The Wake

How can a person describe an auditory experience that leaves them filled with emotion and lacking words? Happy Apple does this all too well, inviting listeners into their intoxicating sound, supplemented by their brotherly love for one another. The jazz trio is known and respected, both here in the United States and across Europe, for expanding audiences’ notions of jazz.

The foundation of Happy Apple was a two-person group: Dave King and Mike Lewis. Before there was Happy Apple, the pair played their first show at the Bryant Lake Bowl in the fall of 1995. The show took place during a driving snowstorm, making it a very intimate performance for the two people who came.

“The first gig that Dave and I played was also at the Bryant Lake Bowl, for two people. The most miserable fucking night,” says Mike. He sits, slouched against a green, crushed velvet bench, smoking a cigarette. Strings of long hair cover his pale face and he looks high, but it is difficult to tell. “Late fall snowstorm, like an ice storm and no one came,” says Dave, who sits adjacent to Mike. Dave sits crossed legged wearing yellow shoes, the kind you would expect a jazz drummer to have. He speaks earnestly, like a father to his child, using his hands for emphasis and insistent on making eye contact. Mike interrupting— “except for one person, and the other person, two people, one of which became the first base player for Happy Apple, one of the reasons why-” “-[because] he showed hard core dedication,” says Dave.

The band formed under the name Happy Apple in Minneapolis in the May of 1996, and had their first gig at the Bryant Lake Bowl. The original base player for the group is no longer with Happy Apple; Erik Fratzke joined in 1998. Happy Apple is currently composed of Dave King on drums, Erik Fratzke on bass and Mike Lewis on saxophone.

Their name comes from the Fisher-Price toy that became popular in the 1960’s, the Happy Apple. “It was totally something Dave was playing with a lot [in his music]. He still uses it quite a bit. The point at which he and I started the group I just threw it out one day,” says Mike, taking a drag from his cigarette. Erik, who has been hiding behind his thick beard, jolts with excitement, planting both feet on the floor he points his finger and turns towards Mike “-but you’re forgetting, it’s the classic band thing where you get something going. I wasn’t there (now looking away) but I’ve heard them tell the story enough, they had a gig booked and they hadn’t decided on a name,” says Erik. “Anyway, I threw it out there and Dave was like, ‘yea I like that,’” says Mike.

This was nearly ten years ago. Now the band plays for packed jazz clubs around the world. Happy Apple tries to touch diverse audiences with their music. “So often jazz music is ‘Oh if you haven’t studied it you wouldn’t get it’ and all that shit. And it sucks man, because it just closes doors and makes people feel like they shouldn’t check it out,” says Mike.

At the heart of Happy Apple, they are searchers seeking their own language through the art of music and improvisation. “So many improvisers rely on stock ways that they improvise, even if it’s improvising it their language that they know so well,” says Dave. Happy Apple has a style, but it is always evolving, always “searching” for the not-yet-obtained sound.

Erik, Dave and Mike all compose for the group. For Happy Apple writing songs is not a jam session, but rather each individual carefully preparing a piece. The piece is brought to the group where they work it out, giving suggestions to one another. “We’re deep fans of what each other writes, says Dave, gesturing in an encompassing, circular, motion toward the other two. “No one is ever, ‘you have to do it’ — there is no leader. We’re very high-functioning in that way,” says Dave. Erik and Mike gesture with their heads in passive agreement. Mike sits up and extinguishes his cigarette taking a sip of beer. Dave leans against the back of the green bench and begins to talk about their audience.

The audience at a typical show has people from all walks of life because the band is capable of conveying a vast array of emotions to their audience. This is something that has developed over time for the band, as well as something they value. “If you want to take some of the intellectual qualities away from it that’s great, or if you just want to experience it viscerally, or find the humor it, or the tension in it, it’s up to the person. We don’t try to create one entity for you either dig or don’t dig.” says Dave.

A typical Minneapolis show has elements of intensity as well as humor and laughter. “The stuff between songs and everything, we just try and keep it light that way, because the music is so heavy for us. We like to break from the emotion of the piece using humor as a palate cleanser, then we have that fresh perspective for the next piece,” says Dave.

The three are best friends. If it is not evident by their finishing of one another’s sentences, then certainly it is obvious in their playing. The group moves and breathes as a single musician, anticipating one another’s next move. Periodically Mike will yell during a solo, and Erik will turn toward Dave giving a bow of approval, bending so far that he looks as though he may kiss his own bass. Dave blends his sound with the other two, erupting at moments of intensity. The three define musical perfection. “We have a closeness. This shared language that’s so deeply shared, where we may not see each other for weeks, but it’s immediate [once we’re back together],” says Dave.

“I feel lucky, personally. I’m sure these guys feel the same way. I’ve played in a lot of bands, and some really, really great music, but you don’t always find that connection, on so many levels. We hook up musically, but we hook up on a lot of other levels to…it makes it a safe place to be when we’re on stage…and that comfort level you reach with people when you play,” says Mike.

Happy Apple is off to Europe for another tour at the end of the month. Their biggest goal for the future is to start touring the United States as if every city were Minneapolis. Happy Apple recorded this interview October 1, 2004 at the Artists’ Quarter in St. Paul.