Inside the Recording of EMPIRE CENTRAL From Snarky Puppy!

Justin Stanton was the first band member I saw and it felt so good so chat with him as I was getting seated and to see the room as he would see it. After the customary formalities and intros from Michael, the opening song was Broken Arrow from Justin! Within the first few seconds, it was like a giant wave washed over me.  The power from hearing the full nineteen band members pump out some of the most glorious tunage ever made the wait sooooo worth it. It was hard to absorb everything that was going on on the first pass but the song felt simultaneously unique and forward looking and yet familiar and comfortable at the same time.  This was to become a repeating feeling that I had as each song rolled out. I asked Larnell the next day if this made any sense and he felt it did – a connectivity to past music and feelings that made it feel so warm.

The second song was Portal from Marcelo and it was about nature and Uruguay, where his brother lives. When you hear the song after the backstory, you can immediately feel the connection.  Marcelo writes so beautifully and I mentioned to him later that I could just feel that the song was him, through and through, full of warmth and love.  He is such a wonderful human!

Coney Bear from Bob Lanzetti had a title derived from someone mishearing him say Bon Iver as Con-Eye-Bear and as Michael explained to everyone.  Michael informed everyone that is called a mondegreen, which I had to look up because I never heard that term.  It was another amazing tune of course with magnificent arranging.

Next up was Cliroy from Jay – his first tune ever written for Snarky Puppy and such a kickass one at that.  The title comes from a contraction of two of Jay’s trumpet idols Clifford Brown and Roy Haynes. If you know any of Jay’s YAYenning’s solo work (Scott Ave), you can immediately hear his fingerprint on this one, another gem.

At this point, I think I started to realize that we had three songs, three writers, a departure from other albums where Michael does most of the composition.  Sure enough, Michael soon mentions that they have potentially up to 22 or 24 songs to be recorded and sifted through for the best of the best and that everyone contributed.  He also mentioned that unlike other times when band members submitted full songs, there was collaboration between members to polish up many of he tunes. 

Justin was the first one to get a second tune in with Free Fall – I don’t remember a specific derivation of the name but it was definitely a highlight of the recording sessions. Chris Bullock came up big with East Bay, written for the great city of Oakland, California and the funk vibe there.  While he didn’t mention it explicitly, I immediately thought of my other favorite band Tower of Power, their fantastic horn section and debut album, East Bay Grease. Not surprisingly, it was some horn driven power licks. Chris deserves special mention because he played soprano sax, tenor sax, flute, and bass clarinet (did I miss one?) during the sets.  In particular there’s one bottom blast he played on one tune (I can’t remember which) that made me twitch when he hit it – I’ll remember when I hear the album(s).

The closer was RL’s by Michael (he didn’t announce the composer in his typical humble fashion) and it was named for R L’s Blues Palace, a popular hangout apparently for the band during their college years. When the session ended, it felt like it went by so fast and was so exhilarating, I couldn’t imaging the music getting any better and it was hard to believe that the guys had only played those tunes a few times in rehearsals.  I immediately felt like this was the best Snarky Puppy music ever! And that was just the first night first set!

For the ‘break’ between sessions, we congregated in the yard at DEAC and ate, drank and mostly chatted about how fantastic an experience it was and will be.  We were able to chat a bit with some of the band and crew and it seemed like old times after such a long hiatus. Before long we were back inside and I again sat behind the keys – a creature of habit.  Many or most people who attended more than one set moved around a bit to get different vantage points.  For me, I wanted to have the strongest memory possible from one point of view so I gravitated back to the same spot behind the keys for the second set.  I’ll refrain from describing the music itself because it must be heard to be appreciated and I can’t remember enough detail to nearly do it justice.

 Fuel City from Bill Laurance was first up in the second set, another classic from this writing and keys genius.  Bill’s tunes are always some of my favorites. This one was written about the tacos (best in Texas according to their website) that the band consumed en masse from a local gas station chain while coming up through the ranks.

Honiara from Zach is titled for the capital of the Solomon Islands where he visited a while ago.  It’s interesting that during the sets, he is positioned between the horns and the guitars as his voice can be with either but to me most typically is on the horn line.

A trio of Michael songs came up next starting with Keep It On Your Mind – I’m not sure of the origin of this one. Belmont from Michael was written about a street where he grew up I believe. Bet was the standard response from RC Williams to any question – RC is from the band RC and the Gritz. This band often has members of Snarky Puppy sit on on sets.

Trinity from Mark was about the Trinity river connecting Dallas-Forth Worth and Denton.   Maz and Michael tunes rounded out the set. It was actually astonishing to hear the growth and the range of the music.  The impact of hearing NINETEEN fantastic musicians play together was beyond my wildest dreams — and in such a tight, intimate setting to top it off.