Dave King

by Charlie MarianoBass guitarist Dave King has been a busy session, studio and recording artist in Europe since the mid-'70s. He began playing bass in the late '60s after studying guitar and contrabass in Louisville, Kentucky. From 1964 to 1969 his father, the dramatic opera tenor James King, was performing at the Bayreuth Wagner Festival. It was here that Dave King attended master classes on conducting. Classical music has often influenced his writing. He worked in Munich, Germany during the early 170s with bands led by Mal Waldron, Tete Montoliu, Attila Zoller, Bobby Jones, Dieter Reith, Klaus Weiss, Charly Antolini, Toto Blanke and Klaus Doldinger. In 1972 he toured Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia with the ethno-fusion band Embryo. After playing on Donna Summer's first major hit Love To Love You, Baby in 1974 his position as a soulful studio bassist was established. From 1976 to 1986 he played on 18 albums for the German singer Udo Lindenberg. From 1979 to1980 he composed and produced two 90-minute scores for Udo Lindenbergs films Panische Zeiten and Super. In 1982 he received a gold album for the production of Udo Lindenberg's Odyssey LP. In 1977 he composed music for the jazz-rock LP Curt Cress Clan and in 1978 he and Curt Cress co-founded the band Snowball. From 1976 to 1987 he did concerts, radio and TV recordings with Peter Herbolzheimer's Rhythm Combination and Brass. During this phase he worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby McFerrin, Lionel Hampton and Tina Turner. He toured and recorded during 1985 with the fusion group Consortium which featured Billy Cobham on drums. From 1986 to 1996 he toured and recorded with the United Jazz And Rock Ensemble taking Eberhard Weber's place. From 1993 to 1995 he toured with Chaka Khan's European group and he taught as assistant professor for bass guitar at the Mannheim School of Music. Currently he is performing with the Algerian Jazz-Rai group Nassim.