SNARKY PUPPY - Immigrance
Groundup Music
Bob Lanzetti: guitar; Chris McQueen: guitar; Mark Lettieri: guitar; Michael League: bass; Bill Laurence: Fender Rhodes, piano; Justin Stanton: mellotron, Fender Rhodes, Moog Prodigy, Prophet; Bobby Sparks: clavinet, Hammond organ; Shaun Martin: keyboards, minimoog; Mike Maher: trumpet, flugelhorn; Jay Jennings: trumpet, flugelhorn; Chris Bullock: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, alto flute, bass clarinet; Bob Reynolds: tenor saxophone; Zach Brock: violin; Nate Werth: tambourine, congas, Moroccan bendir, dayera; Keita Ogawa: cabasa, congas, percussion, timbal, Moroccan bendir, Moroccan tbila, Egyptian darbuka, tambourine; Marcelo Woloski: percussion, bongos, metta drums; finger cymbals, satellite bell, congas; Jason Thomas: drums; Larnell Lewis: drums; Jamison Ross: drums.
Recorded by Michael League
My first encounter with Snarky Puppy was seeing them live (at the Moseley Jazz Festival) and what is most memorable is their infectious enthusiasm. I, and the people I saw them with all ordered a copy of the bands CD within days of the festival. My impression is that this is the sort of the audience that the band commands: one that gets the bug seeing them live and then buys whatever they record. What is really impressive is how well the CDs capture the enthusiasm of their live performance. On this recording, they deliver again. I guess that credit should be given to bassist Michael League for coordinating ‘the fam’ (the population of musicians that the band draw from), but I’m sure that he would be the first to argue that this is a collective, and that each band member (even when soloing) is ever conscious of the sound that the entire band produce. The fact that awards keep rolling in to Snarky Puppy shows they have hit a winning way of making music.
There is plenty of the band’s signature sound to delight those familiar with them live. For people of my age, much of this recalls the way that Parliament / Funkadelic mixed heavy funk with well honed guitar riffs (I always imagine that Snarky Puppy would deliver a truly righteous version of ‘maggot brain’, but this is still to come…perhaps for the next time I see them live – each of the guitarists here could easily give Eddie Hazel, or indeed Michael Hampton, their dues). While there is a recognisable sound for the band, what I like about this set is the way that they continue to explore their musical environment. Here, they are working the electric side of their sound (much indebted to various keyboards and to electric guitar and violin). Each piece works a neatly defined chord progression, with well defined groove. But, perhaps, the most intriguing track is the closing ‘Even us’, which develops into a sort of melancholy Slavic lament that shifts away from the major-key sound that is synonymous with the band, into a harsher minor-key that really turns the album’s title into the political statement that it implies.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Groundup Music
Bob Lanzetti: guitar; Chris McQueen: guitar; Mark Lettieri: guitar; Michael League: bass; Bill Laurence: Fender Rhodes, piano; Justin Stanton: mellotron, Fender Rhodes, Moog Prodigy, Prophet; Bobby Sparks: clavinet, Hammond organ; Shaun Martin: keyboards, minimoog; Mike Maher: trumpet, flugelhorn; Jay Jennings: trumpet, flugelhorn; Chris Bullock: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, alto flute, bass clarinet; Bob Reynolds: tenor saxophone; Zach Brock: violin; Nate Werth: tambourine, congas, Moroccan bendir, dayera; Keita Ogawa: cabasa, congas, percussion, timbal, Moroccan bendir, Moroccan tbila, Egyptian darbuka, tambourine; Marcelo Woloski: percussion, bongos, metta drums; finger cymbals, satellite bell, congas; Jason Thomas: drums; Larnell Lewis: drums; Jamison Ross: drums.
Recorded by Michael League
My first encounter with Snarky Puppy was seeing them live (at the Moseley Jazz Festival) and what is most memorable is their infectious enthusiasm. I, and the people I saw them with all ordered a copy of the bands CD within days of the festival. My impression is that this is the sort of the audience that the band commands: one that gets the bug seeing them live and then buys whatever they record. What is really impressive is how well the CDs capture the enthusiasm of their live performance. On this recording, they deliver again. I guess that credit should be given to bassist Michael League for coordinating ‘the fam’ (the population of musicians that the band draw from), but I’m sure that he would be the first to argue that this is a collective, and that each band member (even when soloing) is ever conscious of the sound that the entire band produce. The fact that awards keep rolling in to Snarky Puppy shows they have hit a winning way of making music.
There is plenty of the band’s signature sound to delight those familiar with them live. For people of my age, much of this recalls the way that Parliament / Funkadelic mixed heavy funk with well honed guitar riffs (I always imagine that Snarky Puppy would deliver a truly righteous version of ‘maggot brain’, but this is still to come…perhaps for the next time I see them live – each of the guitarists here could easily give Eddie Hazel, or indeed Michael Hampton, their dues). While there is a recognisable sound for the band, what I like about this set is the way that they continue to explore their musical environment. Here, they are working the electric side of their sound (much indebted to various keyboards and to electric guitar and violin). Each piece works a neatly defined chord progression, with well defined groove. But, perhaps, the most intriguing track is the closing ‘Even us’, which develops into a sort of melancholy Slavic lament that shifts away from the major-key sound that is synonymous with the band, into a harsher minor-key that really turns the album’s title into the political statement that it implies.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
