Dave King’s work with the Bad Plus might be earning him greater attention, but the drummer’s other trio, the 11-year-old Happy Apple, presents a fuller picture of his brainy composing skills as well as his drum chops. Saxophonist Michael Lewis and bassist Erik Fratzke also contribute tunes to the album. Together, the group has come up with 11 tracks that give Lewis a chance to unleash what seems like an unending stream of melodic ideas on his tenor (and alto and soprano on one song each), with the rhythm section setting a backdrop or pushing him as required.
King’s love of jerky rhythms drives the climax of “Rise! Mark Anthony,” on which a repetitive motif builds out of a free drum/sax exchange, much like a Tim Berne piece. He doesn’t sound as unhinged as he occasionally gets with the Bad Plus, but there are plenty of moments where he dances around the time. Fratzke often stays in the background, gently stroking simple grooves, but when duty calls he can rip into a fast solo (“1996 A.D.”) or change textures from medium to heavy. Lewis, who also adds keyboards to a couple of tracks, has a playful approach to his horn, somewhat reminiscent of Ornette, that makes even the simplest melody engaging.
Related Posts
Sonny Terry/Brownie McGhee: Backwater Blues
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Jonathan Butler: The Simple Life
Jonathan Butler’s optimistic music belies a dirt-poor childhood growing up in a South Africa segregated by apartheid. Live in South Africa, a new CD and DVD package, presents a sense of the resulting inner turmoil, mixed with dogged resolve, that paved the way to his status as an icon in his country and successful musician outside of it. Looking back, the 46-year-old Butler says today, the driving forces that led to his overcoming apartheid-the formal policy of racial separation and economic discrimination finally dismantled in 1993-were family, faith and abundant talent.
“When we were kids, our parents never talked about the ANC [African National Congress] or Nelson Mandela,” he says. Butler was raised as the youngest child in a large family. They lived in a house patched together by corrugated tin and cardboard, in the “coloreds only” township of Athlone near Cape Town. “They never talked about struggles so we never knew what was happening.”
Start Your Free Trial to Continue Reading
Become a JazzTimes member to explore our complete archive of interviews, profiles, columns, and reviews written by music’s best journalists and critics.
Harry Connick, Jr.: Direct Hits
Two decades after his commercial breakthrough, Harry Connick Jr. taps legendary producer Clive Davis for an album of crooner roots and beloved tunes
Scott LaFaro
Previously unavailable recordings and a new bio illuminate the legend of bassist Scott LaFaro