Jazz Review : Sax Player Shows Why He Shines in Germany : Karl Denson of Lake Forest performs hard-cornering, quirky originals that showcase his writing and playing talents.

LONG BEACH â€”  Karl Denson is one of the fast-rising young stars of the saxophone--but only in Germany.

The Lake Forest resident, who won the John Coltrane Festival’s Young Artist Award in 1992, has a pair of fine albums out in Germany on the Minor Music label. A third, set for release later this year, includes the distinguished rhythm section of drummer Jack DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland. Denson tours Germany on a regular basis, and will return there later this spring.

Friday night at System M, Denson showed why the Europeans are so bullish on his music as he wound his way through a set of quirky, hard-cornering originals that showcased his writing as well as his playing talents.

The overall effect was one of incredulity: Why isn’t this man touring this country’s major clubs? Why hasn’t one of the major U.S. jazz labels signed him?

Maybe it’s because it’s hard to get comfortable with Denson’s music. Though accessible, his tunes have more faces than Rubik’s cube, swinging hard here, progressing in considered fashion there and always full of breaks, jumps and tempo shifts. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on one of his numbers, the piece, like a chameleon, changes colors.

After warming up his quintet with the standard “Dear Old Stockholm,� Denson moved his band into “Honey Lemon Tea� (many of his tunes and all his albums carry titles with food references) that had bassist Benjamin May and pianist Christian Jacob sounding a unison rhythm line as solid as a heartbeat. Then May took the lead, plucking a melodic line on his upright until Denson, on tenor, stated a brief anthem in tandem with Ron Stout’s fluegelhorn.

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From there the band jumped into a walking rhythm that supported Christian’s winding, McCoy Tyner-influenced improvisation. Next, Denson took the solo spotlight, spewing flurries of notes that danced around a series of low-end honks, before a call-and-response session with Stout, now on trumpet, that brought the tune to a close.

“The Round About� was an up-tempo workout peppered with sudden breaks of silence. Stout used the set-up for one of his best trumpet solos, singing on the high tones in the style of the late Lee Morgan, while adding some tricks from Freddie Hubbard’s bag for good measure. Despite these references, Stout is very much his own man. His playing not only gave glimpses into the history of his instrument, but its future as well.

Denson worked his way back into the tune alone, with the rhythm section laying out. His tenor presentation was dense, yet sprightly, and decorated with calypso touches. The band again jumped in behind him and Denson took off, blustering and squealing without a loss of control.

“Dinosaurs� also featured dramatic breaks, as well as two-note exclamations from the horns that served as touchstones as the piece progressed. “Sue’s a Butterfly,� with Denson on alto, opened as a ballad, before metamorphosing into a mid-tempo exercise with a strong dynamic build.

Denson closed the set with Wayne Shorter’s “Armageddon,� a serious piece that he spiced with a Latin tempo. The tones from his bent-neck soprano (a horn that looks much like a miniature alto) had a glossy, clean character, and the saxophonist bobbed and swayed as he skated through his improvisation. Drummer Thomas White, always comfortable with the changing face of Denson’s music, exchanged crisp, playful lines with the band before the number was brought to a tight, triumphant close.

Throughout the first set, Denson showed a childlike innocence in his playing. Though he’s no happy-face musician, his work does have a playful, joyous quality, that is at once teasing and inviting. During more raucous passages, he showed he’s absorbed the lessons of John Coltrane, but his sound is less deadly serious and more celebratory, a direction that leaves listeners feeling buoyant and amused.

Denson returns to System M on Saturday with his groove-oriented acid band, The Grey Boy All Stars. That group also has recorded in Europe in a session that included guest trombonist Fred Wesley from the J.B. (James Brown) horn section. Maybe this more commercially oriented ensemble will gain Denson the respect here in his homeland that he has overseas.