COMPOSERS: Live at the Kereva Jazz Festival 2004
LABELS: Ayler
ALBUM TITLE: Henry Grimes Trio
WORKS: Henry Grimes Trio
PERFORMER: Henry Grimes, David Murray, Hamid Drake
CATALOGUE NO: CD 028
Bassist Henry Grimes was considered
one of the free jazz movement’s
most valuable team players before
he dropped out of music around
1967. His return to playing in 2002
made headlines, and the proof of
his regained instrumental prowess,
physical stamina and powers of
invention lies in his first recording as
a leader since 1965, flanked by David
Murray’s mastery on tenor sax and
bass clarinet and drummer Hamid
Drake’s crisp, responsive timekeeping.
The programme’s two long main
tracks stand out for Grimes’s adroit
bowed double stops that effortlessly
slither across the instrument’s registers,
plus a respect for resonance and quality
of tone that governs his canny note
choices no matter what tempo. And
‘Blues for Savannah’ reveals Grimes’s
unimpaired mastery in a more
‘straight ahead’ context. He sounds
happy to be back. Jed Distler