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When I think of Denver funk, The Motet is the first band I think of.  They’ve been putting out great albums for more than 20 years, with All Day, being their 10th and I’ve been with them most of that time. This album takes them back to their funk roots of hard hitting, retro-echoing, mood-enhancing instrumental music. In a way, the band has come full circle, from its afro-cuban stylings through it’s two eras with lead vocals and back. All throughout, The Motet‘s live sets always featured two or three tunes featuring instrumentals. One new twist for this release isContinue Reading

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Joe Marcinek is a conjurer, always evolving and he does it again with JMB5 the unassuming name for his fifth studio album. As with his live shows his lineup of musicians change enabling him to capture a wide range of sounds and styles, always keeping it fresh and interesting. He’ll point out that he has is equal parts Chicago Blues, New Orleans Funk, Grateful Dead Psychedelia, and Jazz Fusion! That’s no lie — it’s true even within one album like JMB5. For this one, he recruited the B3 heavyweight Robert Walter who has been a featured player of The GreyboyContinue Reading

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BTTRLY Quintet is a great band arising out of the pandemic and Coast is an epic debut. The band played a few shows live at Cervantes and has compiled some great stuff here from the combination of members of Lettuce (Eric “Benny” Bloom, Adam Deitch), Break Science (Borahm Lee, Hunter Roberts and Deicth) and Big Gigantic (Dominic Lalli). Its got some thick jazz roots with some funk jams and electronic cruises. This is not a melding of the industry veterans sounds but the forging of a new sound in the vein of great funk fusion bands like The Crusaders. NowContinue Reading

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Snarky Puppy is my favorite band and for me the most innovative and unique sounding over the last 25 years.  I got hip to them ‘late’, back in 2013 when they were already barnstorming around the U.S.  I had a chance to see them at Bear Creek Music and Arts Festival back in 2010, but somehow didn’t make it.  But back on September 12, 2013, I got pulled hard into the Snarky Puppy vortex at a show at Terminal West in Atlanta. After I left that show not quite sure what I had just witnessed and became fully ‘puppified,’ IContinue Reading

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This show took place at the beautiful Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan. This particular room is very lively and more suited towards hosting acoustic and orchestral performances; however, this mix sounds great, and the band is still as high energy as ever. This show features mostly new music and lots of these versions sound quite different from the album versions. Something I thought was cool and didn’t notice until writing this, was that every song was grouped together alphabetically! I wonder if this was intentional. Track-By-Track Even Us – McQueen starts this one off like usual with aContinue Reading

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Sixteen years ago – at the time of the Immigrance tour in 2019 – Michael League and his friends founded Snarky Puppy at the University of North Texas.  On October 5, 2019, the Pups ended the final North American leg of the Immigrance tour at the Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas, so it all came full circle.  For this show, longtime SP stalwarts Mark Lettieri and Shaun Martin sat in with the band.  And if that wasn’t enough, Jason “JT” Thomas and Robert “Sput” Searight hopped onstage to play with Jamison Ross & Keita Ogawa on “Tio Macaco.”  JT isContinue Reading

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Snarky Puppy always gets a positive reception in Florida, and this audience at the Plaza in Orlando is truly dynamite! Maybe it’s the scores of musicians and music lovers based in Florida…or maybe it’s the fact that Bob Reynolds and Jamison Ross are both from Jacksonville.  Who knows? This show also has TWO special guest musicians that are polar opposites, but amazingly gifted in their own ways.  Every single band member kills it in this show, but one of my favorite solos of the night belongs to one of the guest musicians.  Read on to find out more! House ofContinue Reading

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While this Snarky Puppy concert clocks in at under 90 minutes, the quality of the band’s performance is exceptional.  This was the band’s first time in Charleston, and they were ready to deliver a killer show at the Music Farm.  This was also Jamison Ross’s first night as the touring drummer since May…with the exception of the Tokyo Jazz Festival in early September! Having Bob Reynolds on tenor saxophone really boosts the horn section, and the percussive duo of Keita Ogawa & Jamison Ross is second to none.  As usual, Michael League does a stellar job of holding everything together. Continue Reading

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Earth to Bobby Sparks…earth to Bill Laurance…earth to Shaun Martin! Where are these dudes? Well, this is going to be a very different Snarky Puppy show.  I watched the video of the full concert (thanks again to Jake!) and was amazed by how well the eight-man ensemble handled the absence of their keyboardists.  The horns take on more responsibilities in this show, and so does Justin Stanton, who is the lone keyboardist tonight.  And if anybody needs proof of Justin’s badassery, watch him switch between five different keyboards for ninety minutes without breaking a sweat.  You’ll thank me later.  TheContinue Reading

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If you’re a fan of the Immigrance album, this is the show for you! In this setlist, seven of the nine tunes are from that album…only two are from earlier records.  Even with all of the new music, the audience is loud and the atmosphere is electric.  Interestingly, half of the band members onstage at the Tabernacle had just arrived in Atlanta, GA for the final U.S. leg of the Immigrance tour.  Jay Jennings, Chris McQueen, Zach Brock, Nate Werth, and Shaun Martin had all departed; and Bob Lanzetti, Bob Reynolds, Keita Ogawa, and Mike “Maz” Maher came on board. Continue Reading