One of the few bright spots for the future of jazz has to be the wide ranging team of Snarky Puppy. Even on their web site, they consider themselves not eclectic, but ecumenical as they label their music “Jazz+Funk+World+Soul+Pop”. This latest album has flavors from all of these sources, satisfying all palates and putting in a good word for modern jazz for hipster ears.
The band knows how to lay down a groove, and electric keyboards and peppy horns make for accessible CTI-soul sounds on “Tarova” as Michael League’s bass teams up with Robert Searight’s snappy drums on “Grown Folks.” Bill Laurance’s keyboards and Kraftwerk-like sounds team up with a hip two beat riff and Chris McQueen’s fusioned guitar on “Gemini” and the team really rocks out with heavy grooves on “GO.” Experiments with spacey electronica works amazingly well here, as it’s always packaged with irresistible pulses, be it the mellow “Beep Box” or the energetic “Semente” with Chris Bullock’s flute. No matter what the theme or framework, the material is always packaged with creative solos and accessible melodies. Isn’t this what jazz originally offered?
Impulse! Records