Album Notes

King Reeves, composer, bandleader, pianist and vibist, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. King has enjoyed playing music for the past forty years. He delivers one of the freshest and purist soul flavored sounds around the world of creative music today.
Like fine wine his music has had a chance to season.

King’s father was a guitarist and banjo player during the Cotton Club days. The sound of music always filled the house. King was around 10 years old when he heard Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson play, and was so impressed by their music, after hearing them he knew he wanted to play a Vibraphone. He could not afford a set of vibes, so he played the drums during his school years. He met and befriended a recording artist by the name of John Godfrey, a vibe and piano player.
He studied piano with John for about 5 years and studied theory and harmony at the Cincinnati College of Conservatory Music. He managed to purchase a used set of vibraphones during this time and began jamming and gigging around town at the local bars, and thus his musical career began.

During the 70’s Cincinnati was a great Jazz City. King’s love for music led him to open up a Coffeehouse with three other musicians which featured live music. The Coffeehouse stayed open until 2:30am. King remembers how some of the Jazz greats would stop by after their gigs ended and jam with the locals. He has had the pleasure of playing with Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, Sonny Stitt, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, and Eddie Harris, just to name a few. Locally, he has played with almost all musicians in the city and all the jazz venues around town. He has been a featured artist for the John Coltrane Memorial Concert, and the Joyful Noise Big Band. He has even played with funk bands.

During the 80’s King led the Blue Sapphire Band, a jazz band whose repertoire included all the jazz standards. Blue Sapphire’s jazz repertoire emphasized a remarkably smooth and powerful rhythm and well worked section assignments. He now leads a duo “Bowl and Bunns” consisting of pianist Charlie “Bunns” Wilson and vibist King “Fruitbowl” Reeves, a fascinating combination. King has stuck to his style and repertoire throughout the years when most others were being pushed in any number of ways- toward rock, folk, contemporary- as he simply states, “I prefer to keep it real”, retaining and developing the essence of his approach which can be heard in his playing. King has been very busy both live and in the recording studio offering the jazz public more helpings of his uncompromising, deeply felt artistry. He has recorded two Cd‘s “Comfort Zones” and “Live at The Greenwich”. If you have been in music for as long as he has, it is difficult to put all of your musical experiences down on paper, so as he is often heard saying, “let the music speak for itself.”