Don't count Karl Denson among those who see the Internet as the doom of musicians. The co-founder of the Greyboy Allstars and leader of Karl Denson's Tiny Universe (playing Saturday at the Belly Up Tavern) admits the Internet may have cut the legs out from under record companies, but he feels that bands are being offered more opportunities than ever, courtesy of cyberspace.
"I think radio is way overformatted. On the Internet, you've got things like playlist.com where kids can check out what other kids are listening to.
"You can search out things and find more random experiences on the Internet, which I think allows you to be more eclectic as an artist. You have people who look at you and go, well, that relates to this music and that music, and this relates to that.
"I think the listener is much more intelligent now about the music."
And all of that, he said, adds up to the fact that bands like his ---- which plays music that is equal parts funk, jazz, rock and pop ---- can thrive online in ways they never could on radio.
"I'm definitely not your stock radio-formatted guy, so the Internet for me is a way for people to hear my music and get to know me and make their own assessment.
"It's kind of destroying the record industry, but for music and art it's hugely necessary, because it doesn't allow the record industry to control what people are hearing.
"When I see big business take its lumps, I don't shed any tears."
With the advent of Apple's iTunes and Amazon.com's MP3 download store, Denson said he sells about as much music online as he does on CD. So he's happy with the way things are moving, even if the big labels aren't.
As for his music, Denson admitted that he has a hard time getting his songs on the radio ---- and attributes that to a philosophical difference with most jazz fans.
"I really think jazz is dance music," he said, citing the big-band era as a time when jazz was the popular dance music of the day.
"My thing is trying to move the tradition forward, and there's a lot to be said for what's going on now in terms of the funkier stuff in what Robert Walter and I and Stanton Moore are doing.
"And the whole jam band scene is fertile ground for improvised music."
Denson said his passion is for "improvised dance music" ---- and that takes in a whole lot of styles beyond jazz.
"Bluegrass and tango ---- you have people dancing, which is kind of where the whole thing started. That's something I'm completely connected to: when you play music, people should be be able to move their feet, and it doesn't need to be so cerebral."
While playing saxophone for Lenny Kravitz in the late '80s, Denson, an Orange County native, decided on the kind of music he wanted to play for the rest of his life.
"The jazz thing seems to be stuck in the mud for me. I did the straight-ahead thing, and I found the audiences wanted to hear rehashed Duke Ellington and (Thelonious) Monk.
"I decided I better figure out where the young audience is! I started experimenting, making it a little funkier every year, and then I decided I want to sing ---- and I started doing that."
Always, though, whether with the periodically reconstituted Greyboy Allstars or leading his own Tiny Universe combo, Denson said the question that shapes his career is constant:
"How can I do the music I love and still have an audience?"
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
When: 9 p.m. March 13
Where: Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach
Tickets: $20-$22
Info: 858-481-8140 or bellyup.com
Web: karldenson.us
