Sparkle Division is a new project by William Basinski and Preston Wendel, and today they release a recent collaboration with the late Henry Grimes, who died of Covid-19 on 15 April. The track “Oh Henry!” had Grimes appear on upright bass and violin and was recorded at Grimes’s favourite studio, The Bunker in Brooklyn.

“I met Henry and Margaret Davis Grimes in the green room at The Empty Bottle in Chicago around 2003 or 2004, shortly after Henry had moved to NYC and began playing again,” explains Basinski. “When Preston pulled out this slow groove that became “Oh Henry!”, I was moved to play a sexy, slow melody. Then the beats hit and he’s got it in double time... it worked! I called Margaret in NYC and said we had a track we’d like them to hear to see if Henry would come in on it.

“Margaret called me a few days later and said, ‘a lotta babies gonna be born to that track!’ When their schedule allowed, we booked Henry’s favourite studio, with Nolan Thies engineering. Nolan recorded five takes of Henry performing upright bass and violin for the track, which Preston edited here at Musex International in LA. Henry’s playing is mind-boggling as usual, and we were absolutely blown away.”

The track is out today on Bandcamp. Read William Parker's tribute to the man who “opened the door to his inner world every time he was on the bandstand”.