Henry Grimes, the multi-instrumentalist whose profession in jazz music spanned greater than 60 years, has died of issues associated to the coronavirus. He was 84.
His spouse Margaret Davis Grimes confirmed the information to the Jazz Basis of America, WBGO studies.
Within the 1950s, the bassist carried out alongside jazz greats together with Sonny Rollins, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, and Cecil Taylor. Via the ’60s, he dabbled within the avant garde, performing with he late McCoy Tyner, Albert Ayler and others.
The late ’60s additionally introduced monetary turmoil for Grimes, who must promote his pawn his double bass for money, Pitchfork studies.
The musician had all-but light into obscurity till 2002, when a social employee named Marshall Marrotte tracked him down utilizing court docket information and different public paperwork. At the moment, Grimes had no instrument to his identify — which prompted fellow improvisational bassist William Parker to offer Grimes a green-painted bass he’d dubbed Olive Oil.
In 2003, he returned to the stage for the primary time a long time, on the Imaginative and prescient Pageant in New York Metropolis. From then on, he continued to play dwell reveals and host scholar workshops all through the 2010s.
In a 2012 interview, Grimes instructed music outlet For Bass Gamers Solely, “I by no means gave up on music, not for a minute. You possibly can say I used to be absent for a very long time, however I all the time believed I might be again in the future. I simply couldn’t see the best way to get there, however I knew it might occur.”