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Happy Apple is an American jazz trio.

Formed in 1996 in Minneapolis, members of the band are David King (drums), Michael Lewis (saxophones) and Erik Fratzke (electric bass).

All three members compose music for the group; which places equal emphasis on improvisation. Happy Apple plays a unique brand of jazz music, drawing on several other genres; the group’s members play in other bands ranging from indie rock and heavy metal to free jazz and electronic. The best known of these is The Bad Plus, in which King also plays drums.

Their name comes from a Fisher-Price toy from the sixties, which King often uses as an auxiliary percussion instrument.

Tagged as:

jazz, minnesota, contemporary jazz, free jazz, twin cities
See more…

1	Youth oriented full track	33
2	Green grass stains on Wrangler Jeans full track	26
3	The treetops of a bad neighbourhood full track	19
4	Calgon For Hetfield full track	18
4	The Landfall Planetarium full track	18
6	It Will Be full track	16
6	The New Bison full track	16
6	Drama section full track	16
9	Very Small Rock full track	15
10	Rise! Marc Anthony full track	12
11	Who Is Your Midwest Representation? full track	11
12	Take Wes Chandler For Instance full track	10
12	1996 A.D. full track	10
14	Lefse Los Cubanos full track	9
14	Salmon Jump Suit full track	9

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Benjo22 wrote:
Monday afternoon

Hands down my top group over the past two years! If you can weather the chaos and dischord, there are some of the most beautiful melody lines ever created. I'm fairly certain this music has altered my brain chemistry ( for better and worse ).

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a386 wrote:
last month

guys, yes. this is some greatness.

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mchristo wrote:
last month

bloody brilliant i say

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c_pokey wrote:
September 2008

i went with Happy Apple Back On Top and omg this group is amazing!

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c_pokey wrote:
September 2008

what's the best album to start out with?

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The_Pear wrote:
September 2008

Made of win!

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Nagsworth wrote:
July 2008

THIS IS SO GOOD

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Justin1983 wrote:
May 2008

I wish they would come around Baltimore/DC...

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IndieTickets wrote:
April 2008

Tickets for Happy Apple @ the Annex in Madison on April 22nd are NOW available. Check out http://www.indietickets.com

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essron wrote:
February 2008

its like free jazz that my girlfriend doesn't hate. most of the time.

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HampusForever wrote:
January 2008

Really great band

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brightmoments wrote:
December 2007

I've seen them live twice...ever so fucking awesome.

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tmcw wrote:
October 2007

This band is kickass. Shows how an electric bass can fit in modern jazz.

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gamebalance wrote:
September 2007

It's good but not fav but OK I liked some and some get to my mind into.

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LittleDanzig wrote:
September 2007

this is some great and unique stuff. cool to hear modern jazz being made by forward-thinking people who aren't mired in mindless 'revivalism'

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ghostship wrote:
May 2007

Dave King kicks arse!

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simonfromabove wrote:
April 2006

oh god my favorite band

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Events

Nov 26 An Evening With Happy Apple Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, United States
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Recent Activity

ursus-fr, bigguiso, AndyKlimenk and 6 other people added Happy Apple to their libraries. 5 hours ago
concretedonkey updated the wiki page for Happy Apple. (diff) last week
samejy, muffsterrr, ukryte-miasto and 20 other people added Happy Apple to their libraries. last week
msindelar added Happy Apple to the lineup of An Evening With Happy Apple at Cedar Cultural Center. last month
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rmatheus tagged Happy Apple with ‘jazz’. September 2008
ignasitudela, smadriles, pmajorins and 4 other people added Happy Apple to their libraries. September 2008
aproragadozo tagged Happy Apple with ‘food’. August 2008
NijinskyHind, kidcholera, ThugNastyKris and 5 other people added Happy Apple to their libraries. August 2008