ARE BIG BANDS BACK?
WELL, YES, BUT THEY SURE DO LOOK DIFFERENTLY
UNBELIEVABLY POPULAR, SNARKY PUPPY BOASTS A ROTATING TEAM THAT CAN RANGE UPWARD TO 18 MEMBERS ON THEIR HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL ALBUMS. THEY MAY NOT LOOK LIKE YOUR “TYPICAL” BIG BAND OF THE COUNT BASIE OR GERALD CLAYTON PROTOTYPE, BUT THEY FIT THE DESCRIPTION IN TERMS OF SIZE, SWING, SOUND AND FLEXIBILITY.
THEIR LAST TIME IN LA, THEY HAD A FULL HORN SECTION, A PAIR OF DRUMMERS, A PAIR OF KEYBOARDISTS AND A COLLECTION OF GUITARISTS, MOST NOTABLY MARK LETTIERI
KEEPING ACTIVE DURING THE DRACONIAN LOCKDOWN, LETTIERI HAS HIT LA A FEW TIMES WITH FELLOW PUPPY BOB REYNOLDS, MOST NOTABLY AT THE BAKED POTATO, DELIVERING MUSIC AS EXCITING, ACCESSIBLE AND VIRTUOSIC AS ANYTHING I’VE HEARD IN YEARS
WE HAD A CHANCE TO CATCH UP WITH LETTIERI, WHO IS PART OF A LONG LINE OF ELECTRIC GUITARISTS DETERMINED TO KEEP THE TRADITION, BUT ALSO TO CREATE ONE’S OWN VOICE
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT YOURSELF DURING THIS LOCKDOWN?
I’ve learned that I probably dwell on things that I have no control over more than I should. I’ve learned not to do that as much.
There are certain parts of your career that you just have to let go of, especially in this age of social media where everything seems like life is so awesome for everyone all of the time, and so you think it should always be awesome for you, too! (chuckles)
You’ve got to also let that go and let life get awesome on its own terms. Stay the course.
I FIND IT INTERESTING THAT MANY OF THE MEMBERS OF SNARKY PUPPY, INCLUDING YOURSELF, HAVE A CHURCH BACKGROUND. IS THAT JUST A COINCIDENCE?
I’m not sure.
I grew up in the Bay Area, where it’s a little different with the black gospel music you might find in church. We were playing what would be called “Contemporary Christian Music”, which was more on the “rock” side of things.
The unique thing about the church in which I grew up in was that on Wednesday nights there was this big youth “hang” that they would do. It was a social event for the kids in the town; people who weren’t in the church would come. There would be games, skits and comedy, and there would be a message.
They also had a “house band” of us teenagers from the high school and church, and we would play secular music. Everything from Metallica to Bob Marley. (laughs).
It was an early hand-on experience, learning tons of different kinds of music, having to learn it really quickly and perform it. That was a really cool part of my upbringing.
When I got to college at Texas Christian University, that’s when I got into black gospel music, and I started to immerse myself in that genre.
In a roundabout way, that’s how I met the guys from Snarky Puppy. A lot of them were in North Texas in the jazz college, coming down from Dallas to perform gospel and groove-oriented gigs, and so was I, coming from Fort Worth. We all just kind of met that way.
Guys like Robert Searight, Bobby Sparks or Shaun Martin all grew up in the black Pentecostal gospel tradition.
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“I don’t ever think I’ve seen a chart for a gospel session or gig. It’s all done by ear…which is a lot cooler because you can then internalize the music and really feel it. You’re not just glued to a piece of paper.”
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HOW DID GROWING UP IN THE CHURCH, BOTH MUSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY, PREPARE YOU FOR YOUR CAREER?
From a musical perspective, I became a better musician.
The gospel tunes I was playing, and the people that I was playing for were just so much better than I was. (laughs)
It did wonders for my groove and time feel, as well as just my ability to learn stuff, like this complicated gospel music by ear.
I’m not a great reader anyway. But now, if someone just hands me a piece of music I can just listen to it a couple of times and figure it out, and I’m good to go.
We did a lot of that with gospel music in church for services or for actual recording sessions.
I don’t ever think I’ve seen a chart for a gospel session or gig. It’s all done by ear.
And if there was a chart it was because I had to write it out myself.
It’s all by ear, which is a lot cooler because you can then internalize the music and really feel it. You’re not just glued to a piece of paper.
I learned a lot about chords and chord harmony, and so I could understand jazz a little better, because there’s a big crossover there.
HOW ABOUT SPIRITUALLY?
From a spiritual perspective it kept me grounded in my faith as it was. It enabled me to focus on why I am doing this, and why I was given this ability, and what I need to do with it. I never really take it for granted. That’s the biggest thing I learned in the church.
DO YOU STILL GO TO CHURCH, READ THE BIBLE AND FOLLOW YOUR FAITH?
Yes, I do.
I don’t go to church much, because we’re not that great at getting up early. (laughs) But, it is a part of our family and community. I like the teaching. I like the things everyone likes about church, and don’t like the things that everyone doesn’t like. (laughs)
WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT BLACK GOSPEL MUSIC, WHAT TYPE DID YOU IMMERSE YOURSELF IN? THERE ARE A LOT OF SUBGROUPS, RANGING FROM THE DIXIE HUMMINGBIRDS TO MASS CHOIRS
Well, the Dixie Hummingbirds were like a vocal quartet band, and I got into that later through a friend that I was playing with.
The black gospel music that I first got into was the contemporary popular stuff like Kirk Franklin and Fred Hammond. Both Kirk and Fred have been friends and employers of mine for years. I’ve been working with them since 2008,
WHAT HAVE YOU GLEANED FROM THEM?
First, they are both great writers. That is what’s most interesting about them, and why they’ve reached so many people. They have a way of taking the classic stuff of what makes gospel great, but keep it contemporary, yet not so far so that loses its “gospelness”.
It’s not just pop R&B with Christian lyrics. It still has the gospel element to it in the vocals or chord harmonies. It’s not U2 with different lyrics. (chuckles)
It’s fun working with them because I get into the studio and Fred or Kirk will just play the track. I have to listen to it and scratch up a chart and come up with a couple parts to play and record.
DID YOU EVER HAVE A GIG OR RECORDING THAT WAS A “BAPTISM BY FIRE”?
Oh, yes!
It not only kicked my butt, but half of Sharky Puppy’s butt!
Myron Butler (who was an awesome gospel singer that I’ve worked with on a couple of records) put out an album called Live in Dallas. I and Chris McQueen were on guitar, Michael League played bass on a couple of songs, Robert Seawright was on drums and Nate Werth did percussion. Shaun Martin and Jamar Jones were also on it, so it was a kind of cross between Snarky Puppy and big name gospel session guys.
The music was really hard and there was a lot of it. That was one of the first really difficult sessions I ever did, and it was “live”. We definitely went back to fix a couple of things later; we had to.
The songs were really cool, but they were complicated. It was written on keyboard and then delivered to guitar, which is hard to do for a guitar player.
It was a big challenge to take these parts that were clearly written on a keyboard, and translating it to guitar. It ended up great.
We did a couple more “live” gospel recordings after that. Some of them were also complicated. I haven’t done one in awhile because they can be very intense.
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“I haven’t done (gospel) in awhile because they can be very intense”
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THEN, THERE IS THE WHOLE CHOIR MASS THING.
Yeah, we had the whole band of 8-9 guys; then there way Myron, and he had a whole singing group of something like 15 people. It can get intense!
GROWING UP IN A CHRISTIAN ENVIRONMENT, DID YOU GET ANY KICKBACK FROM YOUR PARENTS BY “GOING SECULAR” IN YOUR MUSIC.
No, my parents grew up listening to Steely Dan, David Crosby and Motown, so there was no big deal. We were still “in the world but not of it”. They’re pretty normal people.
People may not understand that at Texas Christian University, the school is “Christian” in name only, sort of like how Notre Dame is a “Catholic” school.
Every TC student had to take one “Religion” class, and most people chose “Buddhism”.
SNARKY P UPPY IS A LOT LIKE PAT METHENY’S BAND, WHERE THERE IS A KIND OF MUSICAL VISION. WHEN YOU JOINED SNARKY PUPPY, WAS THERE EITHER AN AUDITION OR “PEP TALK” TO INTRODUCE YOU TO THE BAND’S MUSICAL WORLD?
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“There was no audition; I just got a couple cds and charts, learning as much as I could before showing up Mike’s house before getting in a van. (laughs)”
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It was sort of clear who they were.
I had seen the band a couple of times before I started playing with them, so I kind of got the idea that “OK, Mike is this bass player who seems to be in charge and I assume writes the music. Everyone else plays it and sounds really great”.
As far as getting into the band, I got into it the same way a lot of the guys ended up in the group, kind of just as a sub. (laughs) But, I learned enough of the material so that they could put me on a gig, and they like what I brought to the band.
The way Mike brings people into the fold is that he wanted cats who played the material right, but also brought their own kind of language towards it.
There are five guys that play keyboards in the band, and they all sound completely different. There was Justin, Shaun, Bobby, Cory and Bill; they’re all different.
With the guitar players, we are COMPLETELY completely different. We all play the tunes with our own language.
As Mike saw the band grow, he started bringing in people that he thought could offer that quality.
There was no audition; I just got a couple cds and charts, learning as much as I could before showing up Mike’s house before getting in a van. (laughs)
We played a couple of gigs afterwards. He said “I love the way you played this music; you’ve got to keep doing this with us.”
After that it was “Bob (Lanzetti) can’t make this gig; can you play with us?”
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“The way Mike (League) brings people into the fold is that he wanted cats who played the material right, but also brought their own kind of language towards it”
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WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IN A DAY OF SO FEW POPULAR JAZZ BANDS YOU GUYS ARE ABLE TO SELL OUT PLACES LIKE THE ACE THEATRE IN LA? THAT’S PRETTY RARE THESE DAYS! 1700
I think a band like this could always be popular.
I guess I have to credit the internet in a strange way. It has enabled us to get our music out to a lot of people.
We were touring the Southeast or East Coast pretty heavily before the first set of Youtube videos that ****we put out. So, some people thought that we were this “overnight” thing, but that wasn’t the case at all. We were playing a lot of shows, living in the van and driving around, building up a fan base in the traditional sense of touring.
But, having that boost of online material brought our music to people across the world. That helped us to develop a fan base in other places, so when we’d fly to England, and have our first gig there, yet there would be people there because they had heard of us through Youtube.
Snarky Puppy would have been the band I would have been obsessed with and wanted to be in when I was 15 years old and getting excited about the guitar and checking out different types of music, when everything is fresh when you’re young. A band that spans a lot of genres, with players that can really play would have been really interesting to me as a teenager.
I figure a 15 year old today isn’t that much different today than I was then. They just need to find it. I couldn’t find a Snarky Puppy back in 1999 when I was 15-16.
Growing up was a weird time for popular music. This is late 90s and early 2000s.
Rock was sort of the post grunge/new metal era which I couldn’t identify with. Pop music was Brittany Spears or In Sync, which I also couldn’t identify with. I had some friends who were into the Dave Matthews Band, which was the “cool” band, but I wasn’t into that, either.
My friends and I would put on Van Halen or Parliament at a party and people would say, “What are you doing?” and we’d say, “This is George Clinton, man!”
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“With the guitar players, we are COMPLETELY completely different. We all play the tunes with our own language”
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WHAT GUITARISTS HIT YOU WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP?
Jimi Hendrix was probably the first guitar “hero” for me and my friends.
We all then got super-obsessed with some of the 80s players like Joe Satriani. He planted a seed in me for what I’m actually doing now in my career. Would love to meet him.
All the guitar heroes-Carlos Santana, Steve Vai, Jeff Beck, John Scofield and Eddie Van Halen have all been important to me. They span the whole spectrum, depending on different eras of my life.
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“Snarky Puppy would have been the band I would have been obsessed with and wanted to be in when I was 15 years old and getting excited about the guitar and checking out different types of music, when everything is fresh when you’re young”
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WITH THAT IN MIND, DON’T YOU EVER LOOK AT YOUR PLAYING AND THINK “WHAT CAN I BRING TO THE TABLE THAT IS NEW THAT HASN’T BEEN DONE BEFORE”? THE GUITAR LEGACY CAN BE PRETTY INTIMIDATING!
Yes, I do think about that.
I know that I won’t bring anything new, but at least I should try.
I think that the whole groove music with the baritone guitar was my way of saying “Here is something I ***haven’t heard yet, or in that context yet”. Perhaps I’m on to something; let’s see where it goes.
That may be my response to that question.
But even when I’m not playing baritone guitar I try to have that internal compass when you have nailed something, and just have to go with it. Whatever comes out will sound like you.
If I’m ripping off someone, I know I’m doing it. Sometimes I go ahead with it, and other times I work on finding another way to say it. (chuckles)
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“I know that I won’t bring anything new, but at least I should try”
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ARE YOUR WORKS WITH VOLPECK AND THE FEARLESS FLYERS A WAY OF DOING YOUR OWN THING?
The Fearless Flyers project was something that Nate Smith, Cory Wong and Joe Dart came to me with. They had this idea of guitars in three registers; that’s how it was presented to me. Standard baritone and bass with a killer funk drummer.
That was the concept, so I just did what I would do anyway. The songs are a lot shorter, and I’m wearing a flight suit. (laughs)
The baritone parts in that ensemble are very much a big part of me.
I wish I could take credit for the band, but I just bring my own thing to it, knowing that the guys are expecting me to do that.
I love so many kinds of music that I have to be doing something. I love playing pop sessions, but I can’t just do that; I have to have different outlets like The Flyers, Snarky and my solo stuff.
WHAT NEW PROJECTS DO YOU HAVE COMING UP?
The “Volume 2” of the Baritone Sessions is the latest, which came out last April. I’m still “touring” that.
I recorded an ep of some trio songs, with my long time rhythm section; they’re all ballads, live with amps in the room, with the drums. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it yet, but it’s really cool. Very nice vibe. It’s completely opposite of something like The Baritone Sessions.
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“I try to have that internal compass when you have nailed something, and just have to go with it. Whatever comes out will sound like you”
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WHAT CONNECTED WITH YOU AND THE BARITONE GUITAR?
As it pertains to funk music, it makes perfect sense to me. You can get that low end growl, like a bass, and still pop and snap like a guitar.
You’ve got to be careful how you play it, as it can get in the way of the bass or guitar. But, if you find that sweet spot it adds a cool texture.
My prior experience with it was hearing it in country music or indie rock, but not funk.
I think I might have painted myself into a corner as “the baritone funk guy”. (laughs) But I’ll take it!
If you come to see a Mark Lettieri show, we play stuff from all of the records.
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“I think I might have painted myself into a corner as “the baritone funk guy”. (laughs) But I’ll take it!”
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WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE SOMEONE GAVE YOU?
Probably “Fake it till you make it” (laughs)
I had a track coach in college tell me that. I’ve thought about it more now than back then when I was competing.
IF YOU ACT LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING, YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH A LOT.
Yes, that or you can fail miserably, which has happened to me a number of times.
When you pretend that you know what you’re doing, it heightens your awareness of learning on the spot. I’ve made a career of pretending to know what I’m doing. (laughs)
WHAT DO YOU LISTEN FOR IN A GUITARIST, AND WHAT IS YOUR PET PEEVE?
I’m a sucker for cool compositions.
The playing is secondary, especially nowadays where everyone is insanely good. There are people doing things on the guitar that I could never even dream of accomplishing.
I like to hear a great riff, a great melody, a great groove. Something that makes the arrangement cool.
You can be a virtuoso guitar player, but it doesn’t matter if the tune isn’t happening.
And vice versa; you can be the most simple, unschooled player, but if you’re grooving, I’m into it.
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“You can be a virtuoso guitar player, but it doesn’t matter if the tune isn’t happening”
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GIVE ME THREE BOOKS YOU WISH EVERYONE WOULD READ.
I’m not much of a reader.
I have read books (laughs)
WHO IN WORLD HISTORY WOULD YOU LIKE TO SIT DOWN WITH FOR AN EVENING AND PICK HIS OR HER BRAIN?
Dwight Eisenhower.
He came up during a very important part of American history. Post war, figuring it all out. There was a lot going on back then.
WHAT MUSICIAN, LIVING OR DEAD, WOULD YOU PAY $1000 TO SEE PERFORM?
I saw Prince, and it was only $90.
Jimi Hendrix, but assuming I’d never heard him before.
Can you imagine it being 1967 and into a café and see him perform? I’d love to have a time machine just to do that.
WHAT GIVES YOU THE MOST JOY?
Watching my wife and daughter having a dance party in the living room.
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“When you pretend that you know what you’re doing, it heightens your awareness of learning on the spot. I’ve made a career of pretending to know what I’m doing”
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WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT YOUR SELF AS A FATHER?
I definitely need more patience!
THE QUESTION AS A FATHER IS ALWAYS “IS MY DAUGHTER INTERRUPTING MY WORK PROJECT, OR IS THE WORK PROJECT INTERRRUPTING MY TIME WITH MY DAUGHTER?”
I’ve been better at “I don’t need to be doing this right now”. I learned this over the pandemic.
WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO SAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
“He did all right”
MARK LETTIERI CAN REST ASSURED THAT NOT ONLY WILL HIS FAMILY AND HIS FANS GIVE THE THUMBS UP TO HIS MUSIC AND LIFE, BUT WITH A ROCK SOLID FAITH HE CAN ALSO REST ASSURED WITH A “GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT” FROM THE GOD WHOM HE STILL SERVES. IT SHOWS IN HIS MUSIC, WHICH LIKE HIS FAITH, KEEPS PRESSING FORWARD.
CATCH HIM WITH HIS TOUR WITH SNARKY PUPPY, OR BETTER YET, WITH HIS OWN LITTER