Snarky Puppy, the five-time Grammy® Award-winning collective will bring their boundless, category-defying sound to the John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival on Saturday, August 30, 2025 in High Point, NC. Their music is a mosaic of genres: jazz, funk, soul, rock, and world music, woven together with effortless precision. Their live shows are indescribable!
To be accurate, Snarky Puppy is a collective of sorts with as many as 25 members in regular rotation. They each maintain busy schedules as sidemen (with such artists as Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and D’Angelo), producers (for Kirk Franklin, David Crosby, and Salif Keita), and solo artists (many of whom are on the band’s indy label, GroundUP Music).
ELECTRIC ENERGY
One of the most striking aspects of Snarky Puppy is their live show. It is the interplay between the musicians that stands out. It is not just a performance; it’s a conversation between band members with each other and the band with the audience. Each member of Snarky Puppy is a master of their craft, and together, they form a collective powerhouse of sound.
The band was formed by bassist and primary composer Michael League in 2004, starting inconspicuously enough as a group of college friends at the University of North Texas’ Jazz Studies program. Three years later, an intersection with the Dallas gospel and R&B community in Dallas transformed the music into something funkier, more direct, and more intuitive.
PERPETUAL CREATIVITY
At its core, the band represents the convergence of both black and white American music culture with various accents from around the world — a kind of souful hybrid where heritage meets modernity, modern grooves for a multi-generational audience. Japan, Argentina, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Puerto Rico all have representation in the group’s membership. But more than the cultural diversity of the individual players, the defining characteristic of Snarky Puppy’s music is the joy of performing together in the perpetual push to grow creatively.
Their latest Grammy® winning album – Empire Central, released in September 2022 was a love letter to Texas, with the group looking fondly at where it came from and confident in the polished power from which its members continue to build the unique Snarky Puppy sound. “Our soundscape has expanded dramatically over the years” says League. “When the band started, we were jazzier, brainy and music oriented. Moving into the Dallas scene we became groovier, more emotional, deeper in a sense. We focused more on communicating a clear message, understandable to a listener without dumbing things down”.
Their other Grammy® winning albums include three for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album; Live at the Royal Albert Hall (2021), Culcha Vulcha (2017), and in 2015 for Sylva. Snarky Puppy won Best R&B Performance in 2014 for “Something,” a song featuring vocalist Lalah Hathaway from the album Family Dinner, Vol. 1.
