Milford Graves: A Mind-Body Deal

This nationally traveling exhibition gathers the multifaceted work of Milford Graves (1941–2021) to explore the practices and predilections of an extraordinary jazz innovator, tireless polymath, and legendary Bennington College professor. A revelatory force in music starting in the mid-1960s, Graves liberated the role of the drummer—moving drums from the background to contribute equally with other instruments—and gave rise to the Free Jazz movement. Yet his life’s work encompassed medicine, botany, activism, and martial arts, elements that intertwined to inform his music and expansive consideration of healing and the mind-body relationship. 

An autodidact, lifelong experimenter, and consummate improviser, Graves saw rhythm in all the layers of existence, from subatomic particles to heartbeats to the movement of planets. He is credited as one of the discoverers of the “variable heart rate,” a breakthrough that fed his drumming and led to advancements in cardiology; his accolades ranged from a Doris Duke Impact Award to a Guggenheim Fellowship to a patent for a device that prepares non-embryonic stem cells. Fascinated by martial arts, he created his own form, called “Yara,” by studying the movements of the praying mantis. His house in Jamaica, Queens—owned by his grandparents, and where his family still lives—formed the center of his work and the expression of his ideas. And while he taught music and improvisation to Bennington students for 39 years, he also taught gardening, acupuncture, and other wellness practices to his Queens neighbors. 

This multiform exhibition brings to life the range of Graves’s activities in sections loosely categorized around science, music, and healing. Together, they demonstrate how these pursuits mutually informed one another, manifested in exhibition objects including hand-painted album covers and posters, idiosyncratic drum sets, multimedia sculptures, photographs, costumes, archival recordings, ephemera, and documentation of his house and garden.

After incarnations in Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles, “A Mind-Body Deal” has particular historic resonance in the Bennington College context, as it foregrounds Graves’s significance as a teacher and mentor. An event series centering music, movement, healing, and film will further explore and celebrate his legacy and feature improvisational performances by musicians including pianist, composer, and MacArthur “genius” Fellow Jason Moran; renowned bassist William Parker; and pianist and composer Cooper-Moore. Additional community events include a screening of the documentary Milford Graves Full Mantis, directed by alum Jake Meginsky ’09, and a short performance at the February 27 opening by Bennington music faculty Senem Pirler and Michael Wimberly, music faculty emeritus Bruce Williamson, and music instructor Michael Bisio.  

Milford Graves: A Mind-Body Deal is curated by Mark Christman, executive artistic director of Ars Nova Workshop in Philadelphia, with curatorial research from Jake Meginsky and organized for Bennington by Usdan Gallery Director and Curator Anne Thompson. The exhibition debuted in Fall 2020 at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia. A version of the exhibition, expanded with the inclusion of Danielle Jackson as curator, appeared under the title Milford Graves: Fundamental Frequency, at Artists Space in New York before traveling to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Events
Opening reception: February 27, 6–8pm
With performance by Senem Pirler, Michael Wimberly, Bruce Williamson, and Michael Bisio in Usdan Gallery

Solo performance by Jason Moran: March 1, 8pm
Deane Carriage Barn

Performance by William Parker and Cooper-Moore: March 13, 8pm
Deane Carriage Barn

Full Mantis documentary screening: March 18, 7pm
Tishman Auditorium, with director Jake Meginsky ‘09