Henry Grimes Trio The Call
Last fall I covered the latest CD from whack jazz bass king William Parker. In passing there was also a shout out to a prior release of his where he is leading an unusual trio with drummer Walter Perkins and clarinetist Perry Robinson (Bob's Pink Cadillac, 2002). But this is hardly the first time a bassist has led a record with this kind of getup. About 37 years earlier Robinson recorded in the same configuration led by another great avant garde jazz bass player of another generation: Henry Grimes.

Stollman wrote brief liner notes for many of these early releases and while he might not have had the flair for it that many writers have, he could often be precise in his statements. That was certainly true when ended his brief comments in The Call with the sentence "A more accurate title for the album would be Henry Grimes/Perry Robinson."

While Robinson's supple clarinet is the focal point for much of these recordings, Grimes does get to strut his stuff on several occasions, as during his cello solo on "For Django" or the fleet-fingered bass solo at the beginning of "Saturday Night What Th'." Mostly, though, he's busy making up for the lack of chordal instrument in much of the same way Charlie Haden has done for Ornette Coleman. Actually, the six songs presented on this album---all written by either Grimes or Robinson---owe much to Coleman's harmolodic concept of song construction, and they're all good representations of the concept at that. They also has a strong element of swing that makes The Call a great listen even today.

Like Logan, Grimes dropped out of sight not long after he cut his first record. Happily, though, Grimes was located in 2002 and rejoined the whack jazz scene after about a 35 year period of working odd jobs and dropping out of music altogether. Remarkably, he has regained his chops and has even recorded a few more records (including a duet with free jazz drummer Rashied Ali that came out just this week, called Going to the Ritual).

Before Grimes could make his comeback, though, he needed a bass; he had long since sold his and he was destitute at the time he was found. Who stepped up and donated one to him?

William Parker.