This Friday bring your funky ass down to The Blockley and prepare to take off on an intergalactic musical voyage to Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe! Even the drop in temperature due to the autumn weather will not be a worry as West Philadelphia’s premier venue will be heating up for a spicy weekend of music that is sure to generate heat waves from all of the hot music and dancing. This will be Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe’s debut at The Blockley and be it by space shuttle, black hole, universe expansion, or even worm hole, the San-Diego based group has brought their Tiny Universe to West Philadelphia to throw one of their historic dance parties! So slap on your dancing shoes and prepare yourself for a rager this Friday night on 38th and Chestnut as Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and New Orleans’ own, The Soul Rebels, send heat, sparks, and space dust flying!
Opening up for the night, The Soul Rebels will take the stage on Friday September 20th revving up the engines of The Blockley for the upcoming musical transcendence. Stemming from New Orleans, the eight-member band has incorporated elements of soul, jazz, funk, hip-hop, rock and pop music into a contemporary brass band framework. The Soul Rebels’ music has evolved from their New Orleans brass style out of the band’s original members Lumar LeBlanc and Derrick Moss’s passion for playing the music they heard on the radio with a twist, respecting the New Orleans brass band tradition. The octet consists of founding member percussionists, Lumar LeBlanc and Derrick Moss, trumpet players, Julian Gosin and Marcus Hubbard, trombonists Corey Peyton and Paul Robertson, saxophonist Erion Williams, and sousaphonist Edward Lee Jr.
The Soul Rebels have been exploding all over the music scene in 2013. They started off with a CMJ Showcase at The Highline Ballroom in New York City and then brought a full house to their next show at Austin City Limits. They then returned to their home base in New Orleans to perform for the 2013 NFL Honors Awards Show that was hosted by Alec Baldwin on CBS Superbowl weekend and splayed across televisions all over the nation! Things only got better as the Soul Rebels played a three night run at New York’s Brooklyn Bowl and then hit up festivals all the way from Australia to Indonesia. The band plans to bring their New Orleans style brass band party worldwide venturing to France, the UK and then back to the old US of A.
The Soul Rebels have performed with an eclectic array of artists spanning all of the musical genres. Some of these bands and musicians include Green Day, Maceo Parker, Metallica, Galactic, Slick Rick, and Suzanne Vega and David A. Stewart of the Eurythmics. They have also shared billings with names such as Arcade Fire, Kanye West, Estelle, Seal, Snoop Dog, Alabama Shakes, Cee Lo Green, Dr. John and many others. The band has wowed audiences at festivals all over the world including Bonaroo, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Electric Forest, Antibes Jazz festival and more recently at the Perth International Jazz Festival in Australia and JavaJazz Festival in Jakarta. The band has been called, “the missing link between Public Enemy and Louis Armstrong” by the Village Voice. Their ability to infuse their exceptional music marksmanship with deep grooves in celebration of life in time continues to honor their New Orleans style and the traditional brass band roots. The bands’ unique and timeless music steeped in tradition is the perfect opener for the epic, yet indefinable experience known as Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe!
Believe it or not, Karl Denson has eclectic careers deeming him a well-rounded and possibly “renaissance” musician. He has displayed his talent in several facets of music dating back to 1989, both as a recording and performing artist. He was a member of Lenny Kravitz’ band and appeared on his debut album “Let Love Rule” that hit #68 on the Billboard 200 and #56 on the UK albums chart. He spent the next five years developing a following overseas as he played with Fred Wesley’s band, both touring and recording with him for several of his releases. This was followed by Denson’s five jazz albums released on Minor Music, the last album featured the incredible jazz musician as part of a trio that included Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette.
Around 1993, Denson began collaborating with DJ Greyboy and the pair produced Greyboy Records on which they released his legendary acid jazz staple, “Freestylin”. In an album review, Nathan Bush describes this masterpiece exclaiming, “Though Greyboy does lay down some fine templates — tightly constructed bass and breakbeat grooves from his impressive record crates — it’s his co-conspirator, tenor saxophonist Karl Denson, who steals the show. Denson combines with Harold Todd’s flute to deliver the melodic blueprint of tracks like “Ruffneck Jazz” and “On the Strip.” It’s the saxman’s soloing, however, that really impresses. The album’s title track, with its crowd samples, brings the live flavor, and Denson responds with an impassioned improvisation, blazing a trail for Todd to follow in.” Thus began The Greyboy Allstars, internationally disseminating their “West Coast Boogaloo Style” leading them to become the world renowned groove they are today.
In the formation of his “Tiny Universe” Karl was able to implement such impassioned improvisation as seen in The Greyboys with the acid jazz and startling solos and plunge it to the forefront frontier by further emphasizing the vocals and incorporating funk, R&B and even hip hop elements. This musical result is truly out of this universe (hence why it is encapsulated in a “tiny” one all of its own)! During their worldwide touring, the eclectic and aesthetic sound of Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe propelled the band to the distinguished position in the realm of funk that they hold today at light speed. Denson describes his music saying “My style is based in dance” and “I love the idea of creating something that naturally makes people want to move.”
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe has performed with the likes of Jack Johnson, D’Angelo, James Brown, Dave Matthews Band, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Keene, Maroon 5 and The Allman Brothers, displaying their musical diversity as a band as well as their knack for collaboration. Karl Denson himself has also toured with Slightly Stoopid in the past and then in 2012 a few members of the band joined his Tiny Universe on stage in commemoration of the Beastie Boys.
There is no wonder that to this date Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe has sold over 250,000 records and performed and even headlined at U.S. Festivals such as Bonaroo, Bumbershoot, The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Wakarusa Music Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, All Good Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival and many more! He has even showcased his “Tiny Universe” globally at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, North See Jazz Festival in Holland, Moscow Jazz Festival in Russia, Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and East Coast Blues and Roots Festival in Australia.
With the band’s current line-up consisting of Karl Denson on Vocals, Sax & Flute, DJ Williams on Guitar, Chris Littlefield on Trumpet, John Staten on Drums, Chris Stillwell on Bass and David Veith on the Keyboards, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe is sure to bring the heat to The Blockley this Friday September 20th. A pair of cheap sunglasses may be in order to protect your eyes in case of a musical solar flare; but, do not fear; as good eyesight isn’t required to hear the exquisite, funky dance jams escaping the stage area. One may even question if Karl and the crew at some point boarded The Mothership on their musical venture to discovering their Tiny Universe as it emanates such sounds that may be influenced from the depths of the epic P-Funk parties.
Karl Denson continues on the voyage of his artistic evolution as he fuses the genres of Rock, Funk and Afrobeat on his most recent release, “Brother’s Keeper”. Brother’s Keeper features several guest artists, including Marc Ford (on the guitar) from The Black Crowes, Meshell Ndegeocello on bass and Ben Harper. In describing the new album, Denson declares, “, “I’m not one to live in the past. I am very much a forward thinker. Brother’s Keeper is a continuation of my general worldview, which is that we should be loving each other, having fun and taking care of one another.” He concludes, “This record is the culmination of all my life’s work up until now.”
The Music Vibes can guarantee that there is no better way to spend your Friday than getting down to Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and The Soul Rebels at The Blockley. It will be the hottest dance party in town, in the state, in the nation, and even in this big Universe! Prepare to travel back in time with the Soul Rebels’ take on the traditional Brass band music of New Orleans and then be mesmerized by Denson’s saxophone and flute solos. This is sure to be a concert, party, and just a musical experience that you will never forget!
Preview by Rebecca Wolfe
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