You can trace Kevin King’s musical journey on a mural in Chatham.
Painted on a building at 119 E. 79th St. this year, the image depicts a large-scale saxophone case stickered with ephemera and carried by a musician. Look closely, and you can see a portrait of 27-year-old King, a Chatham native who plays tenor sax, synthesizers and a host of other woodwinds. Pictured at the bottom of the case is Diane Ellis, who taught him about jazz and improvisation at Arthur Dixon Elementary School. Right beside him is Marquis Hill, the acclaimed trumpet player who gave him a meaningful gig at the Green Mill. Other mentors and heroes, including trumpeter Orbert Davis and the late saxophonist Eddie Harris, are also featured.
“It’s a special moment for me,” said King, who hasn’t been able to identify the artist. “As a person who likes to help their community, sometimes I don’t feel like I’m doing anything. But little moments like that let me know that I’m doing all right. I’m doing better than I think.”
King’s talents will also be celebrated at the Chicago Jazz Festival at Millennium Park. He and his band, the Kevin King Regime, will play the Harris Theater Rooftop Terrace Sunday as part of the “Next Generation of Jazz” showcase. Besides performing with some of the veterans on the mural, King has also shared a stage with Buddy Guy, Arturo Sandoval and Lauryn Hill.
But King is doing more than racking up a slew of impressive shows. As one of many rising stars in the city’s jazz scene, he is also making a mark by teaching younger musicians and advocating for social change through the messaging in his music.
King doesn’t like to apply labels or genres to his sound, but his current band’s music is flavored with elements of jazz and heavy metal, as well as improvisation and experimentation. Drummer Shravan Raghuram, bassist Nick Litman and King demonstrated their versatility at a recent rehearsal, winding through tempos, time signatures and melodies. As he played the sax, King distorted his tone with fuzz, delay, reverb and pitch-shifting effects pedals.
Those skills are also captured on the “Call to Action!” album, which the band recorded in 2020 after the killing of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd by police.
“It was kind of a dark place for me,” King said. “I thought, ‘What can I do? I’m just sitting here practicing the saxophone. I’m not doing anything to help. My people are suffering.’”
King decided to use the record to speak out against racism and police brutality. The project features snippets of speeches by Malcolm X, Fred Hampton and Pan-Africanist revolutionary Thomas Sankara, who also served as president of Burkina Faso. The song “Red Summer” recalls several incidents of racial violence against Black people in Chicago and throughout the United States in 1919.
“History keeps repeating itself,” King said. “We’re essentially putting a Band-Aid on things when we need to go to the source. We need to cure the disease. We need to stop giving it Advil and give it penicillin.”
Raghuram said “Call to Action!” fits in with a tradition of radical records.
“I think of ‘We Insist!’ that Max Roach made years ago,” said Raghuram, 26, of Avondale. “There’s countless records, especially within jazz and metal, that are a rejection of the status quo. They are trying to represent what we all feel and what we’re all going through. And that type of power is something that only increases and becomes more and more important every year.”
King plays flute, oboe and other instruments on the album, but he said tenor sax has been “home” since he rejected classical piano lessons at 6 years old.
“Long story short, I hated piano because my teacher was kind of mean and she didn’t want me to explore,” King said. “Saxophone makes me feel free.”
King kept progressing under the tutelage of Philip Castleberry at Lincoln Park High School and countless other teachers and mentors, including saxophonist Ernest Dawkins and the late pianist Willie Pickens.
“All these people are great because they support young, Black musicians on the South Side,” King said. “I didn’t have a lot of money, but these people didn’t care. They saw I had something that I didn’t see in myself, and they gave me their time, which is the most valuable thing to give anybody.”
King went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in jazz studies from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a master’s degree in music education from the University of Miami. Today, he teaches youth as part of a Ravinia program for students in schools and communities with insufficient resources.
Nurturing young stars like King is a priority for the Chicago Jazz Festival, said Frayne Lewis, a senior policy analyst in music for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
“There are so many young folks that are incredible players, but they’re not just looking at history and emulating Art Blakey or some other magnificent musician,” Lewis said. “They’re becoming their own musicians and leaving their own footprint.”
King said he gets more excited about seeing the other acts at the fest than performing. This year, he said he is especially looking forward to saxophonist Gary Bartz and the NTU Troop’s set.
“I was listening to that group all through high school,” he said. “I never thought I would have the opportunity to hear them live.”
Having attended the free fest since he was a kid, King said the accessibility to top-notch musicians is invaluable.
“I think it’s just really cool that they have the opportunity for the little guy — or the guy who doesn’t have a whole lot of money — to go see world-class acts and be inspired.”