In a previous Fest Focus interview with Karl Denson that appeared in this magazine in May 2002, Karl remarked that on his new record he would be singing quite a bit, to which our intrepid interviewer responded, “You sing?” This response is probably pretty representative of most people’s perception of Karl’s music.

It also seems to be indicative of how he was seen by his former record label, Blue Note Records. After scoring a deal with the legendary imprint and releasing 2001’s Dance Lesson #2, Denson decided to make his next project reflect the fact that he is influenced as much if not more by Curtis Mayfield than he is by Sonny Rollins or Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

So, as a result of the non-congruent nature of their perceptions of his image and sound Karl decided to leave Blue Note and start his own label, the infantine Relaxed Records. The Bridge sees Denson and the Universe take a decidedly R&B attitude with the tunes falling back on the band’s stainless steel grooves instead of Karl’s trademark sax work.

This time the hooks come through his voice instead of his sax, but they do their job just the same. In fact, in a larger sense, The Bridge is almost certainly Denson’s most accessible work to date and with aggressive promotion by his fledgling label might even turn out to be his biggest seller.

For Tiny Universe’s dedicated live fans only the first half of the record will be new with the second being comprised of set staples they have been hearing for quite some time. Among those new songs, “Because of Her Beauty” is the obvious standout single with its cloudy, damp funk.

As usual, besides Karl’s sax and this time his voice, Brian Jordan’s guitar rises starkly out of the deep grooves but with a little more rock swagger than usual, something which has also been heard more and more in his live performances as well. One of only two instrumentals on the album, “Elephants” pays tribute to Fela Kuti and closes out the disc in classic Denson style with its explosive horn chart and Jordan’s catchy-as-hell descending guitar riff.

On the title track Denson sings “Mastery of self and sacrifice will make us free.” This is a maxim Karl doesn’t just sing but one he appears to live. Picking his own path toward R&B, away from jazz and sacrificing his coveted deal with Blue Note, Karl has won his creative freedom and despite the handicaps of a much smaller distribution, might just have made his most commercially successful album yet.

Blue Note be damned!