Snarky Puppy to play Leeds

	Saturday 7 April
	The Faversham, Leeds
	£12 on door / £10 advance
	
	doors at 8pm
	The Allsorts at 9pm
	The Fix at 9:45pm
	Snarky Puppy at 10:30pm

Public workshop 2 - 4pm Leeds Media Centre, 21 Savile Mount, Leeds LS7 3HZ £10 or £8 with concert ticket. For more information email snarkypuppyinfoATgmail.com (replace AT with @)

www.snarkypuppy.com

Tickets www.brownpapertickets.com/event/234710

A collective of musicians in Dallas and New York City playing an infectious mixture of jazz, funk, and world music.

For the very first time, this tour will take the band all the way to the United Kingdom and France as well as every major market in the United States. Always focused on music education, Snarky Puppy will be giving clinics and masterclasses at various educational institutions throughout the trip in addition to their scheduled concerts.

"Ground Up" was filmed and recorded live over 3 nights in legendary bassist Matt Garrison's new performance space, Shapeshifter Lab, in front of a 40-person studio audience. The new project captures the rawness and spontaneity of Snarky Puppy's live energy, but this time in a stripped-down Brooklyn warehouse.

With the release of their last two live CD/DVDs on Ropeadope Records and GroundUP Music, Snarky Puppy has gone from an underground secret to one of the most internationally respected names in instrumental music. It is, in its physical makeup, a group of musicians from two different cultures and traditions- jazz and rock kids from white America, and gospel/R&B kids from black America. This convergence, which occurred while the band was in its adolescence at the University of North Texas, has naturally established a series of combinations and a system of balance that instantly draws listeners to the music- raw funk and sensitive dynamics, relentless pocket and lyrical melodicism, lush harmony and soulful simplicity, and most importantly, a delicate mixture of composition and improvisation. Snarky Puppy is somewhere between a garage band and a collective, with over 25 players in regular rotation. The core of the group, which remains consistent, features Grammy Award-winners Robert "Sput" Searight on drums (God's Property, Snoop Dogg) and Shaun Martin on keys (Kirk Franklin, Erykah Badu), as well as young organ prodigy Cory Henry (Kenny Garrett, Kim Burell) and multi-instrumentalist Louis Cato (Marcus Miller, Q-Tip, George Duke). Its members are mainstays with artists like Erykah Badu, Marcus Miller, P Diddy Dirty Money, The Polyphonic Spree, Snoop Dogg, Roy Hargrove's RH Factor, Morcheeba, Tower of Power, Ari Hoenig/Adam Rogers, Justin Timberlake, Kenny Garrett, Yo-Yo Ma, Lucy Woodward, and Bilal, among many more.

The group was conceived and is held together by award-winning bassist/guitarist/composer/arranger Michael League, whose creative grass-roots approach to a tougher-than-ever industry has created a unique musical animal. It is a three-headed creature: first, and most obviously- an original music ensemble. Second- a production team and session band for individual artists. Third, and probably most importantly- Snarky Puppy is a group of musicians unanimously and enthusiastically committed to music education and community outreach. Working with groups like ROAM (Roots Of American Music) in inner city Cleveland and the Music Lab at Jefferson Center in Roanoke, as well as giving clinics at over 40 colleges, high schools, and middle schools worldwide (League is faculty at London's Institute of Contemporary Music Performance), the band has made a strong commitment to spreading a love of music and general positivity to a young generation looking for something real to hold on to.