Snarky Puppy performing at the Ground Up Music Festival Saturday. On the foreground, Michael League, bass, left and Chris McQueen, guitar.
Photo courtesy of Luis Olazábal /The Rhythm Foundation ©
You annoy the goddess of weather at your own peril.
After some people (I don’t want to mention any names here …) humble-bragged about the setting, the mild temperature and the light breeze on a Friday evening in February, it was almost a given that Saturday would be cloudy, windy, and with periods of light rain and drizzle. Still, the groveling and the apologies apparently were accepted because the skies cleared for the latter part of the afternoon into the evening. Lesson learned. It won´t happen again.
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Snarky Puppy performs at some point every day of the festival and Saturday’s set mostly served to debut music from the group’s upcoming album Immigrance. The new songs, while still sourced in broadly varied traditions and featuring smart arranging, were mostly anchored by uniform, steady grooves setting the table for improvisers. On a first impression, they sounded almost minimalist in comparison to the suite-like, thru-composed pieces the band is known for.
Jazz With an Accent 