I went into this book already loving Milford Graves, so I have a pretty biased opinion. I’d read some liner notes, heard bits of interviews, and always felt drawn to his philosophy. But this book gave me a much fuller picture — not just of who he was, but how deeply his music, politics, health practices, and day-to-day life were all connected. It’s a mix of interviews, essays, photos, and documents from people who knew him, and it's more like an archive than a traditional biography.
What I love most about him — and what this book really drives home — is how intuitive and personal his approach to music was. He pushed back hard against the idea of formal training that treats drums as tools for keeping time. For him, rhythm came from the body. He even collaborated with cardiologists, recording the sound of his own heartbeat and using it to guide his drumming. There’s this great moment in the book where a musician hears the playback of his heart and mistakes it for a bassline, which says a lot about how close Graves believed sound and self really are. Music is an extension of ourselves.
This book gives you a real sense of his multi-disciplinarity: he wasn’t just a musician, but also a martial artist, herbalist, acupuncturist, and researcher. He cared about healing, movement, sound, community, and freedom — and he treated them all as part of the same project.
Highly recommend the documentary of the same title too! This book works as a great supplement to that documentary.