Snarky Puppy
From a student troupe to multiple Grammy winners; the story of instrumental jazz-funk-rock collective Snarky Puppy is worth sharing. In 2004, Michael League (bassist and band leader) and a couple of his fellow students, enrolled in the jazz course in Devon, Texas, decided to start a band together. The only goal was to have fun while creating music together, growing together and playing gigs together. After ten years of touring and releasing records which faded into obscurity, one of their songs - a cover of Brenda Russells’ 'Something’ - unexpectedly became a huge hit. A few months down the line, they bagged their first Grammy, got signed by Impulse! and all of a sudden the whole world knows who they are.
Their growing success meant various band members were invited to work with people like Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and David Crosby, either as musicians, producers or arrangers. The band moulted into the collective they are today: nowadays some twenty-five supremely talented musos see to it that everybody can become part of the 'creating together, growing together’ ideal whilst allowing everybody to also work on other projects in consideration of their individual development opportunities. Ultimately, individual members’ personal development only benefits the joint growth of the collective as a whole. Their latest record, 'Empire Central’ which came out in 2022, was recorded live - the only way to capture their live energy on record - in a studio setting with an audience. Creating together, with each other and the audience. Earlier this year, 'Empire Central’ got them their fifth Grammy Award, this time for best contemporary instrumental album! Live, the sheer infectious joy of playing together simply oozes from the stage, making it nigh on impossible not to get caught up in their trip. Don’t miss out!
Line-up:
- Michael League - Bass / leader
- Bullock, Christopher - Woodwinds
- Jay Jennings - Trumpet
- Bill Laurance - Keyboards
- Larnell Lewis - Drums
- Bob Reynolds - Saxophone
- Michael Maher - Trumpet
- Justin Stanton - Trumpet/Keyboard
- Marcelo Wolowski - Percussion