Karl Denson brings the funk to Cleveland once again, powered by his shiny silver flute and lungs that just won’t quit. Denson is a flute evangelist of sorts, converting his instrument from fussy to funky and making true believers out of his audiences. His songs perch quietly at first, as he slowly builds them — then they rise and stretch into sweat-fueled funk marathons. True, the music may transport you to other worlds in your mind, but the point of Karl Denson’s 10-minute fusions of jazz, funk, and soul is not to make you think hard; it’s to make you dance hard. During a trip through the Tiny Universe, the bass line is the only thing in the room that will pump harder than your heart.
This article appears in Dec 1-7, 2004.