INTERVIEW: Jazz great Karl Denson takes ‘Tiny Universe’ on the road

Karl Denson, the accomplished jazz saxophonist, is touring the United States this summer with his band Tiny Universe. The guys have come together around a new album (New Ammo, released in February), and they are already planning their next release.

Denson, a musician who has played with Lenny Kravitz and Slightly Stoopid, and founded boogaloo revivalists The Greyboy Allstars, counts jazz as his favorite genre. Tiny Universe, a dance band that enjoys improvisation, allows the talented artist to flex his creative muscles and further explore his avant-garde sound.

“It’s a cool show,” Denson said of the tour. “We’ve kind of put some stuff back in from the record that we stopped playing for awhile, and we’ve got a new drummer. So it’s kind of got a new lilt to it, which we’re having fun with.”

New Ammo was recorded in a roundabout manner. Before the final takes, Tiny Universe had some trial-and-error sessions on a number of the songs. After letting them percolate for a bit, the band returned to the material and was quite impressed. “It turned out that we had a complete record and that it all made sense,” Denson said during a phone interview. “We’re starting tomorrow on our next project, and we’re kind of going the same direction, just go in the studio, record, see what we get. Not put any pressure on us.”

Denson described the studio experience with an artistic metaphor. Essentially the musicians head into production with a blank palette. They each throw a color in, and then collaboration takes over.

“With Tiny Universe, the challenge is really having a singular vision because with The Greyboy Allstars it was always a little easier because it was always meant to be a boogaloo band. Where Tiny Universe is like a dance band, a jazzy dance band. With the revolutions in dance, it’s always a challenge to kind of pick and choose what you want out of your new palette and not get too broad. So that’s our only problem. I think playing-wise, everybody’s got great ideas and plays great.”

As bandleader, this sometimes puts Denson in the difficult position of setting a course for the future. He comes back to an easy model for leadership: “Our model for the studio is, I’d like that better if it was my idea.”

Because Tiny Universe prides itself on its jazz roots, improvisation is an important part of every concert. Denson said everybody in the band is “required to take some risks.” Helping him achieve this is the new drummer, Max MacVeety, who comes to Tiny Universe with a hip-hop background.

“I’ll have him listen to a bunch of jazz records,” Denson said. “Then he’ll get too busy, and I’ll have to remind, no, we’re a dance band. … It’s a challenge for the guys. They call it the ‘Tiny University.’”

Denson’s new music is somewhat influenced by his storied career with Kravitz, Slightly Stoopid and other artists. He called life “a cumulative experience,” and he views his work today in the same arena as other cutting-edge bandleaders, a varied list that includes Duke Ellington, Prince and Bjork.

“There’s a lot of responsibility there in running a band and keeping the vibe right. … I think the hardest part is actually the sitting down and talking to people when there’s problems. If you’re not feeling somebody’s playing, that can be really temperamental. So, you know, when you actually have to sit a guy down and go, hey man, what you doing on those couple of songs is not really where I want to go with this, that’s the hardest part because you want people to be free. … You want them to be free to do what they naturally do and be comfortable with it from their own take because it makes their parts more natural. Sometimes if tastes don’t match, then you have to speak up about that.”

Denson was first turned on to the saxophone and jazz music when he was a young teenager. In junior high school is when he became a “jazz kid.” His older brother introduced the house to the unique sensibilities of John Coltrane and Eddie Harris, among others.

It was in his second year of college when Denson decided to give up a career as a veterinarian and focus exclusively on music.

“It was a really great environment, and after my third, fourth semester, I realized I was taking more music classes than science classes. … I grew up in the late ‘70s, going to college in the late ‘70s / early ‘80s. So jazz music turned into smooth jazz, and I was not really feeling that.”

This meant he needed to find another outlet for his avant-garde playing. He moved toward punk and ska, but he kept writing jazz and soul tunes.

“It was kind of a weird place that I was in, but I also had realized early on that if I wanted to play the kind of music I was going to play, I was probably going to need some kind of funding from something more pop than what I was,” he said. “So I always had a bent toward pop music and rock ‘n’ roll and that stuff just as kind of a worker. And I think that’s why I was ready for the Lenny Kravitz gig when it finally appeared.”

If Denson had his way, he’s be playing Miles Davis, circa 1958.

“I always gravitate to whatever swung the hardest,” he said. “I had an epiphany early on that it was going to be a hard road playing jazz music, and I feel like I’ve carved out a cool niche where I still get to play jazz music. And I still get to be relevant. I’m definitely pinching myself all the time. I used to look around in ‘94/’95 when I was playing with The Greyboy Allstars. We’d be playing a Horace Silver tune in a rock club, and I’d just turn around to them and go, ‘Do you guys realize what we’re doing here?’ I was old enough to smell the roses at that point, so yes, it’s been a nice journey.”

Denson continues carrying on the voices of the past and adds his own distinctive voice to the ever-growing multitude of jazz greats. A day after Denson’s interview with Hollywood Soapbox Horace Silver died at the age of 85; his was a life that will likely be remembered by countless people who encounter his songs — Denson included.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Click here for more information on Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe.