Monthly Archives: December 2007

There is a slick feel to this latest release from Charlie Hunter’s Trio, like walking on a sidewalk that was shoveled too soon and a think layer of ice is still underneath. There you are mis-stepping and it feels so right. Allowing an unseen force to lead you on your way and doing so with a smile wrapped around your head. I haven’t yet discovered the land of Mistico, but I am certainly enjoying the surrounding sounds while trying to locate it. Then there are times like in track #2, “Speakers Bulit in”, where the moment of impact is eventual. As you spiral downwards you find yourself standing upright and all signs point up. Along with Charlie Hunter on 7 string guitar, Simon Lott handles the drumming duties and Erik Deutsch fingers the keys of the piano, Fender Rhodes and CasioTone. Together, this search party leads you and your ears towards unchartered sound spots, but please keep your minds open at all times, as this album features 10 tracks that will certainly challenge your memories to compare. Often times during the album as it plays the slippery sidewalk seems to lead to the ends of some world…..I’m sure this is to be continued.

CH3 Mistico Concord Music Group

The Karl Denson Trio’s newest album, Lunar Orbit is the vessel to take space and make it into your backyard. I have been swimming in this album up to my ears and keep finding new worm-holes to depart into. As the title track blasts off, you can buckle up or feel free to roam around the cabin area inside your mind, weightlessness is around you and time seems to be irrelevant once again, like when you were a child. The grooves are very rich with a star-like brightness that easily excite your senses like the first time you saw pictures of earth from the moon. Now that’s some deep grooves. Take a breath. There is an innovator’s spirit that flows from this album, like someone has witnesses the future and is setting it into sound. With Jake Najor on Drums, Anthony Smith on keys, Karl Denson’s sax/flutes explode in evolutionary exploration and is willing to take you as a passenger. Join me on a ride? Karl Denson’s career has taken many forms. From saxophone player for Lenny Kravitz to front man of The Greyboy All-Stars and his own Tiny Universe, Karl has constantly found ways to simultaneously expand his listeners’ minds while making them move their feet. His undeniable grooves and colossal saxophone solos have taken a new form in The Karl Denson Trio.