented comeback after receiving the gift
of a bass (a green one called Olive Oil!) from William Parker in
December 20O2 to replace the instrument he had given up some 2O years
earlier. Between the mid-'5Os and the mid-'6Os, 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 in those days, he disappeared. Many
years passed with nothing heard from Henry, yet after a very short
while with his new bass, he emerged to begin working with Bobby
Bradford, Nels and Alex Cline, Joseph Jarman, and others at Billy
Higgins's 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 20O3, he 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. He followed this with three virtually
sold-out nights at Iridium in New York City leading his own band. These
days, Grimes lives, works, and teaches in New York City and has been
working almost exclusively as a leader with Fred Anderson, Rob Brown,
Roy Campbell, Jr., Daniel Carter, Marilyn Crispell, Andrew Cyrille,
Hamid Drake, Charles Gayle, Jane Getz, Edward "Kidd" Jordan, Sabir
Mateen, Bennie Maupin, David Murray, William Parker, Marc Ribot, and
many more. He has toured extensively in Austria, Canada, Finland,
France, Holland, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the U.S. in 20O3 and
20O4, with more to follow. The recipient of a "Meet the Composer" award
in 20O3, he was also designated "Musician of the Year" by "All About
Jazz/ New York." Still in his sixties, Henry Grimes is 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.