by Dave SegalMilford Graves Full Mantis plays at Northwest Film Forum August 15–16 and 22–23.
Whatever preconceived notions you’ve harbored about free-jazz drummers—if indeed you think about these rare birds at all, you philistines—they probably don’t match up with the reality of Milford Graves’s odd life. Born in 1941 in Queens, New York, Graves became one of avant-garde music’s most out-there percussionists—and not just for his phenomenally
Whatever preconceived notions you’ve harbored about free-jazz drummers—if indeed you think about these rare birds at all, you philistines—they probably don’t match up with the reality of Milford Graves’s odd life. Born in 1941 in Queens, New York, Graves became one of avant-garde music’s most out-there percussionists—and not just for his phenomenally