If you want to hear wind instruments with famous affiliations, look no further than The Venice West. One night after hosting Jennifer Hartswick Band—whose namesake is best known for her trumpeting with Trey Anastasio Band—the West L.A. bar/restaurant/concert venue welcomed Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, whose leader plays saxophone with The Rolling Stones.
In Karl’s case, the breadth of instrumentation extended far beyond his own pipes and those in his sax. Over the course of a sprawling two-hour set on Thursday, the Santa Ana native and former member of Lenny Kravitz’s band played two different saxophones and the flute, along with a variety of percussive instruments—including tambourine, cowbell, and guiro.
Each instrument came in handy as a way to convey the eclectic stylings of Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (KDTU). Between the Beastie Boys‘ tribute of “B Is My Name” to open, the freneticism “I’m Your Biggest Fan”, the more classic funk of “Satisfied”, and the West African rhythms of “Elephants”, Karl and company had the audience dancing every which way with a wide array of sounds. And that was just the first third of the set.
From there, KDTU left seemingly no stone unturned in its musical exploration. With the help of vocalist Danielle Barker, the band transformed the electropop of Men I Trust’s “Tailwhip” into a horn-filled funk-a-thon, got the crowd cooing to “Supernatural Slide”, and gleefully led everyone down a musical “Rabbit Hole”.
After Dani’s departure, Karl and his crew paid homage to Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers with a cover of “If It Ain’t Funky”. Somehow, they got even funkier with a run of Karl’s own “What If You Knew”, “Steamed Water”, and “The Hump”. The energy tapered back slightly as KDTU gave Dr. Lonnie Smith his flowers by way of a cover of the classic “Layin’ in the Cut”. Things quickly picked back up as Karl put his lips back to his flute for “Rise and Shine”, with Dani back on the mic.
After closing out the main set with “Tonight”, Karl and his band, along with Danielle, returned to the stage for a rousing encore cover of the late Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black”, with a tease of The Roots’ “You Got Me” tossed in. Denson’s affinity for the late British singer-songwriter is well documented, having performed an entire tribute concert during last year’s Jazz Fest.
At every turn, the musicianship across the board was tightly timed and expertly executed—from Ricky Giordano on guitar, Parker McAllister on bass, and Alfred Jordan on drums, to Rashon Murph on keys and Ricio Fruge on trumpet. Karl led the way in that regard, seamlessly switching between instruments while so often selflessly ceding the spotlight to the Tiny (but exemplary) Universe with which he’s surrounded himself for more than a quarter century.
So far, the man known as “Diesel” has compiled a career spanning the musical galaxy. Aside from his ties to The Stones and Lenny Kravitz, he’s performed with Bob Weir, Widespread Panic, My Morning Jacket, Slightly Stoopid, Public Enemy, and Parliament-Funkadelic, among many others.
What comes next is, well, more tour dates. KDTU will close out the month of March with stops in Solana Beach and Napa before heading to New Orleans for its annual stint at and around Jazz Fest in May. After that, the band can be found gigging in Raleigh; Richmond, Virginia; and Baltimore. Find tickets and a full list of tour dates here. And if none of those outings fit your schedule, you can always catch Karl Denson on his sax alongside The Rolling Stones during their stadium tour this spring and summer.
Check out a gallery of images from Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe at The Venice West below courtesy of photographer Brandon Weil.
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