Snark attack
Despite being labeled as one of the premiere up-and-coming jazz fusion acts of the last few years, Texas’ Snarky Puppy isn’t a musical group intent on letting any one individual genre control the direction of its music.
Tonight, the eclectic big band brings its diverse set to The 8×10 for the group’s first headlining show in Baltimore.
“I don’t think of it as fusion, even though a lot people call it that,” said bassist and songwriter Michael League. “I don’t really think of it as jazz, even though it’s in the jazz tradition in a lot of ways. I just think of it as instrumental because that’s the only term that can apply to every song we have. Although there is singing on some songs.”
For League, the music he writes is conceptualized almost as a pop tune. Instead of attempting the most complex passages first, League seeks out the catchiest, most memorable harmonic sounds and lets the rest flow from there.
Interestingly, this creative process also seems to be one of the big reasons for the band’s quickly growing popularity inside a music scene overburdened with groups retracing their steps.
“If we hear something that we like, in any form of music, we just take it and process it in our own unique way,” League said. “That’s what makes Snarky Puppy what it is. It’s not what we do, but the way we do it.”
How does Snarky Puppy do it? Although League insists he’d like the band to always be one step ahead of its audience, a good deal of Snarky Puppy’s quickly growing esteem is due in large part to the band’s penchant for recording its albums in a live context, surrounded by an audience and accompanied by an expanded set of musicians so as to avoid the use of overdubs.
Snarky Puppy recorded its fourth record, Tell Your Friends, in this fashion, posting videos of the live performance on the web alongside the actual album.
News of the group’s talent quickly spread from there, followed by another similarly recorded album and DVD of all original material, groundUP. In March, Snarky Puppy repeated the process one more time at the Jefferson Center in Roanoke, Va., featuring eight singers in conjunction with the expanded musician set. The project is set for release this summer.
Even with the success of this style, League has no intention of letting Snarky Puppy’s evolution stop.
“We want to keep making records, trying to push ourselves in different directions,” League said. “We’re planning on making a record with a very prominent European symphony orchestra. We’ve been in talks with them, and they seem super into it.”
Even with all this careful planning, Snarky Puppy’s core members are also known for their improvisational talents. The many changes and riffs in the band’s multifaceted songs are merely guidelines for a group of musicians so deeply steeped in an improvisational background.
Even though not every show is a live recording event, League and company use their musical prowess to make sure the shows are events none the less.
Surprising fans and creating interesting new music is what Snarky Puppy is all about.
“We just try to stay out of the box — we’re all very creative, very diverse individuals, so it doesn’t make sense to do the same thing over and over,” League said. “I want people to think, ‘Man, I have no idea what these guys are going to do next, but they sound great.’”
Snarky Puppy will perform at The 8×10 tonight. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $12.
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