Dave King grew up in the Twin Cities, starting off on piano at age four before switching to drums in fifth grade. As a teen he forged his early music connections with fellow Golden Valley residents Reid Anderson and Craig Taborn, whose paths would intersect again and again. He attended Cooper High School and the MacPhail Center for Music, studying jazz and rock. At 19, King headed west, working as a session musician in LA in the early 90s before returning to the Twin Cities to find his own voice. "I always wanted to be in the mix, he told the Pioneer Press some years ago, “to help design and define the sound of the ensemble rather than just be the guy who plays drums." Soon he helped design and define the sound of Happy Apple, the trio that came together in 1996, ultimately complete with saxophonist Michael Lewis and electric bassist Erik Fratzke. Straddling avant garde jazz and alternative rock, the band has 8 recordings to its credit and an immense following among the 20-something generation.

The genesis of the Bad Plus was some informal gigging around 1990 among King, Golden Valley pal/bassist Reid Anderson and pianist Ethan Iverson, a Menomonie, WI native who met Anderson in college. But they didn’t reconnect musically until 1999, when The Bad Plus made its tentative debut with a couple below-the-radar recordings before exploding on the Village Vanguard stage in 2002, quickly signing with Columbia and beginning a steep trajectory has continued through a series of recordings, international tours, and near-legend status in less than a decade.

Yet another “outside” ensemble emerged from a collaboration with Iverson and avant garde aces, saxophonist Tim Berne and violist Mat Maneri (now with cellist Hank Roberts), Buffalo Collision. And Golden Valley cohort/keyboardist Craig Taborn, an increasingly acclaimed presence on the new music scene, tapped King to provide the percussion voice in his Junk Magic ensemble. Other projects have included FKG (with Scott Fultz and Dean Granros), Siamese Fighting Fish with Granros and Anthony Cox, and Electric Bill with pianist Bill Carrothers.

In addition to his discography with The Bad Plus and Happy Apple, and his appearances on a long list of other recordings, King recently released a solo album combining his skills as drummer, pianist and composer, Indelicate (2010, Sunnyside).

Whatever the band of the moment or decade, King remains the Energizer Bunny of drummers, both in terms of his frenetic musical wizardry and his simultaneous association with numerous and diverse bands. Traditional approaches to percussion have never appealed to King, whose technique is described by Matt Peiken (St. Paul Pioneer Press) as relying “on incredible finger control to nuance his fills, which often defy the neat subdivisions of typical beats.” Similarly idiocyncratic is King’s collection of “instruments” that includes walkie talkies and children’s toys. "What's considered banal pop drumming is never going to be my thing," King says. "But my thing will not work with everyone. I need to have people who trust where I'm coming from, people with me who will think 'King's on the gig -- something's probably going to happen.' "

Something’s definitely going to happen this weekend in the McGuire Theater of the Walker Art Center. “Dave King for Two Days” focuses on King’s established projects—The Bad Plus, Happy Apple, Buffalo Collision and a rare merging of The Bad Apple; the inauguration of two new bands, Golden Valley Is Now and the Dave King Trucking Company; and a "surprise" appearance by Gang Font.

Friday, March 12 (8 pm):

• The Bad Plus –Dave King, Ethan Iverson (piano), Reid Anderson (bass)
• Happy Apple – Dave King, Michael Lewis (saxophones), Erik Fratzke (bass)
• The Bad Apple – all of the above
• Buffalo Collision—Dave King, Tim Berne (saxophones), Ethan Iverson (keyboards), Hank Roberts (cello)

 

Saturday, March 13 (8 pm):

• Golden Valley Is Now – Dave King, Craig Taborn (keyboards), Reid Anderson (bass)
• Gang Font -Dave King, Bryan Nichols (keyboards), Erik Fratzke (guitar), Greg Norton (bass)
• Dave King Trucking Company –Dave King, Chris Speed (saxophone), Erik Fratzke (guitar), and Adam Linz (bass)

 

Tickets for Dave King for Two Days are $25 each night or $40 for the full weekend; www.walkerart.org. Support for Dave King for Two Days is provided in honor of Dale Schatzlein (1948-2006) and his important work in support of jazz and dance in the Twin Cities. The Walker Art Center’s Jazz programs are supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and Chamber Music America’s Presenting Jazz Program, through the generous support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.