JAZZ REVIEW : He’s Hitting the High Notes, Looking for a U.S. Groove

Karl Denson is one of the fast-rising young stars of the saxophone--but only in Germany.

The Lake Forest resident, who won the John Coltrane Festival’s Young Artist Award in 1992, has a pair of fine albums out in Germany on the Minor Music label. A third, set for release later this year, includes the distinguished rhythm section of drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland. Denson tours Germany on a regular basis and will return there later this spring.

Friday night at System M in Long Beach, Denson showed why the Europeans are so bullish on his music as he wound his way through a set of quirky, hard-cornering originals that showcased his writing as well as his playing talents.

The overall effect was one of incredulity: Why isn’t this man touring this country’s major clubs? Why hasn’t one of the major U. S. jazz labels signed him?

Maybe it’s because it’s hard to get comfortable with Denson’s music. Though accessible, his tunes have more faces than a Rubik’s cube, swinging hard here, progressing in considered fashion there and always full of breaks, jumps and tempo shifts. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on one of his numbers, the piece, like a chameleon, changes colors.

After warming up his quintet with the standard “Dear Old Stockholm,” Denson moved his band into “Honey Lemon Tea” (many of his tunes and all his albums carry titles with food references) that had bassist Benjamin May and pianist Christian Jacob sounding a unison rhythm line as solid as a heartbeat. Then May took the lead, plucking a melodic line on his upright until Denson, on tenor, stated a brief anthem in tandem with Ron Stout’s fluegelhorn.

Throughout the first set, Denson showed a childlike innocence in his playing. Though he’s no happy-face musician, his work does have a playful, joyous quality that is at once teasing and inviting. During more raucous passages, he showed he’s absorbed the lessons of John Coltrane.

Denson returns to System M Saturday with his groove-oriented acid band, The Grey Boy All Stars.