Henry Grimes and Olive Oil

By now you've probably heard the great news that master bassist Henry Grimes, who'd been missing from the music world ever since the late '6O's, has been found in good health (though pretty much destitute) living in a single-room occupancy hotel in South Central Los Angeles. He's been living in the same room for the last 2O years but had long ago sold his bass for survival needs and has since contented himself with writing poetry, a bit of acting, doing odd jobs, and surviving on Social Security income. The person who found Henry Grimes is a wonderful young social worker and writer named Marshall Marrotte, who lives in Athens, Georgia.

When Marshall Marrotte found Henry Grimes, Henry told him that he very much wished he had a bass so he could start playing again. Here was a supreme master musician who went to Juilliard, who recorded and played brilliantly with musicians as diverse as Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Benny Goodman, Roy Haynes, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Charles Mingus, Sonny Murray, Perry Robinson, Sonny Rollins, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, Charles Tyler, McCoy Tyner, Rev. Frank Wright, and many more. For me, a planet where the great Henry Grimes does not have a bass is not a place I want to be, and being unprepared for space travel at this time, I decided to stay here and begin a month-long nationwide search for a bass for him. I wrote to, called, or otherwise contacted about 5O of the musicians he played and/ or recorded with before he disappeared, as well as many bassists who would know him as a music hero even if he was before their time. I put particular concentration on the West Coast because shipping a bass is a big expense in itself, and I also thought the Western music community would want the opportunity to gather around him, and I thought it would be easy especially for those connected with academia or major cultural institutions out West to hook him up with practice space and an instrument to play, at the very least.

So with Marshall Marrotte's approval, I put the word out far and wide, and then we waited for a bass for Henry Grimes.

For quite a while, nobody moved.

Slowly, a few people began to say they'd be willing to do something -- make a donation, hold or play in a benefit concert, contribute a bow -- kind, good offers, but not a bass for Henry Grimes to play. A couple of afflicted souls responded negatively, cynically, or even with hostility. Most just didn't answer at all.

Then, just when I began to question my lifelong belief in the term “music community" as something more than a concept or an ideal, but as an actual living entity that embraces and sustains its own -- the great William Parker came home to New York City from another of his tours, got around to reading his accumulated e-mails, and called me to say he would send a bass and a bow to Henry Grimes. First, he wanted New York's great bass specialist David Gage to make a small repair, and then David's shop would build a shipping crate for the bass and arrange and pay for the shipping. One of David Gage's employees, a bassist called Sprocket, even put up $1OO of his own money to help with shipping costs.

Henry Grimes received the bass William Parker named Olive Oil (more, I think, due to the greenish tinge of her finish than for Popeye's girlfriend) on December 16th, 2OO2. We've been in touch with Henry, and he is ecstatic to have Olive Oil and has been practicing happily ever since. In fact, he recently requested an amp and a pickup (they're on their way), and the building manager reported that since Olive Oil's arrival, when people have knocked on Henry Grimes's door, he's been too engrossed in practicing the bass to reply!

After only a couple of months with Olive Oil, Henry Grimes has begun to emerge from his room. He's been practicing with several area musicians, played two concerts with Nels and Alex Cline at Billy Higgins's World Stage earlier this month (his first public concerts in more than 2O years!), has two more concerts scheduled with Nels Cline on April 18th and 19th at the Howling Monk in Inglewood, CA, and has even begun teaching improvisation part-time at a local high school. Andrew Cyrille, Pharoah Sanders, and Reggie Workman visited with Henry at a local club called the Jazz Bakery recently and were overjoyed to see him again and to find him in such good physical and emotional shape. Meanwhile, donations of bass supplies as well as individual financial gifts have been accumulating slowly but steadily at David Gage's shop, where Henry is able to order any bass supplies he wants for Olive Oil. Bassist Mark Dresser will soon be making a delivery directly from David Gage's shop to Henry Grimes. Plans are presently under way to bring Henry to New York for the Vision Festival in mid-May if such is his desire.

This leads me back to those offers of donations and benefit concerts and such. For all those who wish to help Henry Grimes on his path back into the music, here are

some suggestions:

1. If you were a close friend, band mate, or family member of Henry Grimes, please contact me or Marshall Marrotte and we will give you Henry's address (subject to

   prior agreement from him). Henry has neither phone nor e-mail. We are not giving out his address to strangers or press people at this time.

2. We've started a fund at David Gage's shop so that Henry will be able to call from a phone booth and order anything he needs for his bass -- pickup, amp, new set of

   strings, a wheel, gig bag, some resin, etc. If you'd like to contribute to this fund, please make a check to DAVID GAGE STRING INSTRUMENT REPAIR, mark somewhere on it FOR ACCOUNT OF Henry Grimes, and mail the check to: Mr. Marshall Marrotte, 4696 Tallassee Road, Athens, GA 3O6O7-2229. (Should you need it, Marshall's e-mail address is ). This is so that Marshall can tabulate the amount of the fund, and he will then immediately send the donations on to David Gage.

3. Those who want to send donations, letters, cards, or gifts to Henry Grimes directly rather than to the David Gage fund can mail them to Marshall Marrotte (see item 2 above), and Marshall will forward them to Henry Grimes. If you're sending in a donation via this route rather than through the David Gage bass fund, please send a postal money order, NOT a check, because Henry does not have a bank account. Marshall Marrotte has been serving selflessly as Henry's mentor and protector through all this, and we are being careful not to overwhelm Henry with strangers and fuss, so that he has time to work on playing at his own pace and can make his way back into the music when and as he wishes. He is a gentle, shy, very sensitive person, and we certainly don't want to drive him back into hiding.

4. People who want to hold or play benefit concerts for Henry Grimes, please go ahead and do so! Some of us are planning such a concert here in New York, and I think it will be huge and very, very beautiful. Whether Henry Grimes will attend or participate will be entirely up to him. Meanwhile, funds raised can be handled the same ways as described above.

Thanks to all for caring!

In love and music,
Margaret Davis
Editor and Publisher, “Art Attack!," the publication for and about liberation musicians in N.Y.C. (and beyond), on the Web at http://www.jazznewyork.org, e-mail

[email protected].

P.S. I should add that Marshall Marrotte's interview and photographs of Henry Grimes (carefully presented to protect his privacy) may be found in recent issues of Signal to Noise Magazine and The Wire.