Henry Grimes Trio - Live at the Kerava Jazz Festival

Geoffrey Totton, International Music Forum

Listening to radio - I learnt how the bassist of the Violent Femmes is a master of all the basses .... electric, acoustic upright and teachest. If you are serious about becoming a great bassist this CD would be a good investment .. there is a lot here for drummers and sax players too. The idea of this recording is for these great musicians (Henry Grimes .. leader and bass David Murray .. saxes and Hamid Drake .. drums) to do everything that can be done technically on their instruments plus add in a spiritual feel.
It is not new for metal and hard rock players to learn from free jazz ... Lead Zepp was influenced by Max Roach and Abby Lincolns "Freedom Suite"... and recorded a similar thing (screamed vocals over drum improvisations).

This CD was recorded live in Finland ... and this trio is a true improvising partnership.
Spin opens with a fragile improvisation of the great dark .. the dark and empty space which musicians fill with their improvisations ... they fill this space with swirling neon colours .. expanding to fill the entire space.
A bass solo full of intense dense colours.
David Murray plays a very guitaristic solo on his sax ... metal translated to free jazz .. like two handed hammer on single note runs …. a massive free flow.
A Lapplandic Shaman spirit dance feel comes out very strongly.
Eighty degrees has a New York feel like cab cruising in the big apple ... bopping and popping between the bass and the sax .... the drums crisping round the edges.

Hamid Drake is musical .... never noisy .... he can play a lot very quietly .... a very intelligent thoughtful player.
Flowers for Albert features David Murray playing a wonderful wide open afro beat feel .... like a village dance on the savanna plains. Blues for Savanna feels like a constantly changing modern art canvas ..... in fact modern art and free jazz are close.
The CD cover depicts Henry Grimes as a gold ship on a dark sea.