"Olive Oil was the name Henry gave the green upright bass he used to play. There is no one that has had more impact on my playing of the upright bass than Henry Grimes.

After a year in college where my (unnamed) bass teacher told me to quit because I’d never be any good, I had pretty much decided he was right. But at a concert I went to to celebrate my 19th birthday, I went to hear the great Henry Grimes. I knew of Henry through his work with the wonderful Perry Robinson, and the concert I saw that night at the Vision Festival was also the first time I heard William Parker, Kidd Jordan, Marshall Allen, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Warren Smith, Hamid Drake, among many others, and changed the way I saw free improvisation. I went back to the Vision a couple days later on my actual birthday to hear Henry play solo, and after his set, I approached him sheepishly telling him how much of a hero he was to me, and asked him if he taught lessons. His wife Margaret, quickly rushed over and answered for him, telling me he indeed taught lessons, and gave me their business card, and a sparkly pin with a picture of Henry on it (which I still cherish). Afterwards Henry said, "thank you", and that may be all I heard him say that night after the set.

My first lesson in their east-side Manhattan railroad apartment started with Henry and I playing duo... which lasted for about two hours straight. I'm sure I didn’t even have 5 minutes to say musically, let alone 2 hours, but afterwards he said a few encouraging words then we sat quietly for a few minutes and started to play again. This time he would stop me every few minutes and tell me to keep going with certain ideas, or to not jump from one thing to another so quickly, or follow his lead some places and lead other places. He was very patient and encouraging, and improvised with me like I was a real improviser, not a kid, even though I hadn’t even played the upright bass for a year at that point. Over the next 5 or so years, I continued taking lessons with Henry in exchange for driving him and his bass to gigs, letting him borrow my bass on occasion, transcribing his tunes from 60's records so they'd have a copy of them, and helping with whatever I could. Eventually the lessons stopped being lessons and we'd just play duo for hours, mostly playing free, but sometimes playing standards or his tunes from the 60’s. We'd sit and listen to WKCR together, I would get (small pieces of) stories about Sonny Rollins, Don Cherry, Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor, and try to soak up as much knowledge as I could.

This recording was made at The Stone (back when it was at Ave C & 2nd st in New York City) in November of 2010 as part of a month of music that Henry curated. This same month featured Kidd Jordan, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Tyshawn Sorey, Marc Ribot, Marshall Allan, Mark Dresser, Connie Crothers, and dozens of other heroes of mine. I was 20 years old and had been playing the upright bass for about two years at this point, and in retrospect, am still amazed that Henry Asked me to play this concert with him. It was like being called up to the big leagues! It was truly one of the most important moments in my life as a young bass player. I recall there being about 10 people in attendance, but I didn’t care, I was getting to perform in duo with my hero after a year and a half of playing at his apartment together. I certainly hadn’t matured into a unique musician yet, and when I listen to this recording, I think it sounds sort of like 1.5 Henry Grimes-es, with me still engaging with a lot of his language. However young I may be, I think there are some beautiful moments of music, love and communication, and I just wanted to share this special evening of music with anyone who would want to hear it. Henry Grimes was one of the most giving and deep musicians, and I feel as though no matter how much I listen to his music, there’s always so many more layers to dive into. So here’s some more to explore!"

-Max Johnson 2020/2023