“I’m a jazz historian, not a rock historian. I’ve always worked on developing a jazz hybrid with soul and funk influences, not a rock hybrid that uses jazz influences. That’s a big difference. I’m definitely a jazz kid on a groove tip.”—Karl Denson
“Please do yourself a favor and catch Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe before it explodes to the next level. The group is still something of a secret in mainstream terms, but that is changing fast based on its exceptionally funky concerts, publicized mainly by word of mouth.”
—Steve Morse, The Boston Globe
The history of jazz exhibits a strong connection between music and dance, from the big-band swing era of the ‘30s and ‘40s when it was the popular music of the day to the soul-jazz movement of the ‘60s. In the last decade, we’ve witnessed it come alive in the new school of groove jazz that is packing the dance floors again with enthusiastic listeners. Major figures have included Medeski Martin & Wood and Charl! ie Hunter. Add to that list Karl Denson, whose jazz philosophy is fueled by his joy in getting bodies to move.
“I look at jazz as an extension of dance,” says Denson while discussing his auspicious Blue Note Records debut, Dance Lesson #2. “I’ve always maintained that dance element in my music. For me it’s amazing how American audiences are coming to grips with the new jazz.” While the saxophonist and flutist has been active for several years on the music scene—a lengthy stint touring and recording with pop star Lenny Kravitz and co-founding the ultimate groove band the Greyboy Allstars—his new disc represents a turning point: “I feel like Dance Lesson #2 is my next step. I worked with Lenny and Greyboy, and now it’s time to step back out on my own.”
The CD is a collection of funky, soul-driven, tunes highlighted by fiery extended saxophone solos by the leader. In lieu of enlisting his touring Tiny Universe band for the recording sessions, Denson brought in a sta! r-studded line-up to support him on Dance Lesson #2: MMW bassist Chris Wood, turntable specialist DJ Logic, legendary organists Leon Spencer Jr. and Ron Levy, awe-inspiring guitarists Melvin Sparks and Charlie Hunter, ex-Greyboy Allstars drummer Zak Najor, and Los Cubanos Postizos percussionist E.J. Rodriguez.
Denson started playing saxophone at 13 at home in southern California where his brothers and sisters were listening to a mix of Motown, soul and funk. Around the time he picked up the sax, his older brother became a jazz fan. “He listened to a lot of late John Coltrane albums,” Denson recalls. “We had a nice stereo system set up in the garage, and I listened intently because everyone told me that Coltrane was the best sax player around.” From there, Denson gravitated to the Joel Dorn catalog, including the music of Yusef Lateef, Fathead Newman, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Eddie Harris. “Those guys were a big influence on me but so were James Brown, Sly Stone and the O! hio Players.”
Denson says it wasn’t until his college years that he learned how to swing in bebop style. But at the same time, in the early ‘80s, he also began to experiment with free jazz. “I did this for awhile and really loved it, but then I had an epiphany,” he says, then laughs. “I realized that no girls were going to come to a show to hear me play this music. So I concluded: I think I want to play jazz for larger groups of people. Still, my love of free jazz had a major benefit. When I was experimenting with it, I was so intent on it that I totally missed falling into the fusak trap of the ‘80s.”
In the early ‘90s Denson formed acoustic jazz bands (quartets and quintets) to play straight-ahead in various southern California clubs. “The groove was there,” he says, “but we were swinging on material by Charlie Parker, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter. My ideal rhythm section was Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones with Miles Davis. We played tunes like ‘If I Were ! a Bell’ and ‘Spring Is Here.’ I was also starting to do some of my own writing. But the most important thing about those bands was that we played with enough groove that people could dance if they chose to.”
During his tour of duty with Lenny Kravitz in the early ‘90s (including tenor saxophone contributions to the pop star’s Let Love Rule and Mama Said CDs), Denson met up with DJ Greyboy. He had been thinking of getting together with a DJ and throwing his hat into the ring of the burgeoning acid jazz movement. “Greyboy came to one of my club shows one night and we talked. What really impressed me was that he knew what boogaloo meant and who Lee Morgan was. We immediately made sense to each other.”
Denson started to formulate new ideas about directly connecting to dance without going the pop music route. He and Greyboy formed Greyboy Records and then recorded the 1993 single “Unwind Your Mind” that became a huge club hit. “I remember touring with Lenny and hearin! g our tune in every club we went to after the gigs,” says Denson.
Concurrently, Denson signed a deal with the German jazz label Minor Music that resulted in four acoustic jazz recordings: Blackened Red Snapper (1992), Herbal Turkey Breast (1993), Chunky Pecan Pie (1994, with the all-star trio of Miles Davis alumni bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette) and the live outing, Baby Food (1995). Denson also found time to collaborate with DJ Greyboy on Freestylin’ which went on to become the most important acid-jazz album of the time.
With the popularity of Freestylin’ and acid jazz at an all-time high, Denson formed the groove band The Greyboy Allstars who quickly became the ultimate dance band, drawing capacity crowds throughout the U.S. with its distinctive ‘70s-inspired blend of funk, jazz, boogaloo and West Coast groove. While decidedly not offering sets of straight-ahead jazz, (they opened for bands as diverse as Ben Harper and Sublime) the band attrac! ted everyone from jazzheads in their forties, to surf and skate punks, to dance-loving young fans who were getting their first schooling in jazz-infused music. With an expansive repertoire ranging from the rock-inflected “Sportscaster” to the funkified “Toys R Us,” the Greyboy Allstars also garnered crossover audiences from the indie rock and hippie band scenes. MTV and ESPN sampled the Allstars beats from their albums West Coast Boogaloo and A Town Called Earth. And the band completed the score to Zero Effect, a film starring Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller.
The group disbanded in 1998, which led to the saxophonist forming Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (which recorded their debut CD by the same name, available only at shows and through www.karldenson.com).
Today, the groove factor still reigns. “I tell my band all the time, when in doubt, think of people dancing,” Denson says. “That’s the bottom line: get the crowd dancing. I’m not some guy who peppers his food with ! jazz. I’ve been listening to and playing jazz for the last 25 years. What I’m doing is in direct connection to the jazz lineage.”
