Festival-goers may be convinced that Karl Denson has been following them around ever summer for the last decade as he appears in multiple, ever-morphing musical incarnations. Denson is, after all, a striking chameleon: a relentless saxophonist, flautist and vocalist who might turn up at any musical occasion for high-energy jamming. Whether it’s with his own band, Tiny Universe, with the inimitable Greyboy Allstars or as a guest with outfits such as New York’s jazz groove trio Soulive or California’s smoke-infused reggae punks Slightly Stoopid, Denson is in perpetual motion.

Those who’ve followed Denson’s career know that the San Diego-based player has serious staying power, despite the sometimes cruel and unusual nature of the music business. From his early days as the featured sax player in Lenny Kravitz’s band – that’s him wailing during the ingrained-in-your-brain solo at the apex of the 1989 hit “Let Love Rule” – to straight jazz gigs and his eventual residency on the jamband circuit, Denson’s endurance and ongoing success is a credit to his multifaceted talents as a musician and his long-grounded foundation as a family man.

Denson was born in 1956 and grew up in Orange County, a notoriously conservative California community that, in contrast to being the home of Richard Nixon, has spawned artists from Jackson Browne and Tim Buckley to Social Distortion and No Doubt. (Denson came in at No. 21 on the O.C. Weekly’s list of best bands to emerge from behind the “Orange Curtain.” ).

Though Denson says that no one in his family was particularly musically-oriented, his parents played a lot of now-classic soul in the house. His older brother eventually became a major jazz aficionado and turned Denson on to an impressively wide range of ‘60s and ‘70s artists that had a lasting impact on him. It’s also part of the reason that he never turned into Kenny G, he laughs.

“I got to listen to a lot of good music like Coltrane and a lot of the more avant-garde players out there when I was a kid,” he says. “And I totally attribute that to my decision never to play smooth jazz, ever. When jazz went smooth, I started to listen to punk.”

During the late 1980s, Kravitz, who was, at the time, something of an innovative genre-crosser, hired the young saxophonist to be part of his band. While massive international tours for Kravitz’s 1991 album Mama Said and 1993’s Are You Gonna Go My Way took Denson to major stages around the world, his exposure to the rigors and excess of the rock world caused him to reconsider a gig that centered more on his jazz roots.

Clocking in time as a member of ex-James Brown and Maceo Parker trombonist Fred Wesley’s band, Denson was able to eventually use his growing clout to land a multiple record deal with Minor Music, putting out four (by his current standards) unusually straight-ahead jazz albums between 1992 and 1995.

Denson, who was based in San Diego at the time, began collaborating with DJ Greyboy who had a regular gig at the Green Circle Bar playing acid jazz, groove-infused music. After collaborating on two tracks for Ubiquity Records’ influential Home Cookin’ compilation, the two formed Greyboy Records in 1993. Less than a year later, the project morphed into The Greyboy Allstars featuring guitarist Michael Andrews, organist/keyboardist Robert Walter, bassist Chris Stillwell and drummer Zak Najor. The group’s 1995 debut, West Coast Boogaloo, found immediate fans from the rock, hip-hop and jam worlds with its fusion of sounds.

As time went on, Denson says that he and his fellow bandmates’ outside gigs and personal lives eventually diluted the Allstars’ glue – particularly guitarist Elgin Park’s (who had replaced Andrews) budding career as a movie soundtrack composer – and they drifted apart. However, because there were never any bad feelings between members, the quintet re-emerged in 2001 for sporadic tour dates (most recently this past April) and high-profile festival performances (such as Outside Lands in San Francisco this past August).

“We never had what I’d consider a big breakup – people just wanted to do other things and we decided to take a few years off,” says Denson. "But we always enjoyed playing together, especially in recent years, and we realized we needed to do a follow-up to the last record [2007’s What Happened to Television? ].

The group has done three different recording sessions in the last year and a half while periodically touring. “It was exhausting, but it was a good experience,” says Denson of juggling the two duties. “It all helps to keep the band’s momentum going when we’re not playing together.”

The Allstars’ new album is currently slated for a spring release.

Greyboy Allstars, circa 1998

Spinning out from the Allstars orbit were Robert Walters’ 20th Congress and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, the latter of which heard the saxophonist injecting his vocals and a grittier, JB-styled funk into the musical blend more than the Allstars’ dynamic allowed.

Since the Allstars’ initial dissolution, Denson has released four albums: Dance Lesson #2 (2001), The Bridge (2002), Lunar Orbit (2007) and Brother’s Keeper (2009). The second and fourth are Tiny Universe albums, though they all share a similar sound.

The Bridge has brought Denson his greatest commercial success as a solo artist; it features the song “Because of Her Beauty,” a groovy love ballad boasting Denson’s vocals and a punchy horn section. The song went into heavy rotation on the nation’s then-flourishing AAA-format radio stations.

“I would have never predicted that success, especially with that song,” he says. “I was scared to even put that song on the record, given that it was such a down tempo, sensitive track, but it did really well for us and allowed me to stay out there even longer. And feed my family.”

Last year’s Tiny Universe effort, Brother’s Keeper, featured guests including bassist Meshell Ndegeocello and former Black Crowes’ guitarist Marc Ford.

“Working with Meshell was…,” Denson says, pausing to search for the right words to articulate his thoughts. “In a world of cats and dogs, Meshell was a cat. Dogs are obliged to acknowledge that you’ve walked in the room and are happy to see you – cats not so much. But hey, Robert Walter is a cat too and he’s the nicest person in the world. He doesn’t feel that he’s socially obliged to do anything to acknowledge you. It’s not mean-spirited – it’s just the way some people are.”

For the new Tiny Universe album, due this fall, Denson enlisted the current Tiny Universe crew – guitarist Brian Jordan, drummer John Staten, keyboardist David Veith, trumpeter Chris Littlefield and Greyboy bassist Chris Stillwell – to help him rein in what he feels are his frequently disparate musical directions.

“I sometimes get a little overwhelmed in terms of writing a lot of different stuff, so I’ve started working more closely with the band on our writing,” Denson reveals. “That’s a good way to stop me from being too eclectic, which sometimes happens. Whatever the case, there’s something cathartic about doing an album. I think albums are an important – less as a revenue stream but more as a way of re-introducing yourself to fans and new people as you go along. It’s your musical calling card.”

Denson says that this new chapter of Tiny Universe is “really us tightening up as a band, so we continue to work hard at that and keep trying to evolve in a cool direction.” As for himself, he hopes to play for another 20 years – “to keep doing it and hope that people keep coming to see us.”

His career longevity is partially because of his constant collaborations with other artists – in the jazz and jamband spaces, and outside of them. Recently, he’s worked with Soulive (including playing a show this past summer in Vermont at the band’s inaugural Royal Family Affair) and with his trio, which includes keyboardist Anthony Smith and drummer Brett Sanders. In the hip-hop and rap worlds, he continues to work with former Jurassic 5 baritone rapper Chali 2na and, this past winter headlined a tour with him and the legendary Public Enemy, which Denson headlined.

“It was a very funny situation with Public Enemy,” he laughs. “It was a little scary and I had to be talked down off the ledge a couple of times by my band, but it was an amazing time. Those guys are rock stars – we courted them and management paid them a lot of money to do the shows – but they totally slaughtered it. They had [DJ] Terminator X, dancing soldiers and the whole thing. They’re like a punk rock band.”

As Denson oscillates between band incarnations and guest spots, he’s happy to see that audiences have been willing to follow along. “I definitely have a hardcore following that will come and see me, whatever I do,” he says. “Some people like the Allstars better and some are Tiny Universe fans – I try to give a good show every night. Hopefully people will gravitate toward me, no matter what I’m doing. It’s funny to see my fans come to see me in a totally different setting like all these Slightly Stoopid dates [this past summer]. There, I’m just the horn guy in the band, but it’s cool to be a side player once in a while, too.”

Tiny Universe’s decade-plus of touring has made the band a festival fixture and a fan favorite, simmering somewhere just below the mainstream but also a constant presence at High Sierra, Bonnaroo, Bumbershoot and JazzFest.

Their busy schedule and an overall explosion in the summer festival scene across the country is good news for journeyman player Denson who says he draws much of his inspiration from what he sees as resurgencing interest in live shows.

“It’s great to watch this scene blowing up,” he says. “You’re starting to see better performances out of bands…the quality has really gone up. In the old days, bands sold a lot of records and weren’t really touring, but now that the recording industry has been decimated, everyone’s got to tour – and play – like the little bands. The jammy stuff – Warren [Haynes] and Soulive – has always been [about their ability to play] live first and foremost. And even the advent of jamtronica, like Pretty Lights, is exciting. I prefer when there are at least a couple of guys onstage actually playing, but Beats Antique is one of my favorites. They seem to be the perfect blend of both of those worlds.”

The through-line of all Denson’s musical projects is jazz-like structures that center on improvisation. “I’m in constant flux, but I’m a jazz guy at heart, a true solo player,” he confesses. "You don’t hear solos very much anymore, especially extended solos, and sometimes it seems like you have to trick an audience into listening to a lot of solos. "Maybe that’s why we’ve been embraced by the jamband community. I think there’s a certain jazz aesthetic in jam music – it’s a scene that crosses the genres between bluegrass, soul and rock, and there’s some improvisational nature to the music. That’s where people connect with us.

“At the same time,” he adds, “I was just watching a Time-Life ad on TV for one of their country [music] compilations and I was tempted [to purchase it], though my wife would kill me. I really do like all different kinds of music.”

At 54, Denson is no longer a kid on the scene, though he recently ditched his trademark graying Fu Manchu goatee for a cleaner – and younger looking – moustache. Finding the balance between a busy, multi-headed musical life and a healthy life on the road has been crucial to both his creativity and staying power. Especially when his job is providing a soundtrack for everyone else’s summertime party.

“I am a family guy and I try to stay out of trouble,” he offers. “Most of the guys that I play with tend to be 10 to 15 years younger than me. I didn’t start to get a lot of success until my 30s and that probably saved me. Most of the guys I knew back then who partied too hard have mellowed out. I certainly get to hear the guys from Slightly Stoopid telling me about their exploits, but that whole rock-star thing is definitely not where I’m coming from. It’s probably also good that I don’t have any serious addictive qualities, whatsoever.”

Denson says that he’s anchored by a relatively normal home life with his wife and three kids – ages 16, 15 and 13 – and the ability to pick and choose the gigs that he wants to play. Still, this past summer, Denson was out on the road for longer stretches than he’d prefer.

“Normally, I only go out for a 10- or 14-day tour a couple of times a year,” he says. I am a true weekend warrior – I try to line things up so I’m out Thursday through Sunday, but then I can be back with my kids. And I see that there could be benefits to my career if I was out longer and did those barnstorming kinds of tours, but that’s a tough life. At my core, I’m still just glad that I can feed my family doing what I love."