Snarky Puppy

Formed in 2004 in Denton, Texas, the collective Snarky Puppy centers around bassist and composer Michael League and an expanded core of musicians who operate like a flexible orchestra, often more than a dozen on stage. Later based in New York, Snarky Puppy develops instrumental music at the crossroads of jazz fusion, funk, Afro‑Latin styles, rock and R&B, characterized by dense arrangements, a pronounced sense of groove and significant space for improvisation. Emerging from the academic scene at the University of North Texas, the group steadily made its mark on club and festival circuits for jazz and contemporary music, in particular through live‑in‑studio recordings filmed before an audience. Snarky Puppy’s discography includes albums such as The Only Constant (2006), groundUP (2012), We Like It Here (2014), Sylva with the Metropole Orkest (2015), Culcha Vulcha (2016), Immigrance (2019) and Empire Central (2022), which attest to a continuous evolution between tightly written material, orchestral textures and concert energy. At the same time, Snarky Puppy runs the Family Dinner series—public recordings with various guest vocalists—underscoring the idea of an open, ever‑moving collective.