Milford Graves (1941–2021, Jamaica, Queens) was a percussionist, acupuncturist, herbalist, martial artist, and professor — and a pioneer of Free Jazz. A member of the groundbreaking New York Art Quartet, he played at John Coltrane’s funeral in 1967 and later taught at Bennington College for 39 years, where he’s now Professor Emeritus. Ever the autodidact, Graves invented his own martial art, Yara, and spent his later career studying the healing power of heart vibrations — work recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Doris Duke Foundation Impact Award.

His life and work are the subject of the documentary Milford Graves Full Mantis (2018), and his visual art has been shown at the Queens Museum and in a 2020 retrospective at the ICA Philadelphia. He lived and worked in South Jamaica, Queens, until his passing in 2021.