The Greyboy Allstars

Formed 1995

The Greyboy Allstars (GBA) are a San Diego jazz group created in the early 1990s. The founding members of the group were Karl Denson (saxophone and flute), Robert Walter (keyboards), Chris Stillwell (bass), Elgin Park (also known as Mike Andrews) (guitar), and Zak Najor (drums). The group was formed following the successful earlier collaboration of DJ Greyboy with Denson on the Greyboy albums Home Cooking and Freestylin’, and originally featured DJ Greyboy spinning tracks over the core band's instrumentals. A major part of the mid-90s acid jazz movement and a catalyst for renewed interest in late 60s/early 70s soul jazz, Denson has described the Greyboy Allstars as a boogaloo band, a distinction which has set them apart from other contemporary soul jazz/acid jazz combos.

In 1995, the Greyboy Allstars released their first album, West Coast Boogaloo, featuring support from James Brown trombonist and bandleader Fred Wesley. Two years later the GBA released their second studio album, A Town Called Earth, in addition to both Robert Walter and Karl Denson issuing solo albums. On both of these solo releases, Walter and Denson were backed by the remaining members of the GBA. Walter's album, titled Spirit of ’70, had additional support from Gary Bartz on alto sax, and Denson's The D Stands for Diesel featured vocalist Andy Bey. The band produced a concert document simply entitled Live in 1999. The band released What Happened to Television on April 17, 2007, their first album in 8 years.

Drummer Zak Najor played on the studio recording of the Greyboy Allstars’ latest album, but is not on their latest tour with them. He has been replaced by former Deep Banana Blackout drummer Eric Kalb.