(Contemporary Jazz) Dave King - I'll Be Ringing You - 2012, MP3, 256 kbps

Dave King has been lauded as the firebrand drummer and co-composer behind the groundbreaking Bad Plus trio. His interest in various musical styles and situations has found him active in contemporary jazz, rock, electronic music and progressive improvisation based ensembles. But for all his divergent interests, King has remained a student and practitioner in the jazz drumming tradition.

“I’ve Been Ringing You,” is the first release by Dave King to evoke a conventional jazz outing, complete with standards like “Autumn Serenade” and “People Will Say We’re in Love.”
This feels like a mildly defensive response to those who have doubted his capabilities as a jazz drummer: Mr. King is an idiosyncratic specimen, but he fits the bill. Intriguingly, his trio features the pianist Bill Carrothers and the bassist Billy Peterson, an Upper Midwest crew adept with melodic abstraction.
More than a few of the album’s tracks, including “If I Should Lose You” and the Ornette Coleman ballad “Lonely Woman,” take a noticeably free approach to rhythm, proceeding without much attachment to groove. The results are worthwhile — mainly for Mr. Carrothers, a captivating improviser who doesn’t generally receive his due — but Mr. King shines brighter on his regular gig.

Dave King - drums
Bill Carrothers - piano
Billy Peterson - bass