Jazz Articles about Michael League

Scenes from the 2023 Montreal Jazz Festival

by Leo Sidran
July 19, 2023

Bokante: History

by Chris May
June 25, 2023

Snarky Puppy leader Michael League does not like the band being called a jazz ensemble. He describes it as a “a pop band that improvises a lot, without vocals." But anyone listening to jazz through the aural equivalent of a wide-angle lens would likely keep Snarky Puppy in the picture. League's spin-off group Bokante improvises little and has vocals front and centre. The connection with jazz is more tenuous. Bokante could be called a “world music" group ...

Bill Laurance & Michael League: Where You Wish You Were

by Cary Tenenbaum
April 22, 2023

As of this writing in Spring 2023, pianist Bill Laurance and bass and oud player Michael League have apparently been playing together in Snarky Puppy for almost 20 years. This may come as a surprise to some listeners who may still think of them as new kids on the block, so to speak. These two have been busy performing together all these years in the aforementioned band as well as backing up various artists ranging from Erykah Badu to David ...

Snarky Puppy: Empire Central

by Angelo Leonardi
October 3, 2022

A diciotto anni dalla nascita, gli Snarky Puppy sono tornati a Dallas —luogo d'origine della formazione— per registrare un nuovo album scegliendo l'approccio preferito: quel “live in the studio" con pubblico in sala che ha caratterizzato le loro opere migliori. Quindi otto notti alla Deep Ellum Art Company per mettere a punto 16 nuovi brani, ora pubblicati in doppio album, in triplo vinile. Il disco privilegia il ritorno ai valori musicali originari: una fusion ...

Snarky Puppy: Immigrance

by Josh Deakin
January 22, 2021

Three years after their last release, Snarky Puppy's thirteenth studio album Immigrance makes a statement as a standard for jazz fusion that all modern artists should take note of. The opening track, “Chonks," sets the tone of the record with a fierce drum fill from Larnell Lewis which is reminiscent of reggae tones, an aesthetic which Snarky Puppy enjoy teasing on occasion. The record keeps pace as it weaves together the collection of songs which gives the illusion ...

Michael League: "Hang on to the little victories"

by Leo Sidran
March 9, 2020

In this podcast interview, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Michael League talks about Snarky Puppy, the advantages to the American musical perspective ("we are light on our feet"), why “to create something authentic isn't really possible to me," how playing wedding and steak house gigs in Texas taught him about “humility and strengthening the muscles of versatility," the importance of making everything as fun as possible on the road, why he sees himself as primarily a student, moving to Spain, and ...

Michael League

by Michael League
January 6, 2019

Here are a few albums that I'm listening to now. In this list, I decided to highlight several of the artists who will be at this year's GroundUP Music Festival, an experience dedicated to exposing open-minded listeners to new music. 1. Susana Baca, Eco De Sombras (Lusaka Bop, 2000) My first introduction to arguably the most important figure in Afro-Peruvian music (as well as a former cultural ambassador of Perú) was this record. I actually played ...