Snarky Puppy has BITE
Brooklyn-based ‘Fam’ bends multiple genres in spectacular fashion
Snarky Puppy
Sunday, 8 p.m. | Vogue Theatre
Tickets and info: coastaljazz.ca
If it often feels like Brooklyn-based jazz bunch Snarky Puppy are performing from a very “rock” or “pop”-oriented perspective, there’s a good reason for it.
The Grammy-winning group, which has grown to comprise a cast of 40 rotating members known as “The Fam” (usually with roughly a dozen people touring), has a distinctly song-based approach, and band leader and bassist Michael League’s formative music influences have come to play a big role in the way Snarky Puppy crafts its ingenious brand of groove-heavy jams.
“At different moments in time a certain record changes you,” League, 31, said in a recent phone interview.
“I remember when I was in elementary school I was doing my homework listening to The Beatles, a cassette of the ’62-’66 compilation. When I was in high school listening to Led Zeppelin freaked me out, or hearing (Radiohead’s) OK Computer for the first time, you know?
“As time has gone on, different records have had a huge impact on me, and different guys in the band. Right now I’m really into music from Mali. I went there this year, which was really amazing, to work with Salif Keita. I’m constantly finding things to inspire me. There’s no shortage of great music in the world.”
Formed in Denton, Texas, in 2004, Snarky Puppy rapidly struck a chord with a wide variety of music fans.
Blending shape-shifting melodies built on a variety of instruments including guitar, keys, horns, strings and percussion, and incorporating elements of fusion jazz, R&B, rock, funk, and hiphop, Snarky Puppy made their first statement with their 2006 album The Only Constant.
In 2014, they won a Grammy for their rendition of Brenda Russell’s Something, a song performed with singer Lalah Hathaway that appeared on their 2013 live album/DVD Family Dinner — Volume 1.
“I definitely think that that track being done with an unbelievable singer (helped the Grammy win),” League said. “That song is really a natural environment for us, playing an R&B tune behind the singer and really serving the tune. That’s what we do. So it didn’t feel so foreign to be acknowledged for that.”
But even when they’re not backing a singer, as on the tunes featured on their fantastic 2014 album We Like It Here, you hear true sonic storytelling in Snarky Puppy’s music.
The songs ebb and flow with a clear dynamic sense. There are improvised elements, but everything is finely tuned, from the fuzzy bass line-driven punches to the dramatic, subdued moments before the sonic storm surges again and the music comes to a logical, orgasmic conclusion.
Recording live at a studio in Utrecht, Netherlands, with an audience in attendance gave the record a buzzy urgency, with a few “whoo!” moments where the crowd just can’t contain itself. A track like Lingus, with its spectacular keyboard solo by Corey Henry, single-handedly recalls Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Miles Davis, fused with the spirit of Sun Ra and Funkadelic.
Snarky Puppy’s latest album Sylva, released earlier this year, is a little different. Recorded with Dutch jazz/ pop orchestra Metropole Orkeste, it may have a more string-oriented feel, but the energy level runs high on that recording, too.
“I think I’ve always been very interested in composition, from the earliest age,” League said.
“I’m definitely an improviser and I’m in love with improvising, but if I have to choose between watching a gig that’s completely improvised or a gig with zero improvisation, I’ll go with zero improvisation.
“To me that’s what improvisation is: It’s spontaneous composition. I’m definitely a ‘song’ guy. And that’s the approach that we take. Snarky Puppy is part of a world where maybe that isn’t a huge emphasis. People tend to be surprised when we do workshops and we constantly say, ‘Serve the song, serve the song.’ People say, ‘ Oh, we thought you guys were just messing around.’ I think of us as pop guys more than jazz guys.”
And that’s a criticism some traditionalists have levelled against Snarky Puppy: That their brand of jazz isn’t as “pure” as say, the stylings of the legends they reinvent in their big, brash performances.
“I think anyone that is trying to listen to Snarky Puppy and hear ‘pure jazz’ — it’s like ordering a burger in a vegetarian restaurant. Why are you here? And to be honest, I don’t think Charles Mingus gave a shit about pure jazz, or Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis. I think they all thought, ‘Hey, I’m writing music I care about and I love playing, so I’m just gonna do that.’ That’s why you let critics be critics and musicians be musicians. When people try to be both it gets really dangerous.
“I remember a MySpace message we got six years ago from the head of a ‘local jazz society’ who came to see us and he said, ‘I really heard a lot about the band and I respect your concepts but I went to your performance and I had to leave because it was’ — in all capitals — ‘ENTIRELY TOO LOUD.’ I thought that was great. I wanted to print that thing and tape it up on the monitors for the rest of the tour.”
So expect plenty of fireworks when the band hits the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver for this year’s jazz festival. This will also be Snarky Puppy’s first Canadian performance to feature Toronto drummer Larnell Lewis, who also plays in Vancouver-raised singer Laila Biali’s band.
Ultimately, though, Snarky Puppy appeals to a wide range of ages and all types of music fans. “People come with their grandparents to our shows,” League said. “For older generations, the music reminds them of the ’70s when there were large bands that weren’t easily categorized. What would you call Parliament? Now we call it R&B or funk or lump it (into jazz). Or even Stevie Wonder — Contusion, from Songs In The Key Of Life, the fourth or fifth track on this double album that runs this whole gamut of styles, is a fusion track with no vocals. This was normal in the ’70s.
“Younger people relate to hip-hop and drum and bass, and kind of modern stuff like Little Dragon and Radiohead. I think there’s different things for different generations to relate to, so I don’t see an age gap at all.”
Speaking of hip-hop and genre-bending, some of the musicians involved with Snarky Puppy have ended up playing in backup bands for a variety of artists like rapper Snoop Dogg and neosoul/R&B singer Erykah Badu, who is also performing at this year’s Vancouver festival on Tuesday.
League mentioned drummer Cleon Edwards, percussionist TaRon Lockett and keyboardist RC Williams — who are all part of RC and The Gritz (known as Badu’s touring band) — being members of Snarky Puppy’s “expanded family.”
And if you’re going to see Stanley Clarke on Monday, catch a glimpse of drummer Michael Mitchell.
“Little Mike Mitchell!” League exclaimed. “He’s one of those child prodigies. He did a gig with us in Fort Worth when he was 14 years old. We were all mentors for him. It’s a small world, dude.”