Happy Apple - New York CD (2024) [Hi-Res]

For over 25 years, the Minneapolis based collective, Happy Apple, has delivered its own enigmatic vision of jazz and improvised music to an adoring cognoscenti of listeners. Though they’ve found favor from the jazz community at large, the trio of saxophonist Michael Lewis, bassist Erik Fratzke, and drummer Dave King remains a band of outsiders, three independent personalities with eclectic tastes and styles providing music with an obtuse Midwestern charm.

Mostly known for their electric live performances, Happy Apple has been a hard beast to capture on record. Though they recorded frequently in the early 2000s, the members admit that much they recorded never truly captured their “real” band sound. So, when Happy Apple decided to record after a long hiatus, they decided to get it right. “New York CD” is the recording that the band agrees finally captures the essence of Happy Apple.

Happy Apple came together during the mid-1990s as an outlet for Lewis, Fratzke, and King’s experiments with improvisation and composition. The group amassed a book of nearly 150 pieces, most of which were never recorded. During the early 2000s, the group found themselves in position to document their music. The typical challenges of recording led to strong, respected albums but albums that the group never truly felt captured their spirit.

Nearly a decade after their last studio effort, Happy Apple Back on Top (Sunnyside, 2008), Happy Apple ramped up their activity with increased performances while members were available. Each band member leads a busy musical life: King has been a member of many well-known bands, most notably with the Bad Plus and Halloween, Alaska; Lewis’s time has been mainly spent in Bon Iver’s touring band; and Fratzke was a member of prog band Zebulon Pike. The increase of Happy Apple performances led the band back to the studio to capture their reignited energy.

The music from “New York CD” comes from two recording sessions a few years apart. The initial return to the studio was held at Justin Vernon of Bon Iver’s April Base Recording Studio in Wisconsin. The group later returned to their regular recording studio, The Terrarium in Minneapolis, to complete the album. The music they recorded included pieces that had been regular parts of their sets for 20 years along with brand new compositions, written especially for the recording sessions. Most of the pieces were done in first takes and without overdubs.

The program begins with King’s “Just a Little Splash for the Senator,” Fratzke’s low bass tones opening the door of the album with this dramatically paced introduction. King’s “Vermillion Nocturne” was written for a recorded for a forgotten indie film 15 years ago. The crew revisits with a hesitant but churning take, Fratzke’s mobile bass dancing with Lewis’s tenor over King’s skittering drums. The ballad “Black and Blue Magic” is a new piece by King that highlights the trio’s adeptness at using subtlety in space and dynamics.

King’s “1976 Aquatennial Parade” brings the program to a fever pitch with a marching beat and tenor blowout, while the drummer’s “Turqoise Jewelry” is revisited from the band’s earlier years, the piece presenting twists and turns for Lewis’s sublime soprano. “Antonym Requiem” is a rare and wonderful piece from Lewis. It is a difficult piece that moves in interesting ways through strange rhythmic structures before a classic ostinato drum moment.

Providing another new take on an older composition, Fratzke’s “Computer Aided Drafting” shows the group’s capability of swinging with the best in jazz, while the bassist’s “Vanity Plate” provides a snakey groove tune with depth and funkiness. The unrelenting insistence of Fratzke’s uniquely constructed “White Belt Rock” is reminiscent of Ornette Coleman’s early 80s material, roto toms included. The recording concludes with King’s “The Broad Side of the Silent Barn,” a bluesy piece that captures the band’s penchant for harnessing Americana themes in their unique sound palette.

Any new music from Happy Apple should be heard as a blessing to the ear. The fact that Michael Lewis, Eric Fratzke, and Dave King look to their latest recording, “New York CD,” as their most complete and evocative, should insure their stature within in creative music, whether in Minneapolis, New York City, or anywhere in the music listening world.

Erik Fratzke - electric bass
Dave King - drums
Michael Lewis - saxophones & keyboard