“Dave King’s dirty, aggressive, disciplined joy in playing drums conjoins many degrees between swing rhythm and more rigid backbeats. “Good Old Light” …shows him as a generous-bulldog kind of bandleader, with serious ideas about instrumentation and contrast between players’ styles.” –Ben Ratliffe, New York Times
Having launched his Dave King Trucking Company about two years ago, Dave King's schedule reads much like his famed drumming---nonstop! Aside from touring and performing with The Bad Plus and Happy Apple, King and his Trucking Company have released their first CD (Good Old Light) and toured on both sides of the Atlantic; they have appeared at the Walker Art Center, Artists Quarter, Studio Z and Ice House in the Twin Cities. Featuring Brandon Wozniak on saxes, Erik Fratzke on guitar, Adam Linz on bass, and of course King on drums, the concept of the Trucking Company sound, according to Dave, is as “if the great Nashville bands of the '60s and '70s could improvise and were Coltrane fanatics.” In other words, roots music meets sheets of sound? Hear it for yourself Saturday (August 11th) when the Dave King Trucking Company rolls into the Dakota for one night of glorious mayhem.
Drummer Dave King might be best known for his long-standing work with The Bad Plus and Happy Apple, but his affiliations hardly end there. In fact, at any given moment, King is likely involved in at least ten projects ranging from the jazz oriented Bad Plus, Happy Apple and Buffalo Collision to rock bands like Halloween Alaska and impossible-to-define electronic outfits like Gang Font. 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 and straddling avant garde jazz and alternative rock. In addition to his discography with The Bad Plus and Happy Apple, and his appearances on a long list of other recordings, last year King 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.' "
With the Dave King Trucking Company, something’s going to happen as he meshes with Wozniak, Fratzke and Linz:
Saxman Brandon Wozniak previously lived and worked in New York City, toured with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and earned his BA from Indiana University under the tutelage of David Baker. Since returning home to the Twin Cities in 2006, he has performed with a long list of local bands, and currently plays with the Atlantis Quartet, Monk in Motian, Zacc Harris Group, Chris Bates Quintet, Bryan Nichols Quintet, the Adam Meckler Quintet, Impulso and a new trio with Linz and Eric Kamau Gravatt.
Multi-instrumentalist/composer Erik Fratzke lends his bass to Happy Apple and his guitar to other projects, including Gang Font and Zebulon Pike. The Winona native started off on drums, switching to upright bass in fourth grade. Among early influences he cites his mother’s record collection (including Bartok), MTV, classical string quartets, and later, the bass playing of Stanley Clarke, Jeff Berlin and Jaco Pastorious. Early in his career, he found himself playing jazz, metal, even “Christian country rock.” Over the years, the three-time Minnesota Music Awards winner as “Bassist of the Year” has played with Reid Anderson and Bill Carrothers in addition to Mike Lewis and Dave King.
Bassist Adam Linz performs regularly with Fat Kid Wednesdays, the Adam Meckler Quintet, Bryan Nichols Trio and just about any band, anywhere that demands a creative improviser. He's performed and recorded solo bass, including his latest release, A Kiss for Luck, and has been heard dueling bassist Chris Bates with Japanese percussionist Tatsuha Nakatani and freely collaborating with Ellen Lease, Pat Moriarty and Phil Hey. Adam currently heads the jazz program at MacPhail and directs the Dakota Combo (student ensemble) and MacPhail Jazz Workshop. He's a frequent performer with local and touring artists at Cafe Maude, MacPhail, the Icehouse and the Artist Quarter.
The Dakota is located at 1010 Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. Sets begin at 8 pm, cover $12. Reservations recommended at 612-332-1010.
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