Cory Henry

As Snarky Puppy set up to record yet another live recording with the audience on the stage, special guests with an interest in supporting the project arrived. Lalah Hathaway, N'Dambi, Lucy Woodward, and Chantae Cann joined Malika Tirolien, Magda Giannikou, Shayna Steele and Tony Scherr in what was to become a legendary live session that celebrates the diversity and joy of live music. With the stunningly beautiful theater as a backdrop, the result is a masterpiece of Jazz, R&B, Gospel, and Blues music captured for the world to fully experience.

As Snarky Puppy, the open-minded American jazz and funk collective, have evolved a riproaring live show from endless road life, they’ve specialised in live albums. However, their fans worldwide need not fear that a first studio project in eight years might be a self-conscious affair: it’s a delightful surprise to be handing five stars to a jazz-influenced venture with little explicit improv. The group have grasped a different improvising opportunity, juggling audaciously with the styles of jazz, world and popular music of the past half-century as if their typical riffs and themes were phrases in a shapely but ever-changing solo.

Bukuru Celestin & Snarky Puppy - Amkeni (2013) {GroundUP Music–Rope-A-Dope}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 229 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 78 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 16 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2013 GroundUP Music / Rope-A-Dope | [none]
Jazz / Fusion / World / Burundi / Africa / Jazz-Funk / Electric Jazz

“Amkeni”, a collaboration between Snarky Puppy and Burundian refugee Bukuru Celestin, has been released on GroundUp Records (groundup.ropeadope.com/). The album (the title of which means “wake up” in Swahili) combines Central African folkloric and gospel musics with Snarky Puppy’s inventive jazz/funk twists to create a joyous, infectious sound. (Read Happiness in the Groove review of here).