Denson finds San Diego's music, weather to his liking

By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 10, 2007 12:18 PM PDT ∞

Lots and lots of folks, musicians included, have moved to San Diego from elsewhere ---- we're a region of transplants. And saxophonist Karl Denson (playing Friday night at Anthology) is among them. But it wasn't the weather that drew Denson to America's Finest City; it was the weather that kept the Orange County native here instead of moving to a jazz stronghold such as New York or Chicago, where work is more plentiful.

"I'm a Southern California boy," he said by phone during a break from the recording studio, working on his next CD. "I traveled around a lot, and thought I was going to live somewhere else. But in the end, I like the weather here."

Growing up in Santa Ana, Denson was introduced to music in elementary school, playing cello in fourth grade for a year, and then in seventh grade taking up saxophone. While he was studying classical music and marching band in school, at home he was getting another kind of education.

"My brothers were really into music my whole life," said the fifth of six kids. "I heard a lot of really good music in life. The brother above me became a real jazz aficionado when I was 11 or 12.

"Everybody played for a little while. I was the only one who continued playing."

But Denson said that his musical growth was fueled more by his siblings' record collections than by their example playing music.

"I think musically, the best part of it was having older siblings bringing new music into the house all the time."

And yet, even in his late teens, it wasn't certain that Denson would become a musician ---- that he would join the popular Greyboy All-Stars or start up his own popular Tiny Universe combo.

"I went to college studying to be a veterinarian," he said. "After about two semesters, I decided to change my major to music.

"I went to Fullerton J.C. and they had a great music department. I started out with a couple of music classes as electives, then another semester with a couple more, and I realized I was moving in that direction and I better move it full-speed ahead."

While Denson has managed to earn his living from music without need for a day job to support his art, he credited his wife for motivating his financial success.

"I didn't really care that much about money until I met my wife, and I was about 28 when I met her. When I met her, I was playing one to three nights a week, making about $50 a night. When I met her, I realized it was time to get serious about the money part of this. Before that, it was all about the art."

Not that it isn't still about making great music. Denson said he's happy with the way his jazz trio ---- the combo he's been playing with of late and with whom he recorded his latest CD, "Lunar Orbit" (released just last week) ---- has shaped up.

"I switched over from a big band, the Tiny Universe, a little over a year ago, and I wanted to do something smaller. So (the new CD) is a trio record. For me, every record is kind of an experiment. I want to come up with something fresh. I feel like we really came up with that this time. I'm really happy with it."

After touring and recording with rocker Lenny Kravitz for a few years beginning in 1989, he met up with the San Diego-based acid jazz combo the Greyboy Allstars.

"When I came here in '94 and started working with the Allstars, it was kind of a great time because the whole acid jazz thing had just started. ... I saw the switch in the hip-hop community, where the DJ kind of ran out of rock records to sample and started sampling jazz records, so I started hearing a lot of music I'd grown up with being used in these tunes.

"We were writing tunes and also doing these rare jazz covers that people thought we were creating. From '94 to about '97, we created a nice scene down here. We could work seven nights a week and make real good money in San Diego. A nice big handful of bands were making a good living playing clubs in San Diego. It kind of died down in '98, and I think that was just a shift in the consumer habits."

It was while playing with the Allstars that Denson and his wife made the move to San Diego; Denson said his wife pointed out that it made little sense for him to be commuting from Orange County. They've been here ever since, and Denson said he thinks San Diego's music scene is better than people realize.

"For a city at the beach ---- when you're this close to the beach, people tend to focus less on art than on sun ---- we've got a nice little thing going. It's not New York, San Francisco or Chicago by any stretch of the imagination, but there's a lot going on.

"I think our proximity to L.A. allows people to be creative on their own here, and then stretch out on the business side via the L.A. scene."

Karl Denson Trio

When: 10 p.m. Oct. 12

Where: Anthology, 1337 India St., San Diego

Admission: $10-$30

Info: (619) 595-6300

Web: anthologysd.com or karldenson.com

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