Milford Graves (b. Queens, New York August 20, 1941) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist, most noteworthy for his early avant-garde contributions in the early 1960s with Paul Bley and the New York Art Quartet. He is considered to be a free jazz pioneer, liberating the percussion from its timekeeping role.
Graves has worked as a sideman and session musician with a variety of established jazz musicians throughout his career, including Don Pullen, Eddie Gomez, Andrew Cyrille, Rashied Ali, Kenny Clarke, Don Moye, Philly Joe Jones, John Zorn and Albert Ayler. He has invested his time in research within the field of healing through music. Graves accepted a job in 1973 as an instructor at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont.
Famous quotes containing the word graves:
“Anthropologists are a connecting link between poets and scientists; though their field-work among primitive peoples has often made them forget the language of science.”
—Robert Graves (1895–1985)