More than 30 years have elapsed since King Fleming recorded his three albums for Chess Records subsidiary Argo. Now, finally given the freedom to record the kind of album he’s wanted to make since, the pianist is back with a new CD.
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The classically trained musician caught the jazz bug at 11, when he saw Earl “Fatha” Hines at the old Grand Terrace Ballroom, but it lay dormant for several years. “I was about 16 when I first started trying to play jazz, and I do mean trying,” Fleming recalls. The influence of Hines, Art Tatum, and Teddy Wilson can still be heard in his music today.
But apart from Argo, record labels weren’t terribly interested in Fleming’s stylistic excursions. “I couldn’t record the things I wanted to record, so I had no interest in making other records,” he says. He also stopped arranging in order to focus more on playing and composing. The trio Fleming leads now–with bassist Clifford Griffin and drummer Bill Cochran–has worked together for thirteen years, delivering a mix of Fleming’s originals, jazz standards, and show tunes. A weekly gig at Philander’s, an Oak Park hotel lounge, favors popular material like “Theme From New York, New York” or “Every Day.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Photo of King Fleming with Clifford Griffin and Bill Cochran, by Katrina Witkamp.
