You’ll be able to hint Kevin King’s musical journey on a mural in Chatham.
Painted on a constructing at 119 E. 79th St. this 12 months, the picture depicts a large-scale saxophone case stickered with ephemera and carried by a musician. Look carefully, and you may see a portrait of 27-year-old King, a Chatham native who performs tenor sax, synthesizers and a number of different woodwinds. Pictured on the backside of the case is Diane Ellis, who taught him about jazz and improvisation at Arthur Dixon Elementary Faculty. Proper beside him is Marquis Hill, the acclaimed trumpet participant who gave him a significant gig on the Inexperienced Mill. Different mentors and heroes, together with trumpeter Orbert Davis and the late saxophonist Eddie Harris, are additionally featured.
“It’s a particular second for me,” stated King, who hasn’t been in a position to establish the artist. “As an individual who likes to assist their neighborhood, generally I don’t really feel like I’m doing something. However little moments like that allow me know that I’m doing all proper. I’m doing higher than I feel.”
King’s skills may also be celebrated on the Chicago Jazz Competition at Millennium Park. He and his band, the Kevin King Regime, will play the Harris Theater Rooftop Terrace Sunday as a part of the “Subsequent Era of Jazz” showcase. Apart from performing with a number of the veterans on the mural, King has additionally shared a stage with Buddy Man, Arturo Sandoval and Lauryn Hill.
However King is doing greater than racking up a slew of spectacular reveals. As one in every of many rising stars within the metropolis’s jazz scene, he’s additionally making a mark by instructing youthful musicians and advocating for social change by means of the messaging in his music.
King doesn’t like to use labels or genres to his sound, however his present band’s music is flavored with parts of jazz and heavy steel, in addition to improvisation and experimentation. Drummer Shravan Raghuram, bassist Nick Litman and King demonstrated their versatility at a latest rehearsal, winding by means of tempos, time signatures and melodies. As he performed the sax, King distorted his tone with fuzz, delay, reverb and pitch-shifting results pedals.
These expertise are additionally captured on the “Name to Motion!” album, which the band recorded in 2020 after the killing of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd by police.
“It was type of a darkish place for me,” King stated. “I believed, ‘What can I do? I’m simply sitting right here practising the saxophone. I’m not doing something to assist. My individuals are struggling.’”
King determined to make use of the report to talk out towards racism and police brutality. The mission options snippets of speeches by Malcolm X, Fred Hampton and Pan-Africanist revolutionary Thomas Sankara, who additionally served as president of Burkina Faso. The tune “Purple Summer season” recollects a number of incidents of racial violence towards Black individuals in Chicago and all through the US in 1919.
“Historical past retains repeating itself,” King stated. “We’re basically placing a Band-Help on issues when we have to go to the supply. We have to treatment the illness. We have to cease giving it Advil and provides it penicillin.”
Raghuram stated “Name to Motion!” matches in with a convention of radical data.
“I consider ‘We Insist!’ that Max Roach made years in the past,” stated Raghuram, 26, of Avondale. “There’s numerous data, particularly inside jazz and steel, which are a rejection of the established order. They’re making an attempt to signify what all of us really feel and what we’re all going by means of. And that kind of energy is one thing that solely will increase and turns into increasingly vital yearly.”
King performs flute, oboe and different devices on the album, however he stated tenor sax has been “house” since he rejected classical piano classes at 6 years previous.
“Lengthy story quick, I hated piano as a result of my trainer was type of imply and she or he didn’t need me to discover,” King stated. “Saxophone makes me be happy.”
King saved progressing beneath the tutelage of Philip Castleberry at Lincoln Park Excessive Faculty and numerous different academics and mentors, together with saxophonist Ernest Dawkins and the late pianist Willie Pickens.
“All these individuals are nice as a result of they assist younger, Black musicians on the South Aspect,” King stated. “I didn’t have some huge cash, however these individuals didn’t care. They noticed I had one thing that I didn’t see in myself, they usually gave me their time, which is probably the most useful factor to offer anyone.”
King went on to earn a bachelor’s diploma in jazz research from College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a grasp’s diploma in music training from the College of Miami. Right now, he teaches youth as a part of a Ravinia program for college students in colleges and communities with inadequate sources.
Nurturing younger stars like King is a precedence for the Chicago Jazz Competition, stated Frayne Lewis, a senior coverage analyst in music for the town’s Division of Cultural Affairs and Particular Occasions.
“There are such a lot of younger of us which are unimaginable gamers, however they’re not simply historical past and emulating Artwork Blakey or another magnificent musician,” Lewis stated. “They’re turning into their very own musicians and leaving their very own footprint.”
King stated he will get extra enthusiastic about seeing the opposite acts on the fest than performing. This 12 months, he stated he’s particularly trying ahead to saxophonist Gary Bartz and the NTU Troop’s set.
“I used to be listening to that group all by means of highschool,” he stated. “I by no means thought I might have the chance to listen to them dwell.”
Having attended the free fest since he was a child, King stated the accessibility to top-notch musicians is invaluable.
“I feel it’s simply actually cool that they’ve the chance for the little man — or the man who doesn’t have an entire lot of cash — to go see world-class acts and be impressed.”
