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Grammy-winning viral sen-
sation. “Jacob and I have been
friends for six or seven years
now since a friend of mine in
France sent me some of his
videos,” shares League. “ ree
years ago, we invited him to be
a special guest on our album
Family Dinner, Vol.
, along-
side artists like Laura Mvula,
David Crosby, Susana Baca,
Becca Stevens, Knower, Chris
Turner, Salif Keita, and more.
He’s a really special musician.”
League is also eager to “get
some mileage” out of some
fresh compositions at Ravinia
prior to recording sessions
slated to start in August. In the
meantime, Snarky Puppy is
still reaping the rewards of ac-
claim for its latest long-player
Culcha Vulcha
while making
the ear-pleasing arrangements
leap to life every night on
stage. “It was nice to just make
a normal record again, to be
honest,” he asserts. “ e live-
in-studio format has treated us
really well, but it limits you in
many respects. It’s also stress-
ful at times. But with
Culcha
Vulcha
, we had the time to get
everything right—the sounds,
the performances, interesting
overdubs. It was a blast. e
only challenge was marketing
it and spreading the word
without as much visual media.
But sometimes you just have
to trust that people will listen.
And fortunately for us, they
did.”
ere are truly no gim-
micks here as Snarky Puppy
keeps building its base the
good, old-fashioned way, let-
ting the music do the talking
and the buzz spreading natu-
rally among appreciators. In
fact, the members collectively
and individually—whether
it be side projects or collab-
orations with Snoop Dogg,
Kendrick Lamar, Erykah Badu,
Kirk Franklin, and countless
others—have no grand plans
or speci c strategies, other
than to follow their muse and
embrace an organic course of
events.
“ e only goal is to keep
evolving, learning, and grow-
ing,” League says. “We’re not
concerned with selling more
tickets, playing bigger ven-
ues, making viral videos, or
anything like that. We nally
have an audience around the
world that is listening, and it’s
our responsibility to give them
the best music we’re capable
of making. at’s the goal. My
wish is that each of the indi-
vidual members’ solo projects,
of which there are almost
two dozen, become fruitful.
Everyone in the band is active
in so many di erent projects
outside of Snarky Puppy that
we’re constantly learning new
things in di erent corners of
the music world. As a result,
everyone is bringing that
growth and those new things
into Snarky Puppy. I think the
composition growth is a natu-
ral one without trying to force
anything or come up with
some ingenious new concept,
and that the music is naturally
going to progress in a positive
way.”
Andy Argyrakis is a Chicago-based
writer/photographer whose credits
include the
Chicago Tribune
,
Chicago
Sun-Times
,
Daily Herald
,
Daily Journal
,
Illinois Entertainer
,
Hear/Say Now
,
Concert Livewire
,
Chicago Now
,
Redeye
,
Metromix
,
Paste
,
Down Beat
,
Spin.com, MTV.com, Fuse TV, UP TV,
Pollstar
, and
Celebrity Access
. He also
is the founder and content curator for
ChicagoConcertReviews.com.
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JUNE 18 – JULY 8, 2018
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