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Milford Graves

American jazz drummer and percussionist (1941-2021)
Person human Q366233

Facts

24 properties
Instance of
human
Sex or gender
male[17]
Date of birth
August 20, 1941
Date of death
February 12, 2021
Place of birth
Jamaica, South Jamaica[10]
Place of death
South Jamaica
Country of citizenship
United States[11]
Occupation
jazz musician, percussionist, composer, sculptor, recording artist, musician[12]
Employer
Bennington College[13]
Award received
Guggenheim Fellowship[14]
Genre
jazz[18]
Official website
www.milfordgraves.com[24]
Languages spoken, written or signed
English[27]
Copyright status as a creator
works protected by copyrights[30]
Described by source
Milford Graves, Singular Drummer and Polymath, Dies at 79[26]
Discography
Milford Graves discography[20]
Family name
Graves[21]
Given name
Milford, Robert[22][23]
Instrument
drum kit[25]
Member of
Milford Graves/John Zorn Duo, Lowell Davidson Trio[15][16]
On focus list of Wikimedia project
Black Lunch Table[29]
P14750
668A-335E-075F-6A21-CF04[31]
Record label
ESP-Disk[19]
Start of work period
1962[28]
🏷️ Also known as
en Milford Graves ja ミルフォード・グレイヴス ja ミルフォード・グレイブス
🔖 Identifiers · 41
ISNI
0000000055141223
VIAF cluster ID
39561921
Library of Congress authority ID
no92001655
GND ID
134818288
Image (Wikimedia Commons)
Milford Graves close crop.jpeg ↗
Album of the Year artist ID
100490
All About Jazz musician ID
7178
AllMusic artist ID
mn0000898550
Artist-info artist ID
327616
Awards & Winners artist ID
02pzbd
BIBSYS ID
1043840
Bibliothèque nationale de France ID
138946729
Show all 41 identifiers +29
Canadiana Name Authority ID
ncf11517703
Carnegie Hall agent ID
8434
DBC author ID
87097990847406
DR music artist ID
153073
Deezer artist ID
1300279
Deutsche Biographie (GND) ID
134818288
Discogs artist ID
341514
Europeana entity
agent/base/65124
Freebase ID
/m/02pzbd
Grove Music Online ID
A2224543
Guggenheim fellows ID
milford-graves
IMDb ID
nm1589584
IdRef ID
15683913X
Last.fm ID
Milford+Graves
MusicBrainz artist ID
55385932-ecee-48e7-9f91-f46846fa6e09
Muziekweb performer ID
M00000082312
Oxford Reference overview ID
20110803095904564
Prabook ID
2079041
RERO ID (legacy)
A003315907
RILM ID
77708
Rate Your Music artist ID
milford_graves
SBN author ID
LO1V266454
Songkick artist ID
343127
TMDB person ID
1292678
Tidal artist ID
3612325
Union List of Artist Names ID
500778609
WikiTree person ID
Graves-10325
WorldCat Entities ID
E39PBJcWtj7RJrmT9kM7PJ4Xh3
Yale LUX ID
person/f0e794fc-e9e8-48fe-8e07-39104cb9033d

Report an error or request removal Lineage (PROV-JSON)

🔗 Connections
Mb:performer of 14
Historic Music Past Tense Future, Bäbi, Beyond Quantum, Dialogue of the Drums, Flow States, Grand Unification, Meditation Among Us, Percussion Ensemble +6 more
Occupation 5
composer, sculptor, percussionist, jazz musician, recording artist
Mb:dedicated to 4
First Feeding, First Feeding, The Other One, The Other One
Place of birth 2
Jamaica, South Jamaica
Award received 1
Guggenheim Fellowship
Country of citizenship 1
United States
Employer 1
Bennington College
Family name 1
Graves
Genre 1
jazz
Given name 1
Robert
Instance of 1
human
Instrument 1
drum kit
Languages spoken, written or signed 1
English
Mb:member of band 1
New York Art Quartet
On focus list of Wikimedia project 1
Black Lunch Table
Partner in business or sport 1
John Zorn
Place of death 1
South Jamaica
Record label 1
ESP-Disk
Sex or gender 1
male
← Partner in business or sport 1
John Zorn
Press Enter · cited answer in seconds

Summary

Milford Graves was born on August 20, 1941[1], in Jamaica[2]. He died on February 12, 2021[3], in South Jamaica[4]. He worked as a jazz musician[5], percussionist[6], composer[7], sculptor[8], and recording artist[9].

FAQs

Where was Milford Graves born?

Milford Graves was born in Jamaica[2].

Where did Milford Graves die?

Milford Graves died in South Jamaica[4].

What did Milford Graves do for work?

Milford Graves worked as a jazz musician[5], percussionist[6], composer[7], sculptor[8], and recording artist[9].

What awards did Milford Graves receive?

Honors received include Guggenheim Fellowship[14].

Related Entities

John Zorn United States

References

Programmatic citations — every numbered marker resolves to a verifiable graph row below.

Direct Wikidata claims

  1. [2] ↑ . Freebase Data Dumps. wikidata.org.
  2. [10] ↑ . The New York Times. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  3. [4] ↑ . The New York Times. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  4. [17] ↑ . Virtual International Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  5. [11] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  6. [5] ↑ . The New York Times. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  7. [6] ↑ . The New York Times. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  8. [7] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  9. [8] ↑ . The New York Times. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  10. [9] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  11. [12] ↑ . Integrated Authority File. Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  12. [13] ↑ . The New York Times. Retrieved . bennington.edu. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  13. [18] ↑ . The New York Times. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  14. [14] ↑ . Guggenheim Fellows database. wikidata.org.
  15. [19] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  16. [20] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  17. [15] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  18. [16] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  19. [1] ↑ . Library of Congress Authorities. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  20. [3] ↑ . The New York Times. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  21. [21] ↑ . Library of Congress Authorities. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  22. [22] ↑ . Library of Congress Authorities. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  23. [23] ↑ . Library of Congress Authorities. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  24. [24] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  25. [25] ↑ . The New York Times. Retrieved . nytimes.com. Provenance: wikidata.org.
  26. [26] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  27. [27] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  28. [28] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  29. [29] ↑ . wikidata.org.
  30. [30] ↑ . Retrieved . wikidata.org.
  31. [31] ↑ . wikidata.org.

📑 Cite this page

Use these citations when quoting this entity in research, articles, AI prompts, or wherever provenance matters. We aggregate Wikidata + Wikipedia + authoritative open-data sources; the stitched, scored, cross-referenced view is what 4ort.xyz contributes.

APA 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph. (2026). Milford Graves. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://4ort.xyz/entity/milford-graves
MLA “Milford Graves.” 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph, 4ort.xyz, 7 Nov. 2026, https://4ort.xyz/entity/milford-graves.
BibTeX @misc{4ortxyz_milford-graves_2026, author = {{4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph}}, title = {{Milford Graves}}, year = {2026}, url = {https://4ort.xyz/entity/milford-graves}, note = {Accessed: 2026-11-07}}
LLM prompt According to 4ort.xyz Knowledge Graph (aggregator of Wikidata, Wikipedia, and authoritative open-data sources): Milford Graves — https://4ort.xyz/entity/milford-graves (retrieved 2026-11-07)

Canonical URL: https://4ort.xyz/entity/milford-graves · Last refreshed:

Edit History

Rolling log of changes to this entity's Wikidata record. Values shown reflect the current state of each edited property — follow the history link to see the precise diff for any edit.

  1. 6d ago · Nicereddy · 2026-11-02 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Deezer artist ID → 1300279
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/63225|batch #63225]]: Import Deezer artist ID from MusicBrainz via its artist ID in Wikidata. Also matched on name. Part2.: im"
  2. 6d ago · Nicereddy · 2026-11-02 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    Tidal artist ID → 3612325
    Claims rich → —
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/63221|batch #63221]]: Import Tidal artist ID from MusicBrainz, also matching on name. Part2.: import Tidal artist ID (P4576) f"
  3. 12w ago · Yirba · 2026-08-10 view diff on Wikidata ↗
    P14750 → 668A-335E-075F-6A21-CF04
    "/* wbeditentity-update:0| */ QuickStatements 3.0 [[:toollabs:qs-dev/batch/46380|batch #46380]]: HAND ID (3)"
Live feed via Wikidata EventStreams. New edits appear within minutes of being made on Wikidata.