Music to Silence to Music: A Biography of Henry Grimes

Nominated for the 2016 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.Foreword by Sonny Rollins.Henry Grimes recorded and toured with some of the most imaginative American jazz musicians including Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor, and Albert Ayler. This book examines the bassist's long but turbulent musical career, recounting his continuously creative artistic life as bassist, violinist and poet.Henry's a giant. – Cecil Taylor, 2000.On the records he was on, he stood out. He had a big sound, and it really punched out whatever ensemble he was in. – William Parker, 2003.I am so happy to hear that Henry is playing again. He is one of the great individualists, and his absence left a space that nobody else could fill. – Dave Holland, 2003.Henry has always been a serious, intense, and fearless musician whose personal life reflected those exceptional qualities. I admire him greatly. – Sonny Rollins, 2007.Henry Grimes is among the greatest improvisers living in the world today. His playing is exquisite. – Roscoe Mitchell, Mills College, 2010.Barbara Ina Frenz, born in 1961 in Zurich, Switzerland, is a German historian, author and copywriter living in Frankfurt am Main. Frenz grew up in a jazz-loving family, studied history, philosophy, and art history in Frankfurt, and gained her PhD with a study on equality in the Middle Ages. Frenz was a research associate at the Universities of Frankfurt and Würzburg from1989 to '99 undertaking historical studies sponsored by various foundations. Since 2001, after further education in creative writing, she has worked in the creative areas of advertising and as a writer of poetry, texts in history and culture, and contributions to the German jazz magazine Jazzpodium.Photo of Author Barbara Frenz with Henry Grimes, New York City, December 2009 (photo: © Thomas Rösch). Read more