Biography

Master bassist Henry Grimes, missing from the music world since the late '6Os, has made an unprecedented comeback after receiving the gift of a bass (a green one called Olive Oil!) from William Parker in December 20O2 to replace the instrument he had given up some 2O years earlier. Between the mid-'5Os and the mid-'6Os, the Philadelphia-born, Juilliard-educated Henry Grimes played brilliantly on some 5O albums with an enormous range of musicians, including Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Haynes, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Charles Mingus (yes, Charles Mingus), Gerry Mulligan, Sunny Murray, Perry Robinson, Sonny Rollins, Roswell Rudd, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, Charles Tyler, McCoy Tyner, Rev. Frank Wright, and many more ... and then one day, for reasons largely related to troubles in the music world in those days, he disappeared. Many years passed with nothing heard from Henry, yet after a very short while with his new bass, he emerged to begin working with Bobby Bradford, Nels and Alex Cline, Joseph Jarman, and others at Billy Higgins's World Stage, the Howling Monk, the Jazz Bakery, and Schindler House in the Los Angeles area. On his triumphant return to New York City in May 20O3, he played as special guest on two nights of the six-night Vision Festival, gave live concerts and lengthy interviews on the air daily during a five-day WKCR Henry Grimes Radio Festival, and offered a bass clinic before 5O New York-area bassists who haven't stopped talking about him since. He followed this with three virtually sold-out nights at Iridium in New York City leading his own band. These days, Grimes lives, works, and teaches in New York City and has been working almost exclusively as a leader with Fred Anderson, Rob Brown, Roy Campbell, Jr., Daniel Carter, Marilyn Crispell, Andrew Cyrille, Hamid Drake, Charles Gayle, Jane Getz, Edward "Kidd" Jordan, Sabir Mateen, Bennie Maupin, David Murray, William Parker, Marc Ribot, and many more. He has toured extensively in Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Holland, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the U.S. in 20O3 and 20O4, with more to follow. The recipient of a "Meet the Composer" award in 20O3, he was also designated "Musician of the Year" by "All About Jazz/ New York." Still in his sixties, Henry Grimes is healthy and strong, and his gentle, humble bearing and courageous life story have inspired all those privileged to know him, hear him, play music with him.
- IMDb mini biography by: Margaret Davis