Snarky Puppy
An acclaimed fusion-influenced jam band, Snarky Puppy have built a loyal following with their adventurous blend of jazz, rock, and funk. Led by bassist Michael League, the Texas group emerged in the mid-2000s and garnered buzz with albums like 2006's The Only Constant, 2010's Tell Your Friends, and 2013's Family Dinner, Vol. 1, which took home the Grammy for Best R&B Performance for their cover of the Brenda Russell song "Something" featuring singer Lalah Hathaway. More accolades followed, including further Grammy Awards for 2015's Sylva and 2016's Culcha Vulcha, the latter of which also topped Billboard's Jazz Albums chart. The band again reached the Top Ten of the jazz charts with 2019's Immigrance and picked up their fourth Grammy Award for 2020's Live at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2022, they paid tribute to their Dallas-area roots with Empire Central. Formed in 2004 in Denton, Texas (where the band members were studying jazz at the University of North Texas), Snarky Puppy features a wide-ranging assemblage of musicians known affectionately as "the Fam," centered around bassist and leader Michael League. They debuted with the concert album Live at Uncommon Ground in 2005. Over the next few years, the band worked to build their fan base, touring heavily and issuing a handful of well-received albums including 2006's The Only Constant, 2007's The World Is Getting Smaller, 2008's Bring Us the Bright, 2010's Tell Your Friends, and 2012's groundUP. In 2013, Snarky Puppy released the album Family Dinner, Vol. 1, which included a cover of Brenda Russell's "Something" featuring singer Lalah Hathaway. The song proved a hit and propelled the album up various digital download charts. In 2014, "Something" earned Snarky Puppy and Hathaway the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance. Also that year, they issued the concert album We Like It Here on Ropeadope. Snarky Puppy next signed to Impulse! and released Sylva, a collaboration with the Netherlands-based Metropole Orkest, in 2015. The album was greeted enthusiastically by the international press and won the band their second Grammy, this time for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, at the 2016 Grammy Awards. They followed it with two live documents. The first was World Tour, a 32-disc box featuring their 16 favorite concerts; the deluxe package was sold exclusively through their website. In early 2016, the group also issued the audio-video set Family Dinner, Vol. 2, a documentary follow-up to the first Family Dinner that was recorded the previous year. Vol. 2 showcased the band during a concert (and included guests Charlie Hunter, Susana Baca, Salif Keita, and David Crosby), in interviews, and in backstage sequences. In April 2016, Snarky Puppy struck again with Culcha Vulcha, their 11th studio album and first solely studio-based production in eight years. It topped the jazz album charts the week of its release and took home the prize for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards. In 2019, they issued the League-produced Immigrance, which included the single "Xavi." It debuted at number two on Billboard's Jazz Albums charts. While on tour for the album, they recorded their November 14, 2019 performance in London. Released the following year as Live at the Royal Albert Hall, the record took home the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. With 2022's Empire Central, Snarky Puppy paid tribute to their hometown of Dallas. Recorded over eight nights at the city's Deep Ellum Art Company with an audience in attendance, the album found them drawing upon their jazz and funk roots going back to their time as students at the University of North Texas. The set also marked one of the final recorded appearances of '80s funk icon Bernard Wright (a major influence on the group), who died soon after finishing the sessions.© Matt Collar /TiVo Read more
An acclaimed fusion-influenced jam band, Snarky Puppy have built a loyal following with their adventurous blend of jazz, rock, and funk. Led by bassist Michael League, the Texas group emerged in the mid-2000s and garnered buzz with albums like 2006's The Only Constant, 2010's Tell Your Friends, and 2013's Family Dinner, Vol. 1, which took home the Grammy for Best R&B Performance for their cover of the Brenda Russell song "Something" featuring singer Lalah Hathaway. More accolades followed, including further Grammy Awards for 2015's Sylva and 2016's Culcha Vulcha, the latter of which also topped Billboard's Jazz Albums chart. The band again reached the Top Ten of the jazz charts with 2019's Immigrance and picked up their fourth Grammy Award for 2020's Live at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2022, they paid tribute to their Dallas-area roots with Empire Central.
Formed in 2004 in Denton, Texas (where the band members were studying jazz at the University of North Texas), Snarky Puppy features a wide-ranging assemblage of musicians known affectionately as "the Fam," centered around bassist and leader Michael League. They debuted with the concert album Live at Uncommon Ground in 2005. Over the next few years, the band worked to build their fan base, touring heavily and issuing a handful of well-received albums including 2006's The Only Constant, 2007's The World Is Getting Smaller, 2008's Bring Us the Bright, 2010's Tell Your Friends, and 2012's groundUP. In 2013, Snarky Puppy released the album Family Dinner, Vol. 1, which included a cover of Brenda Russell's "Something" featuring singer Lalah Hathaway. The song proved a hit and propelled the album up various digital download charts. In 2014, "Something" earned Snarky Puppy and Hathaway the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance. Also that year, they issued the concert album We Like It Here on Ropeadope.
Snarky Puppy next signed to Impulse! and released Sylva, a collaboration with the Netherlands-based Metropole Orkest, in 2015. The album was greeted enthusiastically by the international press and won the band their second Grammy, this time for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, at the 2016 Grammy Awards. They followed it with two live documents. The first was World Tour, a 32-disc box featuring their 16 favorite concerts; the deluxe package was sold exclusively through their website. In early 2016, the group also issued the audio-video set Family Dinner, Vol. 2, a documentary follow-up to the first Family Dinner that was recorded the previous year. Vol. 2 showcased the band during a concert (and included guests Charlie Hunter, Susana Baca, Salif Keita, and David Crosby), in interviews, and in backstage sequences.
In April 2016, Snarky Puppy struck again with Culcha Vulcha, their 11th studio album and first solely studio-based production in eight years. It topped the jazz album charts the week of its release and took home the prize for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards. In 2019, they issued the League-produced Immigrance, which included the single "Xavi." It debuted at number two on Billboard's Jazz Albums charts. While on tour for the album, they recorded their November 14, 2019 performance in London. Released the following year as Live at the Royal Albert Hall, the record took home the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.
With 2022's Empire Central, Snarky Puppy paid tribute to their hometown of Dallas. Recorded over eight nights at the city's Deep Ellum Art Company with an audience in attendance, the album found them drawing upon their jazz and funk roots going back to their time as students at the University of North Texas. The set also marked one of the final recorded appearances of '80s funk icon Bernard Wright (a major influence on the group), who died soon after finishing the sessions.
© Matt Collar /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Empire Central
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 30 Sep 2022
It seems inevitable that the popularity of jam bands would eventually give rise to the jam big band, and first on that scene was the cross-cultural an ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
We Like It Here
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 25 Feb 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live at GroundUP Music Festival
Jazz - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 11 Mar 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Sylva (Live From Dordrecht, Het Energiehuis / 2014)
Snarky Puppy, Metropole Orkest
Jazz - Released by Impulse! on 20 Apr 2015
Grammy AwardsBrooklyn's Snarky Puppy jazz-funk collective have become one of modern music's bright lights. Sylva, their debut for Impulse, is their fifth live albu ...
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Immigrance
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUP on 15 Mar 2019
“On stage, Snarky Puppy is amazing! Not so much on record…” The American collective has heard this one quite a few times since breaking onto the jazz ...
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Culcha Vulcha
Jazz - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 26 Apr 2016
Culcha Vulcha marks the first time Snarky Puppy has recorded in a studio in eight years. Between 2006's The Only Constant and this, the Texas-bred, Br ...
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Live at the Royal Albert Hall (Live)
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUP on 13 Mar 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Family Dinner - Vol. 2 (Deluxe)
Jazz - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 2 Feb 2016
Family Dinner, Vol. 2 is the tenth album from American jazz outfit Snarky Puppy and follows their Grammy Award-winning 2015 release Sylva. As with pre ...
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Family Dinner - Vol. 1
Jazz - Released by GroundUP on 24 Sep 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tell Your Friends (2020 Remixed & Remastered)
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 25 Sep 2020
10 year anniversary edition of Snarky Puppy's 2010 album, remixed and remastered, including two bonus tracks (7 & 8) that previously appeared only as ...
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The World is Getting Smaller
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 2 May 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Only Constant
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 6 Mar 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trinity
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 10 Jun 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bring Us the Bright
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 7 Oct 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tell Your Friends
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUP on 21 Sep 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
the only constant
Jazz - Released by SiTMoM Records on 6 Mar 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Bet
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 29 Jul 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Belmont
Jazz Fusion & Jazz Rock - Released by GroundUp Music LLC on 9 Sep 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo