Marcus King, Chris Dave and MonoNeon at Blue Note New York (A Photo Gallery)

Photo Credit: Dino Perrucci

Worlds collided this week as Marcus King and Chris Dave commenced their series of intimate collaborative shows at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club. Since Tuesday, Jan. 14, the blues-rock guitar hero and jazz percussionist/session superstar have been tearing through a six-night series at the storied close-quarters club. For each of their now-13 shows, the new duo has been bolstered by a revolving third seat, which was held by singular freak-funk bassist MonoNeon from Jan. 14-16 and will rotate to vaunted R&B guitarist Isaiah Sharkey from Jan. 17-19.

While this match-up seems at first glance to be a sudden lane change, it arrives from a network of connections forged through the years that all four players have spent rising to the top of their fields. The latest and most crucial of these crossings came with King’s third solo studio album Mood Swings, which arrived to widespread acclaim in April. For that release, the rapidly rising guitarist sought to expand his repertoire, reaching beyond his instrumental prowess and rock chops to favor R&B and soul arrangements that centered his powerful–and theretofore underrepresented–vocal abilities. For this new sound, producer Rick Rubin tapped an all-star studio crew, including Dave, who adds drums to nearly every track on the project.

As a figurehead for the new guard of jazz and R&B-fusion, “Daddy” Dave’s rolodex is nothing to scoff at either. The drummer’s circles have widened through work with icons like Kenny Garrett, Robert Glasper, Adele and D’Angelo–whose 2014 Black Messiah project brought Dave’s first collaboration with Sharkey–as well as his own band the Drumhedz, whose recordings MonoNeon regularly stitched bass solos too in the early days of his beloved YouTube channel. Though Dave, MonoNeon and Sharkey have all shared a stage in the past, noted jammer King’s contributions to this mix are all new this week.

Get an inside look at King, Dave and MonoNeon building a new sound together in the gallery below, courtesy of photographer Dino Perrucci. Due to popular demand, King, Dave and Sharkey have added a rare night show at Blue Note tomorrow, when the trio will take the stage again at 12:30 a.m. after sets at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. For tickets and more information, visit bluenotejazz.com.

@marcusking Special nights @Blue Note New York. We’ll be here all week. #bluenote #jazz #club #nyc #newyorkcity #marcusking #mononeon #chrisdave #live #trio #residency #guitar #drums #bass ♬ original sound – Marcus King