You
could say Milford Graves is an experimental jazz musician. He is the co-holder
of a medical patent and often records the human heart as part of a long-term
holistic musical project. Graves is also generally considered part of the free
jazz school, but as is often the case, that label is not sufficient for his
music. Graves’ former student Jake Meginsky and co-director Neil Young document
the percussionist’s music and ideas in Milford
Graves Full Mantis (trailer
here), which screens at this year’s SXSW.
Graves
has played with some of the greatest names in free jazz. In fact, we hear him
playing with a decidedly free group early in the documentary. However, whenever
Grave’s percussion is front and center, it is totally accessible. We can hear
African and Asian influences in there, but we are always talking about rhythm—sometimes
boisterous and sometimes hypnotic, but always propulsive.
To
approximate the experience of their lessons, Meginsky prompts Graves to speak
his peace during Full Mantis—and he
has a lot to say. Some of his ideas are a bit out there, but they are the
eccentricities of a survivor. He has lived quite a life, having worked as a
trained physician’s assistant (making us wonder if he ever played with Eddie
Henderson, the jazz M.D.) and made it through the tumult of the 1960s in
relatively intact.
He
generally seems philosophically and empathically inclined, particularly during
a concert in Japan at a school for autistic children. For most musicians, that
would have been a tough gig, but he and dancer Min Tanaka use rhythm to reach
the student on a profound level. Nor do they let it ruffle their feathers when
some of the kids encroach on the performance space and in some cases start
playing along. Fortunately, somebody captured it on a video camera, because it
is an absolutely extraordinary performance that is quite moving, both
emotionally and physically, in a toe-tapping kind of way.
The
Japanese concert is such a crescendo, it probably should have concluded the
film, but there is at least one more sequence that will stick with viewers for
a long time to come. Graves relates a harrowing 1960s encounter with street
crime and racism that sort of cuts both ways from the perspective of current
gun and law enforcement controversies.
Full Mantis ranges freely
across topics that interest Graves, including martial arts (that is where the
mantis reference comes in), medicine, and of course music. His fans would not
want it any other way. Meginsky and Young might just win over some new ones for
him with their meditative yet surprisingly zesty treatment. Highly recommended
anyone who enjoys feeling some rhythm, Milford
Graves Full Mantis screens again tomorrow (3/15) and Friday (3/16), as part
of the 2018 SXSW.
