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© 2008 The Artists' Quarter,
Thumbnail photos © Howard A. Gitelson
Additional AQ images © Howard A. Gitelson Don Berryman and Andrea Canter as indicated. Special thanks to Al Iverson, the original AQ webmaster. We apologize for any errors that may occur. In the event of discrepancies Davis Wilson, your host at the door, is always the final authority |
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This weekend brings the 
The first of a new genre, Happy Apple planted the seed of post-modern raucous free jazz - and over the past decade nurtured it to maturity. Before he formed the Bad Plus, Dave King with Micheal Lewis and Erik Fratzke was bringing a new vision of serious musicianship presented with casual good humor to the youthful masses in jazz and rock clubs in Twin Cities. In 1996 the Artists' Quarter in Saint Paul (then at its 5th & Jackson location) was the first jazz club to present them. They remain a favorite at the AQ.
Recently our own Happy Apple wowed them in the Big Apple - The New York Times said: "... if their intent seemed confusing — irony attaches naturally to them, like a shadow — the energy level of the music completely erased the issue. The trio's set was a hard scrimmage; the band mates looked as if they had nothing left by the end of the show. In "Lefse Los Cubanos," a long, lively two-beat song over a bass vamp — sort of like their version of a Sonny Rollins calypso — they played hard and ecstatically. But even in the slow ballad "He's O.K." — written, Mr. King explained, after his son burned his hand on the tailpipe of Mr. Fratzke's car — they poured it on. They made the soft notes and the silences count. Funny as the men were to watch, this was one of the most serious groups I've seen."