The year was 1986, and music mogul Michael Cuscuna had spent a decade curating the largest body of jazz reissues for Impulse!, Blue Note, and Mosaic Records. That same year, Dave Bayles (unknowingly) launched a 30+ year career as a jazz drummer, performing six nights a week at a club in downtown Milwaukee.
With a style that blends the physicality of Art Blakey and the melodic sensibility of Max Roach, Bayles moves easily from big band to more intimate ensembles, from bebop to Afro-Cuban rhythms, and audiences instantly sense the drummer’s deep passion for creating jazz. Bayles has performed with an all-star list of artists, including Benny Golson, Barry Harris, Phil Woods, Melvin Rhyne, Slide Hampton, James Moody, Charles McPherson, Brian Lynch, Peter Bernstein, Kim Richmond, Eric Alexander, Jack McDuff, Jim Pugh, and Kevin Mahogany, as well as the Milwaukee ensembles We Six, La Chazz, and the Who’s Your Daddy Trio.
