Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe

For over 25 years, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe has electrified audiences around the world, from the fields of Naeba in Japan at the infamous Fuji Rock Festival to the hallowed stage of Madison Square Garden where they previously joined the Dave Matthews Band and “The Godfather of Soul,” James Brown. This summer, KDTU brings their dynamic sound to Ravinia, fusing jazz, funk, soul, and rock for a vibrant, high-energy evening!

From performing as Sexual Chocolate (Karl was in the original band in the movie Coming to America and its sequel) at the Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco, to being the first late-night act at the inaugural Bonnaroo Festival, KDTU have been a dominating force in music for the past 25 years.

All-night, sold-out concerts during Jazzfest in New Orleans have featured sit-ins by everyone from Lenny Kravitz and Steve Winwood (with whom Karl has recorded and toured) to avant-garde luminaries Marc Ribot & Boyfriend. Chuck Leavell and Bernard Fowler (Karl’s bandmates in The Rolling Stones where Karl replaced the great Bobby Keys as saxophonist in 2014) have joined onstage and on record, as have Lukas Nelson, John Oates, Michael Franti, Warren Haynes, Ivan Neville, Anders Osborne, Big Daddy Kane, Roy Hargrove, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Joshua Redman, Marcus King, and Bernie Worrell, among others.

Touring the country with the Allman Brothers, My Morning Jacket, D’Angelo, The Roots, Public Enemy, Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead, Parliament Funkadelic, Slightly Stoopid, Widespread Panic, very few concertgoers have been untouched by the Tiny Universe live. In addition to KDTU, Karl Denson aka “Diesel” is a founding member of the seminal groove act The Greyboy Allstars.