/grab bag/ – an assortment of miscellaneous items
Don’t let the name of the Greyboy Allstars latest LP Grab Bag: 2007-2023 fool you. From start to finish this album plays like any of the band’s previous releases. The nine songs are perfectly placed to display the wide array of sounds only the Allstars can create thanks to their patented “boogaloo filter.”
Sure, the album covers an assortment of musical genres. It’s plump with funk, fusion, traditional jazz, rock, salsa and more. Despite covering so much territory, there’s not one second on the album that doesn’t distinctively sound like the Greyboy Allstars.
GBA have been trend setters since forming as a backing band to DJ Greyboy in the early 1990’s. Allstars perfectly describes the quintet of Karl Denson (sax/flute), Robert Walter (keyboards), Elgin Park aka Michael Andrews (guitar), Chris Stillwell (bass), and Aaron Redfield (drums).
Away from GBA, each member has a packed schedule. Denson tours with the Rolling Stones and fronts his Tiny Universe and KD3 projects. Walter tours with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. Andrews is a sought after tv/film composer and on and on. With so many projects other than the Allstars, finding time to get together and expand their west coast boogaloo sound has been difficult if not impossible as of late.
The band hit the studio in December of 2023 with the goal of creating a new album. While the sessions were productive, they were incomplete after several members were forced to return to their other musical projects. Nothing new for this crew. Their 2020 album Como De Allstars was recorded when the band found themselves together after a weekend of Texas shows was rained out.
Creating and recording new material has never been an issue according to Denson. Getting it out as a complete album is the true challenge. The band has decades of archived music from previous recording sessions and concerts that’s never seen the light of day. Instead of postponing the new album, the Allstars decided to use some of the December sessions mixed with their archives to make up Grab Bag.
Slideandbanjo.com sat down with the legendary Karl Denson who tells the unique back story on how the album and specific songs on it came to be. He also shares some exciting news regarding the future plans of the band. Denson begins by discussing how those 2023 sessions morphed into Grab Bag. “The December 2023 session was more ambitious. I was thinking and as a band we were talking about doing something more involved. We wanted to spend more time on each tune. We thought those ‘23 sessions would be enough for this record. Ultimately, we wanted to go back and do some real polishing and put that extra effort into each song and see what happens.”
Filled with the best intentions, the schedule of the five sought after musicians and their high standards didn’t allow GBA to complete an album of new material. Then, according to Denson a random moment led to the concept of Grab Bag being born. “Robert and Mike were in the studio doing something else. Mike threw on some old tracks and it occurred to them they were very good. We’ve been sitting on them as if they’re not. It was one of those after dinner moments of listening to tracks, realizing we have a record here and we’re just sitting on it. So, let’s get it out.”
Denson notes with thirty plus years together, making new music has never been a problem. “We have trouble putting albums out. We don’t have trouble recording them. That’s what Grab Bag proves. We get together all the time and make music really fast. We’ve got tons of an unreleased back catalog. This forced us to take a look at it. We realized we have at least one album, maybe two in storage.”
Some of the songs on Grab Bag have been around ten years. Some five and six. Some have been played live for years. Some joined the set list recently. Regardless, calling this album a bunch of outliers is wrong. Denson agrees, “I thought this from the beginning. We got the album done and I thought it was great. We finally saw the light and released these tunes. There’s another song we did that’s really electric boogaloo. It wasn’t released. I was looking for it when they said they were going to do this. I was like, you aren’t going to use this yet? We’ve got another album’s worth of stuff like this. The new ones Suadela and Boxes. Those are from later sessions. Now we’re so stoked with them. When we play them live, we’re like this is some of the best stuff we’ve done in a long time.”
From their onset, the beauty of Greyboy Allstars is their ability to take their music one level higher than most. There are numerous bands proficient in funk, jazz, rock. You pick the genre. For Denson, three decades together and their own “boogaloo filter” gives the Allstars a distinctive sound that sets this music apart from others. “It’s really fun that we’ve defined this style. We understand it. The west coast electric boogaloo is a real thing. It’s really fun to be creating music and realizing we’re doing almost the same thing than when we started. Just a little bit different.”
He continues, “We have the benefit of a very tight filter. That was one of the greatest things for me as a songwriter. Meeting the guys and having to put my songs through that same filter. We’re a band that generally listen to the same things when we’re not together. If somebody brings something from another area they’ve been listening to. Say you’ve been listening to Michael Jackson a bunch. Or punk rock. If you write a tune in that vein, once it gets here, it’s going through that boogaloo filter. It’s very effective.”
Grab Bag begins with three in your face rippers Slip the Grip, Watch Out Gail, and Speed Freak. The sound shifts to traditional jazz with Boxes. Sandiegogo and LLL are filled with the band’s vintage, laid back, California breeze sound. Suadela sends the band back to traditional jazz. The album ends with a wild cover of Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel and a salsa flavored Pixie Stick.
Denson graciously takes the time to break down the songs on the album starting with the crazy story behind his song Watch Out Gail.
“If you listen to early GBA, that’s where this sound comes from. I wrote it. When we got ready to release it, Mike said the song needs a title. I just read a story about this woman Gail Mattson. She was 79 and went to Africa on safari. An elephant ran her over and she died. The story caught my attention because her family was so cool about it. They were like she lived a great life. They released all the pictures from the safari. They wanted everyone to celebrate her life like that. I thought I would dedicate a song to her. That’s where Watch Out Gail came from.
Speed Freak is a Robert tune we recorded six years ago. We have never performed it live until early November. It’s the same with Boxes. We never performed that song until recently. They feel really good and natural in the set. They give a lift and people understand the new material. Slip the Grip was written around ten years ago. It went away and then came back. I’m happy it’s back. I love that tune. We’ve got so many songs. It’s kind of a weird thing. Not being able to play as much as we want to. We have so much material. With the few gigs we do, things fall into the dust bin every once in a while.
Denson continues, Boxes is another Robert tune. He’s the largest contributor to the catalogue in terms of sheer volume. He’s got a million great tunes. I think this record is allowing us to explore other avenues we haven’t before. Only because we haven’t gotten around to it. Boxes and Suadela are two that really say that.
Sandiegogo and LLL are another ode to Mike. Those beautiful vocals on LLL. Sandiegogo is one of my favorites. We recorded it and a couple of days later some thought it sounded like a tv commercial or the music for a newscast. I was like what are you talking about, it’s so cool. I’m glad it made it back.
We did a jazz fest show at Tipitina’s many years ago that had a Michael Jackson theme. The Way You Make Me Feel is one that stuck. It’s lasted since then. The fun thing with that one is putting it through the boogaloo filter and having people recognize the tune. That’s the beauty of it. I love it when Robert is playing the melody. When he plays “and you’re the one for me” I look in the audience and its already coming out of them. They don’t know they’re there yet but then they start singing it. It’s super fun.”
Fueled by the creativity brought forth with Grab Bag, the Greyboy Allstars have made a commitment to one another and their music. Denson concludes, “We’ve got a great management team. Mike runs the studio so we have control of all the recording. There’s a big plan and it’s getting bigger. We were just talking about setting up a couple of days a month to go in the studio and record. Make it an ongoing thing. Keep releasing. Releasing more stuff and writing new music. It’s going to be fun. I’d love to get to thirty shows a year. That would be incredible. That’s our long term goal. To make this the main project in our lives and do our other things as well. I’ll probably do twice that much with my band. If I can pull that off, it would be a nice life.
Stay tuned for more with Karl Denson. He reflects on his life beyond his Greyboy Allstar duties. Trying to describe the emotion of sharing the stage with the Rolling Stones for years. Denson also dives into his other musical projects and reflects on his hidden fame from one of his earliest jobs in Hollywood.
Greyboy Allstars- Grab Bag: 2007-2023
2024 Knowledge Room Recordings
photos Titus Haug