With every new project, Snarky Puppy hopes to do something they’ve never done before. With their new album, Family Dinner, Volume 2, the eclectic, unclassifiable jazz/funk/global collective has set their sights higher than ever. They will unleash their musical talents on Nashville May 17th at the City Winery, 609 LAFAYETTE STREET, NASHVILLE, TN, 37203. One show at 6PM and another at 9:30PM. The doors open at 5PM and 9PM for those shows.
Formed in 2004 at the acclaimed music school of the University of North Texas, Snarky Puppy exists as both a production team/session band, touring and recording with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Snoop Dogg, and an original ensemble. Voted “Best Jazz Group” in Downbeat’s 2015 Reader’s Poll, as well as “Best New Artist” and “Best Electric/Jazz-Rock/Contemporary Group/Artist” in Jazz Times’ 2014 Reader’s Poll, they have earned accolades everywhere from the BBC to the Los Angeles Times, and All Music recently called the group “one of modern music’s bright lights.
“We had a wish list of artists we wanted to collaborate with, from a really wide array of styles,” says bassist/guitarist/composer/arranger Michael League. “We tried to come up with different demographics, nationalities, even age groups. And then we wanted to write arrangements that the band would really shine on, but would also truly enhance the essence of each artist.”
The result is a free-wheeling, wide-ranging collection, recorded live in New Orleans, featuring an astonishing list of musicians from around the world, including Susana Baca, Charlie Hunter, Salif Keita, Laura Mvula, David Crosby, and an all-star group of Big Easy players including Ivan Neville and Terence Blanchard. Various combinations of the three-dozen members of Snarky Puppy (known as “The Fam”) act as the house band for an unprecedented journey through different sounds, genres, and cultures.
The album is the second installment of a series that started with 2014’s Grammy-winning Family Dinner, Volume 1, and is the follow-up to Snarky Puppy’s most recent release, Sylva, a collaboration with Holland’s Metropole Orkest that entered at Number One on both Billboard’s Jazz and Heatseekers Charts and was nominated for a Best Contemporary Instrumental Album GRAMMY.
The record (which comes packaged with a companion DVD that features footage of the recording process and artist interviews) is the first release in a joint partnership between Universal Music Classics and GroundUP Records, the label owned and operated by League; a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the New Orleans music education and mentorship organization Roots of Music.
To buy a ticket visit citywinery.com
