Milford Graves Musical artist

Milford Graves (born August 20, 1941 in Queens, New York) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist, most noteworthy for his early avant-garde contributions in the early 1960s with Paul Bley and the New York Art Quartet alongside John Tchicai, Roswell Rudd, and Reggie Workman. He is considered to be a free jazz pioneer, liberating the percussion from its timekeeping role.Initially playing timbales as a kid growing up in Queens, Graves has worked as a sideman and session musician with a variety of jazz musicians throughout his career, including Pharaoh Sanders, Rashied Ali, Albert Ayler, Don Pullen, Kenny Clarke, Don Moye, Andrew Cyrille, Philly Joe Jones, Eddie Gómez, and John Zorn. Graves accepted a job in 1973 as an instructor at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont. He has invested his time in research within the field of healing through music.

Personal facts

Milford Graves
Birth dateAugust 20, 1941
Birth place
Jamaica Queens , New York

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Musical artist

associated musical artist
Hugh Masekela
Miriam Makeba
Paul Bley
Graves Pullen Duo
BackgroundNon vocal instrumentalist
genre
Jazz
World music
Avant-garde jazz
instrument
Drum kit
Percussion instrument
Timbales
Conga
Singing
record label
Tzadik Records
RCA Records
Fontana Records
Prestige Records
ESP-Disk

Milford Graves on Wikipedia

External resources

  1. http://www.jazzhistorydatabase.com/collections/wcuw_festivals/1981.html
  2. http://www.milfordgraves.com
  3. http://www.mindspring.com/~scala/graves.htm
  4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot5UGofIVos&index=13&list=PL41OiCiyZLi25xDi0pZK2PSJGEgLihhsj