Karl Denson -- shooting for the airwaves (March 13, 2000)

It has been said that the formula for success is, opportunity + preparation = triumph. Or, in layman’s terms, luck + work = sold out shows, with screaming fans, and food platters with fancy hors d’oeuvres in the dressing room.

The formula seems to work for Karl Denson. Take, for instance, what is probably the pinnacle moment in Karl Denson’s career - a phone call from Lenny Kravitz.

"I met Lenny in 1988, during a session for this guy named Tony LeMans," Karl explained during our phone interview. "A year later he called and asked me do the solo on "Let Love Rule."

That was the "opportunity."

Kravitz enjoyed the solo so much, he asked Karl to work on the entire the CD and then do the tour. That led work on the Mama Said, and Are You Gonna Go My Way, records, and subsequent tours.

That was the "preparation."

Though Are You Gonna Go My Way was Kravitz’s departure from horns, and Denson was on his way out, the door was already open - Karl merely needed to walk through it.

"I started my jazz recording career in ‘92. It conflicted with Lenny’s gigs. I wasn’t playing that much saxophone with Lenny . . . so I left and took my chances."

In 1994 a stylish MC, named DJ Greyboy, joined forces with a groove band called the Allstars, and created one of the important unions in San Diego’s musical history: The Greyboy Allstars. Greyboy caught, and helped create, the American acid jazz wave of the 90’s and quickly became one of the largest drawing club and festival acts across the country.

Standing in the foreground of that band was our man Karl Denson, a hip and talented Saxophonist, flautist and singer. In a sentence: he’s the kind of horn player who closes his eyes when he blows.

Karl Denson is a man on an ever changing mission. Today his mission, or better stated, his crosshairs, are on radioplay.

His odds are good. Not only does Denson employ The Formula , but he has the ability to adapt his music to current trends, without (and this is key) abandoning the genre’s that are dear to him.

"We were lucky enough to create a buzz with the [Greyboy] Allstars right when dance music shifted in our direction," he said. "Then it shifted back towards mainstream R & B, and hiphop. . . and kind of left [Greyboy] in the lurch. [So] we made a crossover into the hippy market."

Therein lies Karl’s talent. He understands music history and trends - and readily applies it to his own career. Translation? He can crossover when the crossing’s good

"Acid jazz is a late 80’s blend of DJ’s spinning tracks with a soloist or horn section playing over it," he explained to the host on KPBS’s, The Lounge. . . "When they finally ran out of James Brown, Parliament, rock and roll and funk tunes to sample, they turned to jazz."

By 1997 the Greyboy Allstars had begun to grow apart.

"The band stopped creating freely. So we took some time off. But the time off became longer and longer, until I just started my own thing."

Now, Karl’s "own thing," is in jazz bins across the country. He’s got a new group called Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and is currently on a national tour supporting their self titled debut album.

"What’s the game plan after the tour?" I asked.

". . . Attack the record companies. Make ourselves more visible. . . [And] push for a more vocal, mainstream appeal. I want to get on the radio. I think I write good enough tunes. I want a nice fat budget so I can relax and make a record slowly, and make it right."