Each Sunday, I lean into the unexpected. This week it circles back to the long arc of my life at the keyboard. I’ve been chained—in the best sense of the word—to the piano since 1958, grinding through Hanon drills, Czerny etudes, Scarlatti sonatas, Chopin nocturnes, and then stepping off into the wide-open highways of Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, and my own crooked path as a composer.
In the early years, the sound that caught my ear wasn’t the fast-fingered bebop of the generation before me—it was the pulse of Mongo Santamaria and Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man,” the swagger of Cannonball Adderley’s “Sack O’ Woe,” the odd-time intoxication of Brubeck’s “Take Five.” I was wired to rhythms with a contemporary jump.
I admired the modern voices—Bill Evans sketching harmonies with pastel light, Keith Jarrett singing over his own hands, McCoy Tyner thundering modal waves, Chick Corea riding electric storms. The 60s and 70s blew wide open—Weather Report’s layered tapestries, Mahavishnu’s volcanic eruptions, Return to Forever’s cosmic dance. I took it all in, but eventually learned the only honest course is to stop chasing and play yourself.
By the mid-80s, I gave myself permission: write, record, be King. By the 2000s, I circled home again to what first shook me—the piano trio. Oscar. Ahmad. Evans. That was the company I wanted to keep, not by imitation but by stepping into that lineage.
In 2004, "It Might As Well Be Spring—King, Alleyne, Roth" was released—a first trio statement on shelves. Nearly two decades later, in 2023, came the real leap: a live set at the Jazz Room in Kitchener/Waterloo. Terrifying. Exhilarating. I took the raw tracks, worked with the stems, mixed them, and called it Ivory Town. To my surprise and gratitude, Mark Ruffin at SiriusXM’s Real Jazz gave it wings. Suddenly, Jamal’s “Poinciana” as refracted through my hands was floating out across North America.
That’s the long lesson: half a lifetime of voices, influences, detours. And then the quiet realization—you only get to sound like yourself once you’ve stopped trying to sound like anybody else.
It was one of those springtime curveballs—late March. A touring U.S. jazz artist couldn’t make the Jazz Room date, and the call came in from none other than drummer and fellow rhythm whisperer, Mark Kelso. You don’t pause with Mark — you pack your charts, dust off the road shoes, and prepare to swing.
Kelso, along with the always lyrical Paul Novotny on bass, and I had already carved a footprint into The Jazz Room back in September 2023, and that night birthed a stellar live recording — equal parts sizzle and soul. And now, it was my turn to return, to trace the echoes and add a few new fingerprints.
Second chances like this don’t come with a setlist — they come with freedom. I dipped into my cache of originals — songs with rare studio polish, no previous applause, just a quiet promise to speak up when the room was right. And this one was. Each tune had a distinct gait, like old friends stepping out in their Sunday best — from soul jazz romps to urban struts.
But this wasn’t just an original affair. We reached back to the roots — a righteous reimagining of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, a soul-saturated stroll through How Sweet It Is by Holland–Dozier–Holland, a sly wink at Mack the Knife by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, and of course, a smoky, finger-snapping toast with One Mint Julep — pure Ray Charles soul grit.
This trio is a democracy. Piano, bass, and drums speak in complete sentences. We aren’t reinventing the wheel, just polishing the hubcaps and easing down the boulevard with purpose. You’ll hear the smiles in the swing, the groove in the grease, and the joy in each phrase we pass around like a shared drink after last call.
Mint Julep may be the title, but this is more than a cocktail hour affair. It’s a snapshot of three players in motion, in sync, and in the pocket — letting the music do the talking.
I’m not much of a salesman, yet if anyone would like to a a copy of Mint Julep in CD form just email: billkingpiano@gmail.com. The digital means are below on Bandcamp.
Bill King Producer/Acoustic Pianist/Audio Mix & Cover Art
Paul Novotny – Bass
Mark Kelso – Drums
Jesse King – Mastering
Recorded at the Jazz Room in Kitchener/Waterloo – 4/19/2025
Jeremy Bernard – Engineer
Rhythm Express (William King/Night Passage Music) 5:31
Havana Odyssey (William King/Night Passage Music) 4:09
One Mint Julep (Rudy Toombs/Atlantic Music Corp) 3:34
Hymn #1 (William King/Night Passage Music) 4:40
Debussy in Paris (William King/Night Passage Music) 6.29
What’s Going On (Marvin Gaye/Jobete Music) 7:42
Night Sea Crossing (William King/Night Passage Music) 6:36
How Sweet it Is (To Be Loved By You) (Holland/Dozier/Holland/Jobete Music 6:42
The Way of the World (William King/Night Passage Music) 6:49
Mack the Knife (Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht/Warner Chappell Music) 5:07
All William (Bill) King Compositions SOCAN
You on it.
Love “What’s Goin’ On”!