Newly released !!:

Henry's astounding, impassioned non-stop 2&1/2-hour-plus bass and violin session for ILK Music (Denmark) that took place in March, 'O8 was released in January, 'O9 (ilkmusic.com #151 CD). Here's a review from Bruce Lee Gallanter of Downtown Music Gallery:

"Since moving back to New York in July of 2OO3, after a disappearance of some thirty years, master bassist Henry Grimes continues to astound us all with his leaps and strides. Since his grand return, he has jumped into the fire and played with other giants like Cecil Taylor, David Murray, Rashied Ali, Marshall Allen, Dave Douglas, Marc Ribot, Bill Dixon and so many others. This fabulous two-disc set features an entire unedited and uninterrupted solo bass and violin performance. Henry takes his time and works his way through many layers and textures of plucked and bowed double bass and violin, digging deep into his most creative world of sounds. One would think that it is difficult to sustain interest throughout a long solo bass performance, but not here. This disc is superbly recorded and Henry's bass sounds warm, strong and life-affirming. I turned this disc up while listening to it at home and in the store and let it wash over me like layers of warm molasses. It sounds and feels so good to me and no doubt will work its magic over you."

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And writes professor and music journalist Marc Medwin of American University in Washington, D.C:

"I just love to try to follow Henry's mind as it jumps, whirls, whirls back, jumps again, wraps around an idea, holds on for a moment or two, or longer, parenthesizes, contrasts, goes contrapuntal, and then off again ... Thanks to Henry for this music!!!!"

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Marc Medwin also wrote this review for "Dusted" Magazine:

"Finally, here is a beautifully recorded two-disc document capturing the phenomenal improviser Henry Grimes in full flight. Ilk Music offers up two-and-a-half hours of solo Grimes, on both bass and violin, in some of the free-est music he’s committed to disc… Bill Dixon defines a soloist as 'the smallest orchestra possible', and nothing could encapsulate Grimes’ polyphonies more accurately. The entire pitch spectrum becomes his plaything as he glides effortlessly through dense overtonal and microtonal labyrinths of his own creation, switching between arco and pizzicato, each reinforcing the other with pithy motivic fragments. At key moments in these rich notestreams, Grimes introduces modal repose. He may discover a rhythmic or melodic pattern, then transpose, repeat, possibly augment. The tempo, relative as it is in late Coltrane, slows considerably, and there is often a drone as Grimes weaves melodies above or below it. Much of the intrigue of his playing comes from the emergence of these movements in his mind. So unpredictable is each motivic and timbral transformation that when Grimes trades bass for violin, you’d never guess that a half-hour has already passed. His first violin excursion is quite brief, lasting only a few minutes, followed by a breathtaking display of pizzicato melodic invention on bass, reminiscent of Charlie Haden’s pioneering improvisations with Ornette Coleman… [Mr.] Grimes is singularly inventive here, ideas flowing more smoothly and with the utmost variety of tempo and harmonic implication. On violin, he rarely employs pizzicato, preferring bowed runs, leaps, and falling cascades of double stops. Amidst these, we are treated to drone-based passages where he’ll let one string ring as he interjects the others with counterpoint. One memorable moment finds him in uhr-blues mode as he caresses a swinging old-timey riff, conjuring his own past. He takes off only to return a minute later, coaxing new life from the dance-like rhythms ... All the vigor and beauty one performer can offer."

Thank you, Marc!

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Mitch Myers wrote this review for "JazzTimes":

http://jazztimes.com/articles/24423-solo-henry-grimes

April 2009
Henry Grimes
Solo

Ilk
By Mitch Myers

Since 2OO3, ’6Os free-jazz bassist Henry Grimes has experienced a resurgence on the performance scene that has been touching and inspiring. His new two-CD set of solo improvisations emphasizes that remarkable comeback, which can now be considered complete. With more than two and a half hours of fairly continuous playing, Solo is a dramatic tour de force. Alternating between long passages on the bass and violin, Grimes plucks and bows with great clarity and imagination, and a seemingly endless supply of bold musical ideas. Clearly, Grimes is the medicine man in residence, playing bass equal to any of his ’6Os contemporaries and evoking fond memories of the late Leroy Jenkins on the fiddle. It’s the fearless confidence Grimes exudes on bass that is most impressive, and his stream-of-consciousness solo work puts him right up there in the pantheon of rare improvisers like his old boss Cecil Taylor. Grimes’ technical mastery is sometimes overshadowed by his amazing creativity, but his organic skill with string-driven-things should serve as a clinic for devotees. There’s a lot of music to digest here and it would be difficult to absorb the entire collection in one sitting, but a brilliant thread of continuity runs through the performances and the end result is never contrived... his unencumbered process shows him gaining in all ways at the age of 7O, and he’s a true model of self-realization through music.

Thank you, Mitch!

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We are also very proud to announce the release of the Profound Sound Trio's thrilling Vision Festival concert of June, 'O8, released by Porter Records (PRCD-4O32) in June, 'O9 under the title "Opus de Life." The Profound Sound Trio, a co-leader group, comprises Andrew Cyrille (drums), Paul Dunmall (tenor saxophone, bagpipes), and Henry Grimes (acoustic bass and violin), porterrecords.com/id53.

Wrote Derek Briggs, reporting from the 'O9 Cheltenham Jazz Festival:

What’s free jazz? At its worst, it produced gut-wrenching noise, at its rare best, massively memorable music, advancing improvisational and rhythmic skills to new heights. And the Profound Sound Trio is the best, with U.S. originators bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Andrew Cyrille, and younger -- but still a free veteran –- UK saxist Paul Dunmall. Grimes kicked off with an intriguing extended solo bowing. Dunmall developed a classic blues phrase into something phenomenal. Cyrille watched silently, like an extinct volcano, but then erupted into a silver shimmer of cymbals and driving drum lines. Forget about tunes: The trio in full flight was awesome, pure telepathic improvisation. Free jazz is back. All it needed was the virtuosity these players displayed in solo spots. Images linger: Grimes’ mystical harmonics on violin, Dunmall’s release to churning late-Coltrane exploration, Cyrille’s transformation of a march beat into a drum symphony.

Thank you, Derek!