SNARKY PUPPY’S EMPIRE CENTRAL WINS BEST CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM AT
65TH ANNUAL GRAMMY AWARDS

NEW ALBUM OUT NOW TO CRITICAL ACCLAIM ON GROUNDUP MUSIC

U.S. TOUR DATES THIS SPRING

Last night, genre-defying musical collective Snarky Puppy’s new album Empire Central won the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, marking the fifth Grammy win in the band’s illustrious career. The album is available to purchase/stream on the band’s own GroundUP Music label HERE.

Snarky Puppy is sharing a collection of live-in-studio performance videos from the record in celebration of the album’s release and Grammy win; watch/share the videos for “Cliroy,” “Pineapple,” “Trinity,” “Bet,” “Belmont,” “Take It!” and “RL’s,” which continue to receive critical praise from NPR Music, NPR’s “Here & Now,” JAZZIZ, TIDAL and many more.

The group is set to tour in the U.S. in Spring, 2023. See below for a list of tour dates.

Additionally, the band’s Transmissions from Deep Ellum podcast is out now. Produced by Osiris Media and distributed by NPR affiliate WBGO FM, the podcast documents the writing, recording and creative process behind the new record. The podcast is available via all major podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, as well as via Osiris Media.

Recorded over the course of eight nights in front of a live-in-studio audience at Dallas’ Deep Ellum Art Company, Empire Central consists of 16 all-new tracks heavily influenced by and paying homage to the city that gave birth to the group after they formed while studying in the fabled jazz program at the University of North Texas. The record also features the last recorded performance of ’80s funk pioneer and Snarky Puppy’s musical Godfather Bernard Wright, who passed away tragically at age 58 shortly after the Empire Central recording sessions.

See what the press is saying about the new record:

“They're a sleek Lamborghini of a group, a fine-tuned, elite machine that has certain things in common with the best big bands of former eras: ingenious arrangements, an ability to breathe as one and high entertainment value that requires no degree of musical literacy to appreciate.”—Downbeat Magazine

“2022 Jazz Group of the Year” —Downbeat Magazine

“one of the top instrumental ensembles in the world”—Jazziz Magazine

“Consisting of dozens of basically unassailable musicians in and out the door, Snarky Puppy is about as engaging as an instrumental ensemble can be…we’re dealing with masters here, most visible among them bassist/composer phenom Michael League. That the music is this rock-solid in such an unadorned context speaks volumes to how thrilling it'd be to behold it live.”—Jazz Times

“Jazz up your summer playlist with new songs from…Snarky Puppy.”—NPR’s “Here & Now”

New Music Friday: The best releases out Sept. 30—NPR Music

“Snarky Puppy continues to surprise with each new venture.”—Relix

“On Empire Central…listeners must prepare to be knocked off their feet by raw sonic force…the observational effect imposed by live-in-studio recording sculpted [Snarky Puppy’s] sound as if, throughout that week and change, they drew on the energy of their listeners and put it right back into their music.”—No Depression

“Snarky Puppy’s new album, Empire Central, is a Dallas record through and through. It’s as funky as the muddy Trinity River and as strange as Reunion Tower…Snarky Puppy is not your father’s jazz-rock jam band.”—The Dallas Morning News

“Snarky Puppy can be trusted to work any groove into a communal experience.”—NPR / WBGO

“Internationally renowned jazz collective Snarky Puppy returned to its roots in more ways than one for its latest release, Empire Central.”—Live For Live Music

With a lineup consisting of three guitarists, four keyboardists, two brass, two reeds, a violinist, multiple percussionists and drummers and bandleader Michael League on bass, Empire Central expands upon the collective’s wide array of influences including blues, hard rock, classic soul, modern gospel, funk, new tech, fusion and jazz. In reviewing the first of the band’s eight Deep Ellum performances from which the record was culled, the Dallas Morning News raves that “in classic Snarky Puppy fashion, the new tunes zigzagged with laser precision between jazz, funk and wigged-out prog-rock.”

“Snarky Puppy has always been a band that prioritizes the sound of the music,” notes League. “On this record there was some collaboration in the writing process but when a song goes to the band and the players start making suggestions or changing things our collective feeling really comes through. The songs ended up being a lot more direct and funkier than those on our previous records. I think it reflects the many moods of the city’s scene.”

A musical collective featuring as many as 25 members in regular rotation, Snarky Puppy 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. The group has won four Grammy Awards (Best R&B Performance in 2014 and Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in 2016, 2017 and 2021) and its members 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 Keïta) and solo artists (many of whom are on the band’s independent label, GroundUP Music). At its core, the band represents the convergence of both black and white American music culture with various accents from around the world. Japan, Argentina, Canada and the United Kingdom 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.

For more information, please contact Krista Williams, Joe Cohen or Carla Sacks at Sacks & Co., 212.741.1000.

EMPIRE CENTRAL TRACK LIST
1. Keep It On Your Mind
2. East Bay
3. Bet
4. Cliroy
5. Take It!
6. Portal
7. Broken Arrow
8. RL’s
9. Mean Green
10. Fuel City
11. Free Fall
12. Belmont
13. Pineapple
14. Honiara
15. Coney Bear
16. Trinity

SNARKY PUPPY SPRING, 2023 TOUR
March 29 /// Palace Theatre /// St. Paul, MN
March 30 /// Pabst Theater /// Milwaukee, WI
March 31 /// The Riviera Theatre /// Chicago, IL
April 1 /// Hard Rock Northern Indiana /// Gary, IN
April 2 /// State Theatre /// Kalamazoo, MI
April 5 /// TempleLive Cleveland Masonic /// Cleveland, OH
April 6 /// Town Ballroom /// Buffalo, NY
April 8 /// Roadrunner /// Boston, MA
April 10 /// Tillis Hall at the Fine Arts Center, UMASS /// Amherst, MA
April 12 /// Chubb Theatre, Capitol Center for the Arts /// Concord, NH
April 13 /// Beacon Theatre /// New York, NY
April 14 /// Union Transfer /// Philadelphia, PA
April 15 /// HMAC /// Harrisburg, PA
April 16 /// Cornell University Concert Series at Bailey Hall /// Ithaca, NY
April 19 /// Warner Theatre /// Washington, DC
April 20 /// Stage AE /// Pittsburgh, PA
April 24 /// Ritter Amphitheater /// Huntington, WV
April 26 /// Ryman Auditorium /// Nashville, TN
April 28 /// The Eastern /// Atlanta, GA