Snarky Puppy

“Immigrance”

(GroundUP Music)

It has become a source of great regret to me that several years ago I passed up the opportunity of covering the then unknown Snarky Puppy at one of their earliest UK shows at the Hare & Hounds pub in Kings Heath, Birmingham.

Since then the international collective led by bassist and composer Michael League have become global stars, building an enormous following via the old fashioned virtues of hard work and almost constant gigging. Theirs is a success that, rather like their music, transcends conventional generic descriptions. Rather like Pat Metheny and e.s.t Snarky Puppy have achieved their superstar status via word of mouth, their exciting stage shows becoming the stuff of legend and holding equal appeal to jazz and rock audiences alike.

They now play leading rock venues and concert halls rather than pubs and the currently ongoing tour in support of current album “Immigrance” sees them ‘on the road’ for most of the year, from April to the end of November, as they criss-cross the globe playing dates in North America, Australasia, Japan and Europe, including the short series of UK shows listed at the end of this review.

I still haven’t got to see them (this year, perhaps?) as their appearance at Cheltenham Jazz Festival a couple of years ago was officially sold out and a press ticket wasn’t available. Occasional guest contributor Mark Albini was more fortunate and caught up with the band at London’s Eventim Apollo,  still better known as the Hammersmith Odeon, in October 2015. Mark’s brief, but highly enthusiastic, review of that performance appears elsewhere on this site and neatly encapsulates the energy and excitement of a Snarky Puppy live show. Review here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/snarky-puppy-eventim-apollo-hammersmith-london-06-10-2015/

Founded by League in 2003 at the University of North Texas in Denton Snarky Puppy has developed its sound over the course of a dozen albums, steadily accruing members along the way, first from New York and other parts of the US and then from the rest of the world. British born keyboard player and composer Bill Laurance, also a successful solo artist in his own right, has been a linchpin of the band for a number of years, and the group, which now numbers some nineteen players, contains musicians hailing from the US, the UK, Canada, Argentina and Japan.

Snarky Puppy is now a truly global co-operative and it’s that spirit of internationalism that informs the title of their latest recording “Immigrance” as League explains;
“The band itself is a representation of what we’re trying to express musically, that people from different places can bring their various strengths and experiences, and how that can be beautiful and cohesive. The idea here is that everything is fluid, that everything is always moving, and that we’re all in a constant state of immigration. Obviously the album’s title is not without political undertones”.

Several of Snarky Puppy’s previous albums have been recorded live but “Immigrance”, like its predecessor “Culcha Vulcha” (2016), is a studio creation featuring the same pool of musicians. This latest album features eight new original compositions by members of the band, many of them adopting a darker tone than previously, a reflection of these troubled times.

For this recording Snarky Puppy lines up as follows;

Michael League – electric bass, oud

Bob Lanzetti, Chris McQueen, Mark Lettieri – guitars

Bill Laurance, Justin Stanton, Bobby Sparks, Shaun Martin – keyboards

Mike ‘Maz’ Maher, Jay Jennings – trumpets & flugels

Chris Bullock, Bob Reynolds – reeds

Zach Brock – violin

Jason Thomas, Larnell Lewis, Jamison Ross – drums

Nate Werth, Keita Ogawa, Marcelo Woloski – percussion

Snarky Puppy don’t like to be thought of as a ‘fusion’ band but in many respects that’s exactly what they are, drawing together elements of jazz, rock, funk, soul and world music. They pack a mighty rhythmic punch courtesy of League’s bass allied to the two triple alliances of drummers and percussionists. With the impressive array of vintage keyboards on show there are links back to the original fusion era of the 70s and 80s and there’s also plenty of turbo-charged electric guitar from the three axe men in the band’s ranks. With strings, brass and reeds providing extra colour and texture and more it’s not surprising that Snarky Puppy make a big noise, even though they are nothing like a big band in the conventional sense. I like to think of them as updating the fusion tradition for the 21st century, with the emphasis on collective endeavour rather than individual grandstanding.

The group’s virtues are embodied in League’s rousing opener “Chonks”, with its mighty funk grooves, punchy horns and exotic keyboard sounds allied to fiery solos from guitarist Mark Lettieri and keyboard player Bobby Sparks on dirty sounding, funky clavinet.

Also by League “Bigly Strictness” is less obviously ‘in your face’ but still packs plenty of punch. The presence of a battery of North African percussion instruments gives an exotic feel to the music and there are inventive solos from Maher on trumpet and Stanton on a Moog Prodigy synth. There’s also a molten electric guitar solo although none of the three guitarists is singled out in the album credits.

Guitarist Chris McQueen takes over the compositional reins for “Coven”,  a more atmospheric offering that commences with the spooky sounds of keyboards, reeds and brass before expanding into more conventional groove driven territory. A colourful, richly textured arrangement that makes effective use of the group’s arsenal of keyboards ensures that an exotic, other worldly feel remains throughout, even in the most energetic moments. Martin, on keyboards, and the composer on guitar feature as the soloists here.

“Bling Bling” is written by multi-reed player Chris Bullock and features the composer on a variety of saxes and flutes in an arrangement that combines retro funk grooves and keyboard sounds with more abstract and unsettling stop/start passages with the drummers and percussionists playing key roles. No individual soloists are credited in what is essentially a highly accomplished ensemble performance.

Leader League takes over again for “Xavi”, one of the album’s stand out tracks with its percolating rhythms and imaginative horn arrangements. The latter make effective use of Bullock’s array of flutes to give the music an exotic North African feel, something encouraged by the deployment of an array of Moroccan percussion instruments. The overall effect is of the theme tune to a US cop show moved to North Africa, and incongruous though that idea might seem it makes for highly exciting listening with Laurance on piano, Sparks on mini-moog and Brock on violin weighing in with thrilling solos alongside percussionist Keita Ogawa.

Trumpeter Maher’s “While We’re Young” teams earthy funk and hip hop grooves with wispy Miles-ian trumpet and swirling keyboards on the album’s shortest track,  a brief but atmospheric cameo.

Justin Stanton’s provocatively titled “Bad Kids To The Back” is a snarling piece of old style funk that harks back to the group’s earlier days. Snappy funk grooves combine with choppy guitars, swaggering horns and Sparks’  growling Hammond to provide a seemingly unstoppable momentum. A rhythmic sidestep, something of a trademark in this triple drummer line up, provides the opening for tenor sax specialist Reynolds’ incisive solo. There’s also something of a feature for the drum and percussion sections too.

Written by League the closing “Even Us” is the most overt and profound statement of the group’s internationalism. Eschewing the trademark funk grooves this is a thoughtful, often lyrical, piece that features League playing a prominent role on oud while Lanzetti is featured on electric sitar. Brock’s violin and the use of Turkish percussion instruments also help to give the piece an authentically Middle Eastern feel. Laurance’s acoustic piano plays a key part in the arrangement while the featured soloist is Jennings on flugel, whose evocative playing fits into the Middle Eastern aesthetic perfectly.

I’m still fairly new to Snarky Puppy’s music but to these ears “Immigrance” sees the group continuing to develop with a carefully crafted set of compositions that combine subtlety and colour with the band’s trademark rhythmic drive and strong sense of groove. These richly layered and subtly detailed performances retain the listeners attention while maintaining the levels of excitement that have come to be associated with Snarky Puppy. It’s fusion with a level of intelligence that recalls Weather Report at their best.

This is the sound of a mature dog, I won’t say old,  learning new tricks, but doing so without losing any of its bite.

No doubt these tune will take on new characteristics during the many live outings they will receive during 2019. I hope to finally catch up with Snarky Puppy at one of the British dates listed below;

06/07/2019 – Love Supreme Festival, Glynde, Sussex

06/11/2019 - Bournemouth - O2 Academy

07/11/2019 - Nottingham - Rock City

08/11/2019 - Bristol - O2 Academy

09/11/2019 - Oxford - O2 Academy

11/11/2019 – Ulster Hall - Belfast

12/11/2019 - Olympia, Dublin, Ireland

14/11/2019 - Royal Albert Hall, London

15/11/2019 - O2 Apollo, Manchester

16/11/2019 - Barrowlands, Glasgow

For ticket details please visit http://www.snarkypuppy.com

 

blog comments powered by Disqus