OPENING CHORUS Yara in triptych: Graves in the mid-'70s

garden planting in Queens, and a Reuters video interview titled “The Heartbeat Drummer.” Footage of heart ultrasounds, concerts, martial-arts displays, and inter- views fills another 100 or so videos. Au- dio recordings reveal Graves performing on trumpet, saxophone, trombone, and various gongs, plus performances with and Hugh Glover in vari- ous formats, and audio and photos taken from Graves’ personal cassette library. Hundreds of photos document Graves’ Heart Specialist concerts, acupuncture techniques, martial-arts training, drum set and An exhibit in pays tribute to the conga instruction, boyhood and family. multidisciplinary accomplishments of MILFORD GRAVES There’s also a baby picture and—dated April 12, 1962—a Village Voice concert ad including , , hen appraising the work of into healing his own failing heart and the Milford Graves Latin Quar- W Milford Graves, you need to muscle. “I don’t want to leave the planet tet, which consisted of saxophonist Pete reimagine what constitutes jazz with things undone,” he told The New Yellin, pianist , bassist Lisle and improvisation. Yes, he’s a master York Times from his home in Jamaica, Atkinson, and conga player Bill Fitch. percussionist who helped take the drums Queens, , in August 2020. For those hoping to delve deeper into beyond mere timekeeping. But he’s also A Mind-Body Deal includes “The Graves’ mind, closeup photos of his per- much more than that. Now 78 and a Professor,” the 15-minute promo video sonal library are included. Titles include faculty member emeritus at Bennington for Full Mantis, a 2018 feature-length Wavelets and Their Scientific Applica- College, Graves is the rare (perhaps sole) documentary on Graves; the excerpt tion, Multiwave Statistical Analysis, musician whose pursuits have crossed focuses on his incantation-worthy, Zen and the Brain, Where Mathematics multiple disciplines for decades, resulting atmospheric solo drumming, along Comes From, On the Sensations of in dozens of important jazz works, pat- with remembrances of performances Tone, A Recitation of Ifa—Oracle of the ents for medical devices, herbal cures for with and early Afro-Cuban Yoruba, African Ceremonies, The Secret various ailments, paintings, sculptures, and Afro-Caribbean instruction. The Doctrine, and Chasing the Dragon’s costume art, and a lifelong study of the 90-minute 1982 documentary Speaking Tail, among hundreds of hardbacks human heartbeat as a means to creating in Tongues documentary is also here, and paperbacks. music and healing illness. featuring Graves, David Murray, and Battling his illness while continuing In the first major retrospective hon- Billy Bang (and a cameo by the late to work, Graves ceaselessly monitors oring Graves, Philadelphia’s Institute of Stanley Crouch) in performance and his own heart with a stethoscope while Contemporary Art (ICA) in partnership discussion of Ayler, at whose funeral his students document his findings, with Ars Nova Workshop is presenting the trio performed in 1970. Here and hoping to continue his research in the Milford Graves: A Mind-Body Deal, in other videos, Graves’ performance is future. Treating students, neighbors, and which also marked the reopening of ICA marked by a unique attribute: His sticks colleagues (this reporter once requested to the public. Running from Septem- at times seem to not make actual contact a cure for enlarged prostate from the ber 25, 2020 through January 24, 2021, with his drums (though they obviously master), he has since 1990 recorded A Mind-Body Deal spans six decades do somehow), while creating waves of some 5,000 heartbeats. His self-designed and comprises more than 40 artworks, rhythms that don’t necessarily mirror computer programs analyze the heart’s including rare hand-painted album his body movements. It’s masterful rhythms and pitches, amplifying the covers and posters, unusual drum sets, sleight of hand. Or is it? Some note that more obscure patterns and relating them multimedia sculptures, photographs, his curious left-hand traditional-style to melodies and vibration frequencies, and costumes, as well as artifacts from grip is sometimes augmented by muting which can then be used for both musical Graves’ home, scientific studies, record- the snare drum with his left elbow; and medical analysis. Hopefully, “The ing ephemera, and archival recordings. others call him a shaman. Professor” will cure himself. The exhibition’s timing couldn’t be Nearly 50 videos by filmmaker Jake Though his contributions are stun- more profound: Graves has amyloid Meginsky (who directed Full Mantis) ning, from music to medicine, knowl- cardiomyopathy, sometimes called stiff cover Graves’ martial art Yara, a perfor- edge of Graves’ life and work still seems heart syndrome, which is currently in- mance with Arthur Doyle and William to require an inside track, like an aural curable. When diagnosed in 2018, Graves Parker, another with Peter Brötzmann, history passed among devotees. A Mind- was told he had six months to live, which solo drum concerts, lectures, workshops, Body Deal opens the door to his many

launched the former heart researcher demonstrations of healing techniques, achievements. KEN MICALLEF ART COURTESY OF THE INSTITUTE CONTEMPORARY

10 JAZZTIMES DECEMBER 2020