A Psychedelic Album Cover By The Karl Denson Trio

Confession time: I hadn’t heard of Karl Denson until I happened upon this rather psychedelic album cover yesterday.

Source: amazon.com

The Karl Denson Trio (KD3), is one of two groups Denson leads—the other being Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (KDTU).

Denson ¹ is a funk/jazz saxophonist, flutist, and vocalist from California, who has recorded and toured with a host of musicians, including Lenny Kravitz. Denson was also the co-founder and leader of the Greyboy Allstars.

Source: en.wikipedia.org  Photo by: Bruce C Moore Used with permission under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

If Karl Denson’s playing is unfamiliar to you, here’s a small sample of his solo work with KD3…

Too bad about the recording quality, but I do really like Denson’s use of growls, multiphonics and altissimo. I also like the way he uses the full range of the horn. Many of the techniques he employs, are things I regularly uses in my solos as well. Maybe that’s why I like his playing so much. 😉

Getting back to the album cover for a minute, to me this looks like Selmer Mark VI tenor. I could be wrong, since there are so many copies out there that look like the real thing, but nonetheless, a Mark VI is what it appears to be.

But what’s with the eyeball looking out from below the bow? Where’s the rest of the guy’s head? We can see his shoulders, but the head’s missing. It’s like the entire album cover was designed by someone on an acid trip. (BTW, the release date for the album Lunar Orbit was 2007.)

If you like funk, acid jazz, or any of those genres, then Karl Denson is a sax player you might want to check out—if he isn’t already on your play list. I still can’t believe he wasn’t on my radar screen before today. 😳  Wow, am I behind or what? :wtf:

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¹ There appears to be a database problem with Karl Denson’s website currently. The homepage comes up intermittently, and other pages sometimes don’t load at all. Since in all likelihood this problem will be corrected shortly, I will leave the link to his page up. However, ATM things aren’t working quite right. (July 8, 2013)