edited by Mark Christman, Celeste DiNucci and Anthony Elms (Music 781.65 Graves)
Milford Graves is one of the most
important figures in the development of the free jazz approach to the drum kit.
While many of the most notable jazz artists of the last several generations
mention him as an important influence, by the standards of many jazz
performers, his work isn’t heavily-represented on recordings, and over the
years he didn’t gig or tour much compared to many of his peers. This has led to
somewhat of a dearth of information about his work for those who weren’t lucky
enough to work or study with him during his tenure at Bennington College
between 1973 and 2012. Fortunately for the rest of us, a few resources have
recently become available to learn more about Graves’ work. In 2018, the Jake
Meginsky and Neil Young-directed film “Milford Graves: Full Mantis” was
released, a documentary that takes us directly into the many interrelated
activities which occupied Graves right up to his passing in 2021. Now we have a
great new book called Milford Graves: A Mind-Body Deal which acts as
another deep dive into his life and work, following two extensive exhibitions
of his work that took place at the University of Pennsylvania in late 2020, and
at Artists Space in New York in late 2021.
Where first impressions are
concerned, I think most readers will be taken in by the sometimes complex and
always colorful images throughout the book. Before you even get to the title
page, you’re taken through a bit of a photography tour of Professor Graves’
house, which he adorned with organic sculptural shapes, his gardens, in which
some of his metalwork sculptures reside, closeups of his main drum kit, which
he painted with beautiful colors and patterns, the apothecary section of his
workspace, and cassettes of various recordings, mostly involving his own
performances. We’re clearly in the workspace and residence of someone who is
more a polymath than a mere jazz drummer. While the book is mostly made of
essays and reflections by those who collaborated or studied with Graves, the
texts are truly illuminated throughout with photos of him in performance, show
posters and ephemera, his visual art in a variety of mediums from collage to
painting to sculpture, and lots of photos inside his workspace, which was a
place for music but also a place for herbal medicines, martial arts, and
long-time research into nuances of cardiac activity (the rhythms of humanity),
among other activities. It can be a bit overwhelming: Graves was much like his
music, in constant motion and polyrhythmically working along multiple paths,
all of which informed and inspired one another. For those of us who weren’t
lucky enough to see the exhibitions of his work in the last few years which
included many of these elements, this book is a wonderful visual resource
giving us a window into his unique world.
As for the many essays that make up
the text of A Mind-Body Deal, the editors did a fine job
representing most of Graves’ interests and disciplines. Music, of course,
remains the dominant theme, and Graves’ own comments through interviews as well
as recollections from collaborators and students supply readers with tons of
musical inspirations. The mid-60s roots of free jazz are put into a thorough
context in the book as well, as part of the larger Civil Rights movement and an
expression of Black freedom and independence. The music of Graves incorporates
many apparent opposites, too, which are approached from multiple angles
throughout the book: how can one incorporate multiple levels of movement within
music, while still accommodating space and stillness? How does the role of
rhythm reconcile with melody? Should rhythms shift and breathe in tempo, or do
they encompass multiple simultaneous tempos? Do vibrations point to rhythms or
to pitch? Are pitches really fast rhythms? There is a lot to consider here.
While the majority of the texts
focus on music, there are also pieces that delve into his work exploring the
human heartbeat (which of course has lots of musical implications, too), his
work with visual art, which increased in his later years, his studies of herbal
healing, and reflections by long-term participants on his own form of martial
arts, Yara, which he created in the 1960s and began teaching in 1971. All of
these practices form part of a larger whole — even if your primary interest is
in music, there are lots of lessons to take away from all of these disciplines
that can readily be applied to music. They can be applied more generally to
healthy living, too, and you’ll make better music if you’re feeling balanced
and healthy. Dance is another underlying theme throughout the book — the body’s
response to music making and music listening reveals even more layers of
organic movement, rhythm and vibration.
Toward the end of the book, there
is a photographic retrospective of sorts featuring the exhibits that were shown
at the Philadelphia Graves retrospective in 2020. This was a truly multimedia
exhibit, which included video presentations and music performances, but getting
to see some of the more visually-striking materials Graves worked with every
day in his studio in a gallery setting must have been fascinating! The exhibit,
like this book, is a testament to a life well lived, and a model for artists of
the future.
(If you enjoy this, you may also
wish to try Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians
1995-2020 by Alan Licht, Arcana II: Musicians on Music edited by John Zorn or Jazz Consciousness: Music, Race, and Humanity by Paul
Austerlitz.)
Recommended
by Scott S.
Polley Music Library
Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?
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