John Seltenreich
I have one of the TPings of this genius's work and ît feels like a great honor. I think of Grimes as being more famous with musicians than the general public because of his taste in music. But he is brilliant and worth familiarizing yourself with. Great album start to finish.
JpMsSs
RIP Mr. Grimes - "Henry Grimes is among the greatest improvisers in the world. His playing is exquisite" - Roscoe Mitchell
Favorite track: Fish Story.
It has occasionally been assumed that Henry Grimes got this recording date as a reward for his long service in the avant-garde of jazz. Having already honed his musical conception with a varied range of players, from Benny Goodman and Arnett Cobb to Lee Morgan, Gerry Mulligan, and Sonny Rollins to McCoy Tyner, Steve Lacy, Albert Ayler (including ESP 1020, Spirits Rejoice), Don Cherry, and Cecil Taylor (to name just a few), the service was certainly there, but he got this gig fully on his merits.
For The Call Grimes teamed with highly original clarinetist Perry Robinson (as label owner Bernard Stollman has noted, "a virtuoso who merits far wider recognition... and this recording reflects both of their contributions, in equal measure") and stalwart drummer/ESP-Disk' regular Tom Price. As a bassist, Grimes's melodic style is well up to the task of being co-equal voice with a horn, resulting in a thoughtful and texturally rewarding LP with a level of quality far above the rote sideman session cliche, and far away from equally cliched ideas of unrelentingly full-bore free jazz. It offers the sound of three excellent musicians listening to each other and responding superbly.
The Juilliard-trained Grimes appeared on six other ESP LPs besides those already mentioned. He retired at some point after the last of them, 1967's Marzette Watts LP, and went so far off the scene that it was rumored that he had died. Happily, that was not the case, and he reemerged in 2003, moved back to New York, and returned to his prolific ways.
Personnel:
Henry Grimes: bass
Perry Robinson: clarinet
Tom Price: drums
credits
released January 1, 1966
All compositions by Henry Grimes except The Call (Perry Robinson). (Syndicore Music BMI)
Credits:
Recorded on December 28, 1965. Engineering by Richard L. Alderson. Original photograhs by Ray Gibson. Production Manager: Tom Abbs. Tape Transfer & Mastering by Steven Walcott. Design & Layout by Miles Bachman & Michael Sanzone
I was brought here after listening to a live performance of Makaya's on you tube. I instantly loved the song Holy Lands so much that I had to see if the album version was the same rendition as the live one. Then I listened to the whole album! Universal Beings is a just a groove... It's a mix of traditional and something new, very nice. pandr1900