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I became enamored of Artemis in August of 2024 when I first caught them live at the Newport Jazz Festival. Interestingly, Arboresque was recorded in New York City just two weeks after that event, so it’s fitting that I dive in with this review. The group’s bio is shown in the display box on the right and comments from the band are shown with each track. Arboresque is a great jazz album, full stop. The instrumentation configuration of drums, bass, keys, trumpet, and sax enables the sound to be both plush and full and at the same time highlight theContinue Reading

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Naughty Professor have been one of my favorite horn-driven, funk bands for over 10 years. The six-piece band puts the two-sax + trumpet horn section front and center for their shows and pumps out massive funk jams. “Voices” is their fifth full-length album and as indicated from the title, each track features a guest vocalist. Back on their fourth album, “Identity,” in 2017 (they also had the EP, “Everyday Shredder,” in 2019), NP had a mix of guest vocalists and instrumentalists on each track. Further, I know the band and Snarky Puppy have mutual respect — and Snarky Puppy hasContinue Reading

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In: FESTIVALS, GroundUP Music Festival, Snarky Puppy

GroundUP Music Festival is back at the Miami Beach Bandshell in 2025 in a different but packed and stacked, star-studded lineup.  The Bandshell facility has been undergoing construction required a new, more intimate festival setting. The main stage area will also include a stage at the back of the bandshell for the bands so there will be minimal walking and maximum continuous music. If you’re reading this, you probably already know about the 5-time Grammy winning host band, Snarky Puppy. This will be the eighth GUMF event and I’m so excited for this 2-day program. In fact, we’ll get moreContinue Reading

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Big Party is the fifth studio album from the band Forq with the first coming 10 years ago in 2014. Henry Hey, the band’s composer and keyboardist is one of the cofounders along with Michael League (Snarky Puppy). The album is a blast, a mix of fusion, funk, rock, whimsy and electronica all in a delectable recipe. It’s damn near impossible to listen to this album and not have a smile on your face. It’s like you’re at a house party and these great players hash out some deep-groove jams that change directions and feel great. All of the musiciansContinue Reading

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Can I Tell You Something? is Mark Lettieri’s ninth album as a leader and it’s a fantastic addition to the collection. Many listeners will know Mark as one of the guitarists in  the Grammy-winning band Snarky Puppy or the collaborative funk band The Fearless Flyers. He’s also put out a string of successful albums including Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol. 1 &  2 (Read our coverage of Vol. 2 here) which leaned heavy on the funk. This album primarily features the touring Mark Lettieri Group including Wes Stephenson on bass (Funky Knuckles), Jason “JT” Thomas on drums (Snarky Puppy, FORQ) andContinue Reading

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In: BANDS, BLOG POSTS, FESTIVALS, Lotus, Suwannee Hulaween, The New Mastersounds

String Cheese Incident + Umphrey’s McGee Relay Marathon is the headline for Saturday and maybe the entire festival. SCI is up for their traditional three-set Saturday with the third set being the ‘theme’ set which is always spectacular. I’ve been coming to Hula since 2017 and they’ve put on some amazing shows incluidng 70s, 80s, and 90s events and they always have monster sit-ins with special guests that are not elsewhere on the program. Sandwiched between the Cheese sets are two Umphrey’s McGee sets. UM is a jamband powerhouse, and a headliner and many festivals and major venues like RedContinue Reading

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Kinga Głyk has put out a truly transcendent album “Real Life.” It’s easy to lose yourself along the complex, multipath journey that is comprised of twelve individually adventurous songs. Kinga is a young Polish-French bassist and composer that was unfamiliar with until very recently. She was scheduled to perform at GroundUP Music Festival but was unable to because of an accident and then I was supposed to see her at North Sea Jazz in Rotterdam but was unable to attend. With Snarky Puppy’s Michael League as my sherpa, I know he’ll always lead me to some of the world’s absolutelyContinue Reading

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Friday at Hulaween opens up The Meadow  stage and that’s where String Cheese Incident will play the first two of seven fest sets. I’ll be out at that stage early to catch a couple of Hula ’23 stars reprise their 2023 sets, TAND and Karina Rykman. I’ll likely bounce back and forth to The Hallows stage across the field where the Friday lineup starts off Ajeva, Dumpstaphunk, Cory Wong so it’ll be a SPF 50+ day going into the evening sets. Here’s my rundown of Friday highlights. Black Pumas headline Friday if things play out as I expect it’ll beContinue Reading

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Cory Wong is a talent with an amazing aura and so prolific that it’s hard to keep up with all his undertakings. ‘Starship Syncopation’ is one that dropped very recently that you absolutely don’t want to miss. The album is a collaboration with The Metropole Orkest out of The Netherlands, which bills itself as the world’s leading pop and jazz orchestra. Fans of FunkCity.net will recognize them as collaborators on the Grammy-winning album ‘Sylva’ with Snarky Puppy and Grammy-nominated album ‘What Heat’ from Bokanté.  Cory had performed a set of his original tunes with the MO (click here for video)Continue Reading