Age: 39.
Family: Daughter Ella, 9; son Otis, 5, and wife, Laura. The kids often tag along on tour, including several trips to Europe. Ella once played Barbie dolls with Peter Gabriel.
Hometown: Golden Valley, where the Kings just bought a house after years in St. Paul.
Why he's still here: Moved to New York right out of Cooper High School, then he and Laura settled in Los Angeles for six years until a 1994 earthquake. "We planned to just move home for a while," he recalled. "But when we got back we realized the Cities are so much more than a way-station. There's as much culture here as other cities, the Walker being one big example of that."
On Happy Apple: King formed the trio after meeting sax wiz Mike Lewis, then 17, in 1996. "The fact that I could find two heavyweight jazz players right here in Minneapolis proved I didn't need to live anywhere else," King recalled. The trio with bassist Eric Fratzke has issued albums via the Universal Jazz and Sunnyside labels and plans to record another this summer.
On the Bad Plus: King met Plus mates Reid Anderson and Ethan Iverson in the Twin Cities but formed the trio after they both moved to New York. Said King, "Ethan and Reid were front and center at every Happy Apple show in New York. That really was the main inspiration for the Bad Plus." Signed to Columbia Records in 2001, the band "took off immediately. We've put in a lot of work since then, and I'm proud to say it's paid off."
