Empire Central

2022 release. Snarky Puppy, the genre-defying super-band, is a lot like Dallas, city of it's birth. On Empire Central the eclectic 19-piece electric ensemble is big and bold, chill and laid back, rooted in it's native culture while reaching outward, forward-bound. With 16 new compositions including the song "Take It!" - regrettably, the last recorded performance of '80s funk star Bernard Wright, who Snarky ringleader Michael League identifies as a Godfather-like figure - the group looks fondly at where it's come from, confident in the polished power from which it's members continue to build the unique Snarky Puppy sound. That sound now rises like a skyscraper from a 21st century orchestra comprising three guitarists, at least four keyboardists, two brass, two reeds, a violinist, multiple percussionists and drummers and the accomplished yet modest League keeping it all together with his bass. That lineup was unimaginable when ten friends enrolled in the jazz program of University of North Texas (aka North Texas State) in Denton, 30 miles from Dallas, first convened in 2004. But as Snarky Puppy's core members moved to the city and were embraced by the region's Black churches and stalwarts of that community's music, they matured.