Funk Friday - Spotlight on Snarky Puppy

In 2004, bassist, composer and producer Michael League formed the jazz-funk ensemble Snarky Puppy at the University of North Texas College of Music in Denton, TX; a hot bed of musical talent in a city that is self-described as a "stomping ground of Jazz musicians and enthusiasts." The band, which operates as something of a collective with a revolving array of nearly 30 musicians, is on the cutting edge of both funk and jazz music. Today's Funk Friday is all Snarky Puppy and you should be very, very happy about that.

Michael League grew up in Texas, in the American South and this is important. Jazz was born in the South and since its ascension to the mainstream in the early 20th century, it has continued to be defined and shaped by Southern musicians. Texas borders Louisiana, a state whose largest and most cultured city, New Orleans is the ultimate mecca for big band style jazz-funk, which I like to call NOLA Funk music. Here's a great performance from Snarky Puppy that takes the NOLA style and slowly builds a steady groove until hitting a climax that almost literally explodes with sound.

This Wednesday I had the glorious pleasure to see Snarky Puppy play live at The Rex, arguably the finest bar in Toronto to take in a show by local and international jazz artists. Playing to a packed house of mostly jazz-hungry teenagers and early twentysomethings, the Snarky Puppy live experience is something of an intense, but inclusive, accessible and wholly memorable trip:  jams happen slowly, starting from basic melodic themes that eventually build their way into satisfyingly heavy grooves provided by League and his tighter-than-tight rhythm section. League and Snarky Puppy's addictive blend of jazz, funk and hip-hop has cemented them as an inventive, powerful force to be reckoned with. I for one will be on my toes to see where they go next.

Album Review: Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again

Steadily over the past decade or so, it has become clear that the UK has developed a knack for producing some of the most powerful and popular voices in the pop-soul/jazz scene heard round the world; names like Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Lily Allen and of course newly-crowned pop heavyweight Adele come to mind. New to the genre, quickly making a name for himself opening for Adele during her 2011 tour and winning the BBC's Sound of 2012 poll over such recognizable names as Skrillex and Frank Ocean, is Michael Kiwanuka, who released his wonderful debut LP Home Again in early March of this year.

Kiwanuka's brand of soulful jazz-pop has been compared to a bevy of singer/songwriters from decades past including Willie Nelson, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and my favorite soul singer/songwriter of all time, Bill Withers. The Withers connection has been made in every piece I've read written about Kiwanuka thus far, and from my view, it is an apt one: the lead track off of Home Again called "Tell Me a Tale" showcases Kiwanuka's propensity for 70s style swingin' soul-jazz rhythms and a lyrical tenderness (Lord I need lovin' / Lord I need good, good lovin') that is positively Withers-esque.

But while Kiwanuka certainly shares a meaningful amount of stylistic similarity with Withers, to me he sounds like the second-coming of Willie Wright, an only recently embraced soul-folk artist from the late 70s, whose LP "Telling the Truth" was released by the Numero Group in March of last year. Wright's brand of deeply felt soul - soft, delicate rhythms that maintain a melodic grace and palpable swing, is a departure from the kinetic funk of Bill Withers and more closely resembles the style that informs the bulk of Kiwanuka's album.

Like Wright, despite what Kiwanuka's first batch of songs perhaps lack in sophistication and versatility, the sheer listenability of smooth, infectiously lovable songs like "I'm Getting Ready", "Bones" and the melancholic title track ultimately make Home Again an impressive debut for an artist that is on the cusp of solidifying a place for himself in the pantheon of beloved British soul artists.