Welcome to Philadelphia Jazz Project
Full Mantis - Milford Graves Film
Sep 1, 2018
"One of the best jazz documentaries ever assembled... a singular viewing experience."
Byron Coley, The Wire : Adventures In Modern Music
MILFORD GRAVES FULL MANTIS
Thursday, September 27th, 2018 at 7:00pm
Lightbox Film Center
International House
3701 Chestnut Street
Phila., PA 19104
TICKETS: CLICK HERE
Scribe Video Center & Ars Nova Workshop present MILFORD GRAVES FULL MANTIS, the first ever feature-length film and portrait of renowned percussionist Milford Graves, exploring his kaleidoscopic creativity and relentless curiosity.
Milford Graves is an internationally acclaimed jazz musician and has performed internationally since 1964, both as a soloist and in ensembles with such legends as Albert Ayler, Giuseppi Logan, Don Pullen and Sonny Sharrock. . Relatively unknown to most straight ahead Jazz lovers, Graves is a founding pioneer of avant-garde jazz, and he remains one of the most influential living figures in the evolution of the form. Graves has been the recipient of many honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the Down Beat International Award, and the Critics Award. He has performed at festivals in the U.S., the Netherlands, Belgium, Paris, Nigeria, Finland, Canada, and Portugal. He has played at the Kodo Drum Center and has frequently toured in Japan, where he was also the subject of a Japanese television documentary. He has worked on numerous television and film projects and has made dozens of recordings. He was on the music faculty at Bennington College from 1973 - 2012.
The film draws the viewer through the artist’s lush garden and ornate home, into the martial arts dojo in his backyard and the laboratory in his basement - all of this just blocks from where he grew up in the housing projects of South Jamaica, Queens. Graves tells stories of discovery, struggle and survival, ruminates on the essence of 'swing,' activates electronic stethoscopes in his basement lab to process the sound of his heart, and travels to Japan where he performs at a school for children with autism, igniting the student body into an ecstatic display of spontaneous collective energy.
Oscillating from present to past and weaving intimate glimpses of the artist’s complex cosmology with blistering performances from around the globe, MILFORD GRAVES FULL MANTIS is cinema full of fluidity, polyrhythm and intensity, embodying the essence of Graves’ music itself.
For More Info:
ARS NOVA WORKSHOP: CLICK HERE
SCRIBE VIDEO CENTER: CLICK HERE
MILFORD GRAVES FULL MANTIS TRAILER from Full Mantis on Vimeo.
MILFORD GRAVES FULL MANTIS
Thursday, September 27th, 2018 at 7:00pm
Lightbox Film Center
International House
3701 Chestnut Street
Phila., PA 19104
TICKETS: CLICK HERE
Follow PJP, like us, or just check us out at our pages on these social media platforms...
Philadelphia Jazz Project is a sponsored project of the Culture Trust | Greater Philadelphia, with funding provided by The Philadelphia Foundation.
