Thursday, April 21, 2005

Welcome back Henry

I'm in free jazz heaven listening to the new CD "Henry Grimes Trio Live at the Kerava Jazz Festival." Henry Grimes' reappearance after more than three decades is a great story. I'll tell you an even greater one. The guy, at least from what I hear on this CD, hasn't lost a lick from when he played bass with Benny Goodman, Miles, Monk, Sonny Rollins, Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler, et al. (Imagine that, a guy good enough, and flexible enough, to play with Goodman AND Ayler.)

If that weren't enough, David Murray, saxophone god (plus bass clarinet on part of this), and Hamid Drake, "widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in improvised music" to quote allmusic, round out the ensemble. It will be hard to beat for my album of the year. I was actually sad when it ended. Thank goodness CDs are supposed to last 50 years, which is probably longer than I will.

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