Milford Graves

Born in Jamaica, Queens, New York on August 20, 1941, Milford was best known as a jazz, avant-garde, and word music drummer, but he was much more than that. A virtual renaissance man, he was also an educator, visual artist, sculptor, researcher, inventor, gardener, herbalist, and martial artist. Milford Graves is now recognized as a free jazz pioneer although his versatility allowed him to work with many different artists throughout his career. His musical journey began at the age of three when he first started playing drums. By the age of eight, he started playing congas and expanded his arsenal of percussive instruments over the years. In the early ‘60s, he was playing in Latin and Afro-Cuban bands in New York. He formed his own band, the Milford Graves Latino Quintet, which featured keyboardist Chick Corea, bassist Lisle Atkinson, saxophonist Pete Yellin, and conga player Bill Fitch. Milford Graves released a handful of albums as a leader – including Percussion Ensemble (1965), Meditation Among Us (1977), and Stories (2000) – but he was much more prolific as a sideman. Over the course of his career, he recorded with Albert Ayler, Paul Bley, Miriam Makeba, Sonny Sharrock, Hugh Masekela, and many others. He was also a member of the New York art Quartet, recording four albums with them. Beginning in 1973, he served as a professor at Bennington College, a position that lasted until 2012. The latter part of his musical career included more forays into avant-garde, recording albums with John Zorn (Grand Unification and Stories) and Bill Laswell (2014’s Space/Time – Redemption). Milford Graves died of congestive heart failure on February 12, 2021.

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