By: David Schultz

Karl Denson has always been a hard man to pin down. The eponymous leader of Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and a motivating force behind The Greyboy Allstars, the saxophone maven has kept his feet squarely, if not always firmly, in the funk, soul and jazz camps. On Lunar Orbit, his first album with The Karl Denson Trio, he ambitiously tries to reinvigorate the keyboard, drums and sax formula with only moderate success. Wavering between funk, acid-jazz and instrumental rock, Lunar Orbit never commits itself in one direction. Instead of being a variegated mélange of interconnected genres, the disc just skims along the surface, never doing any in-depth exploration.

On the album’s ten tracks, Denson is the only constant with Kenneth Crouch, Will Blades and Anthony Smith taking turns on keyboards and organ and Aaron Redfield, Jake Najor and Steve Haney contributing drums and conga. No surprise, the best moments belong to Denson. On “Lunar Orbit” and “Ghetto Fireworks (Part 2),” Denson reclaims the jazz flute from the realm of mockery it has dwelt in since Will Ferrell’s Anchorman. On the title track, Denson weaves his flute around the steady though a plodding futuristic beat and on “The Plain Truth” his tenor sax glides breezily through the tune. Even lite-jazz fare like “Won’t Somebody” gets a boost from Denson’s work.

There’s lots of fine musicianship and listenable jazz on Lunar Orbit, but, regardless of the Trio’s composition, the grooves just don’t draw you in.

Labels: Karl Denson