MATTERS OF THE HEART ChristophCox on MilfordGraves

IN MID-OCTOBER, the seventy-six-year-old percussionist, herbalist, scientist, and martial artis t Milford Gra ve rood befo re an admirin g aud ience at rhe Art ist's Institute on -ew York's Upper Ea r Side. "Well, 1 muse say this is a new ad ventu re for me," he bega n w ith a buoyant smile. " Ir's like I'm starri ng all ove r agai n.·· Pointin g to a sculptu re aero s the ro om- a dun un­ <.:arrring skeleton swat hed in a tangle of wire connected ro lapto ps, circuit boa rds, and a nato mical model - Gra,·es remarked, "I'm entering J whole new era. because I'm on ro 111)' ,,ext n dprure piece now, and then another one, you know what I mean ?" Grave$ is he t kno wn a a pioneering frce-jnz drum­ mer who, in the 1960s, developed an a toni hinglr rapid and complex pol1·rh)•thmic srylc heard on records wirh Albert Ayler, Sonn y Sha rroc k, Pau l Bley, a nd m:iny others. A half-centu ry later, he's iound him elf courted by visual arti sts, curator . and ga lleries. Graves pb yed J sorcerous incarn arion of No rman M:1ilcr in ~•latt hcw Barncv· homba ric opera-film Ri uer of h111dn111e11t Joke Moginsky ond Noll Young. Milf ord Groves Full Montis. 2018. HO video. color, sound. 91 rninutes. (20 14), and he'. the su hjccr of rhe new documcnra ry fe:11urc lilm Milfo rrl Graues Pull /\II 111tis (20 18). H is rnulrimedia pract ice will he a focal poinr of the Queen· the beat ing hcar r, and rhe osci llntions of light, sound , Despite the enormous differences between Afro-Cuban .\ luscum's biennial in rhe fall, and early next year it will and rhe oth er elecrro rnagnctic wa ves that engulf us . music and free jazz, Graves considered them to be aligned he celc·hrared in a co mpr ehen ive retrospective orga­ Mu ic, rlwn , ex tend far beyo nd audi tory pleas ure, in their refusal to relegate percussion ro a merely support­ ni,.ed by Anth ony Elms, Mark Chri nn a n, an d th e engaging rhe concern of cosmology, physics, chemistry, ive, rime-keeping ro le. Both musics foreground drums Philadclphin arts organization Ars ! ova . biology, and medic ine. In pursuit of this gran d idea, and expect them to make tonal, rimbra l, and textu ral To sornc cx1enr, rhi new interest in Graves is part of Graves has thrown himself into a massive rnulridisci­ contributions ro the overn II sound . Within a few sho rt a wave of art-world engagement wirh avanr-garcle j:.izz, plinary project that stradd le the arts and sciences, rra­ years, critics were heralding Graves as the best of the "new cvidem in cxhil irions u h as "T he Freedom Principle: dirional healing practices nnd the frontiers of cardiology thing" drummers. In 1964, he performed in the "October Lxpcrimenrs in Arr and Music, 1965 ro Now," ar the and stem-cell re-c:irch. Revolution in Jazz," a landmark free-jazz festival, and the ,\ \useum of Conremporary Arr Chicago in 20 15; ivlnrana Graves grew up in a housing project in South Jamaica, following year he released Percussion Ensemble, his first l{obcrr 's and Cecil Taylor' recent resiJen cies a r rhe Qu eens, and has lived in rhe neighbo rhood his entir e record as a leader and the first in a series of solo and group Whirncy Mu cum of American Arr, New York (in 20 I 5 life. Whereas most free-jazz players came ro the music percussion albums fearnring Graves and fellow drummers. and 20 16, rcspecrivcly); and Kamasi Washington '· proj­ through bebop, Graves arrived via Latin music, to which Wh ile touring with Ayler and gigging with Taylor and ect for rhc 20'17 Whirney Biennial. Bur Graves' practice he was int roduced by a pop ular radio show during the Sun Ra, he spent his days stud ying to become a medical links up wirh orhcr cultural current s as well. The Artist's mambo boo m of the '50s. He was obsessed wirh drum s technician, eventually run ning the lab for a Manha ttan lnstirure's focus on his work during its fnll 20 17 season from an early age, learning the conga from a cousin and veterinarian . When the vet moved his prnctice to Boston, placed it in rhc conrcxr of neo-marerialisr philosophy and rim bales from the father of a Cuba n friend. At the age Graves accepted his friend Bill Dixon's invitation to join acsrherics. Rejecting firm distinctions among conscious, of nineteen, he formed a La rin quintet that played at th e Black Music Division at Bennington Co llege in animate, and inanimate matter, rhese theories conceive clubs rhroug hour New Yor k and Long Island , occasion­ Vermont, where he ta ught for the next thirty-nine years. 1hc universe as a vast collecrion of elf-organizing nw rrcr­ ally opening for luminaries such as Ca l Tjader. A jam cnergy flows opcraring ar various scales. This idea reso­ session in Boston in 1963 put him onstagc with free-jazz IN THE MID- '70 S, Grav es picked up an LP of heartbe at nates with Grav es's insistence char , fundamcnrally, saxop honist Giusepp i Loga n, and the two hit it off . recordings in the medical section of Barnes & No ble and music is nor enrerrainmenr but research into rhe univer­ Logan introduced him to saxop honist John Tchicai and was asto nished by the similarities betwee n car di ac sal animating force of vibration. The emphasis on vibra­ trombonist Roswell Rudd, who, asto unded by Graves's arrhythmias and Afro-Cuban drumming patterns. Beyond tion connects the throbbing drum head to the pulsat ing intensity and rhythmic cohesion, asked him to join the the simple dn-DU M of the heartbeat, he heard polyrhyth­ speaker cone, the quivering eardrum, neuronal bursts, nascent New York Art Quartet. mic pulsat ions, variable durati on between beats, and a whole spectrum of frequencies. All this strengthened his Music, for Graves, extends far beyond auditory pleasure, engaging the conviction that true rhythm isn't metronomic and that the tone of the beat is as important as its durat ion. He built concerns of cosmolo gy, physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine. subwoofers to amplify the cadenc es and used them not

MARCH 2018 91