The Greyboy Allstars

An acid jazz band that focuses more on jazz than groove-oriented dance music, the Greyboy Allstars came together in 1993 when noted rare-groove DJ Greyboy (aka Andreas Stevens) met up with Karl Denson, a saxophone player who was then touring with Lenny Kravitz. The pair collaborated on two tracks for Ubiquity Records' Home Cookin' compilation, and then worked on Greyboy's 1994 solo album for Ubiquity, Freestylin'. After forming their own label, Greyboy Records, the duo gradually amassed members for a house band — guitarist Michael Andrews (formerly with the Origin), bassist Chris Stillwell, drummer Zak Najor, and keyboard player Robert Walter. The Greyboy Allstars toured around the area and in 1995 released their debut album, West Coast Boogaloo (with contributions from groove legend Fred Wesley). Tours throughout Europe and the States followed that year (as well as a second solo album from Greyboy himself), and the group released a concert document, Live, in April 1997. Two months later, the Greyboy Allstars released their second studio LP, Town Called Earth, recorded with a recent recruit, guitarist Elgin Park. Apart from Greyboy, Karl Denson and Robert Walter have each recorded solo LPs as well. As a group, Greyboy returned in 2007 with What Happened to Television? and in 2013, the Greyboy Allstars delivered the album Inland Emperor.