For a long time, these American artists were a well-kept secret in underground jazz. But since the release of their live CD/DVD Ground Up (2012) it is out in the open. We should all know Snarky Puppy as one of the most promising groups in instrumental fusion jazz. Drummer Robert "Sput" Searight (known from Snoop Dogg, among others), keyboardist Shaun Martin (Erykah Badu) and bassist and bandleader Michael League are the basis of this act, that, with its lineup of twenty-five rotating members, is somewhere between a garage band and a collective. Snarky Puppy experiments with many styles, in which raw funk, deep soul and blues are the main ingredients. A show by the innovative ensemble from Brooklyn is filled with harmonic changes, complex melodic structures and long improvisations. Yet Snarky Puppy always remains approachable and rhythmically enticing. A combination of qualities that belongs at a festival.
