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Brock, Lanzetti, Ogawa: Drawing Songs
by Mike Jacobs
Encountering new additions to the Snarky Puppy musical diaspora is always interesting. Some members' solo efforts are more direct stylistic offshoots of the mother band while others branch out in very different directions, but it is a safe bet that they will showcase the musicianship which got them into the burgeoning collective in the first place. Drawing Songs, by long-time SP bandmates Zach Brock, Bob Lanzetti and Keita Ogawa, is one of these which is a refreshing musical ...
read moreHouse of Waters: On Becoming
by Jim Worsley
Flowing in many directions yet forever staying in the moment is largely the challenge and artistic purpose of House of Waters. Here they once again bring forth new and creative concepts that are freely exchanged and intertwined. New beginnings, drawn from multiple sources, as well as further exploration of the past, create the wonder, awe, and awareness of On Becoming. The dulcimer was not part of mainstream culture until Max ZT put it on the map. Joining with six string ...
read moreSnarky Puppy: Immigrance
by Josh Deakin
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 ...
read moreMark Lettieri: Things Of That Nature
by Mike Jacobs
Some musicians just have a certain skill set. You know, the one that could make “Mary Had A Little Lamb" entertaining enough for you to go out and buy their cover of it? As on his previous albums, guitarist Mark Lettieri's fifth solo outing Things of That Nature reminds us that he is one of those guys. It also reminds us that despite having those serious chops--and a proclivity to rock-out--Lettieri puts way too much emphasis on musical ...
read moreHouse of Waters: Rising
by Jim Worsley
A musical instrument with a sounding board or box, typically trapezoidal in shape, over which strings of graduated length are stretched and played by being struck with handheld hammers. Step to the head of the class if you immediately knew this was describing a dulcimer. It's not an instrument generally associated with jazz. Come to think of it, when was the last time you even heard the word dulcimer used in a sentence? What you WILL hear from ...
read moreBokanté: Strange Circles
by Daniel Marx
Due to Michael League's prolific body of work with his record label, GroundUp Music, he has his fingers in many pies, the latest of which is a new band, started by the Snarky Puppy guitarist/bassist/producer, called Bokanté. The word means “exchange" in Creole, the language of the band's vocalist Malika Tirolien, and the music is meant to represent this idea of a cultural exchange between the melting pot of musicians involved. For the most part, Strange Circles delivers; a vibrant ...
read moreHouse Of Waters: House Of Waters
by Roger Farbey
The eponymous follow-up to House Of Waters's 2012 album Revolution is no less an iconoclastic offering than its predecessor (or the band's previous two albums Peace The Coats and Elsewhere). Iconoclasm here is a relevant noun because the trio's musical approach confounds traditional perspectives. So although not compositionally similar to say, Philip Glass's extraordinary soundtrack Koyaanisqatsi, or Frank Zappa's Hot Rats the overall effect to the uninitiated is just as startling. Even without the occasional addition of extra ...
read moreCharlie Hunter: Everybody Has A Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth
by Doug Collette
Adorned with the kind of facetiously sardonic title he's applied to a few recent records, Charlie Hunter's latest album nevertheless documents further changes in his ever-restless musical persona. Not only is this, his seventeenth-plus album as a leader, on a new label, but he enlists a new accompanist and, perhaps most significant of all, returns to playing the eight-string guitar. Recorded live in a studio in Hudson, New York, on Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched ...
read moreThe Funky Knuckles: New Birth
by Mike Jacobs
With the recent ascendance and mass embrace of Snarky Puppy, there may be a tendency by some to superficially assess The Funky Knuckles as SP redux. This would be a mistake. Yes, they both have a similar instrumental footprint and stylistic aesthetic, hail from the same Jny:Dallas scene and are even label mates, but it might be akin to dissing Albert Collins because there's BB King. The initial resemblance is there, but both have their own unique game faces. Plus, ...
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