Magnificent Night in Clearwater with Snarky Puppy and House of Waters
All photographs by kind permission of Jeffrey Moellering / Snapzalot.com
It’s unclear whether Michael League was in the House of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, or Hufflepuff, but it’s for damn sure he is a wizard par excellence. He put on another demonstration of his wizarding skills Thursday, September 26, at the acoustically perfect Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida.
League has so many talents, but two in particular were in clear focus at this show: [1] his ability to assemble and reassemble his remarkable Snarky Puppy ensemble (nine strong this night) with players of titanic abilities; and [2] his ability to have bands associated with his GroundUP label open his shows to incredible response and, on this night, an absolutely mandatory standing ovation.
It’s possible you’ve never heard such an immediate and rousing response at the end of the opening band’s set as we heard House of Waters receive at the end of their all-too-short 35-minute set. Be assured this audience would have hung on every note of another 35. After the band had finished its second of only four songs, Max ZT suggested:
We play whatever style of music this is.
A perfect description for this band as well as Snarky Puppy and others on the group’s GroundUP label. Their Facebook page lists their genre as: world. Might we suggest: otherworldly, and most assuredly out of this world! Chicagoan Max ZT has been called the “Jimi Hendrix of the hammered dulcimer” by NPR, and we would confirm that it is NOT an overstatement. Joining him on six-string bass is Moto Fushima, with Ignacio Rivas Bixio of Buenos Aires on drum kit.
The songs on the band’s four albums, the most recent of which is Rising, released in February, are relatively short, but blessedly they stretched each of their four compositions out much further. By the time they finished their first tune, jaws were already on the floor; there were so many influences floating in and out of the performance. It was possible to float away on their performance.
Snarky Puppy lists Brooklyn and Dallas as dual hometowns, but be assured any Tampa Bay area performance is a home event as well, just a quick drive from family and friends of founder Michael League who live in Tarpon Springs. In the band’s four area appearances, they have moved each time to a hall larger and with better acoustics; finally, they settled this night into the best possible venue for them in this area.
First, here is a look at the band on stage from left to right: Chris Bullock – tenor sax, flute, and alto flute; Bob Reynolds – saxophone; Mike “Maz” Maher – trumpet and flugelhorn; Keita Ogawa – percussion; Justin Stanton – trumpet and keyboards; Michael League – bass; Jamison Ross – drums: Bob Lanzetti – guitar; and Bobby Sparks – keyboards. And it is necessary to give a shout-out to the Snarky Puppy sound crew; Michael League does, and if you’ve heard them live, you know why: Matt Recchia – engineering and sound (front of house); Michael Harrison – monitors; and Neil Macintosh – mixing.
SP began with a slow intro into “Even Us,” the first of four new songs from Immigrance (eight tracks on the album). League would later thank us for listening to their new music and not anticipating favorite songs. [The truth is: it doesn’t matter what they play, just that they do!] As the tune electrified itself and got funky, Chris Bullock whipped out that cool-looking alto flute, and we were off!
They also grabbed three songs from 2016’s Culcha Vulcha, the first of which was “Semente.” It opened with percussion, then flute, and a great tenor exchange between Bullock and Bob Reynolds. They cranked up the tempo as flute and Bobby Sparks’ synths swirled around each other, and Mike “Maz” Maher dazzled on flugelhorn. There was so much going on, including Bob Lanzetti stepping up on guitar and Keita Ogawa on percussion.
Visually, the set was stunning. Other than microphones, camera stands, floor-level lights in the background, and instruments, the stage was naked save for the musicians. Above them was a huge projection screen that at times displayed the Immigrance art, at others the musician who was soloing. There were unobtrusive cameras in front of and behind the players so that either view could be shown. There was a brief humorous moment that everybody could relate to when a connection difficulty caused an error message to pop, provoking an audible gasp/laugh from the audience.
There were nine amazing players simply dazzling all evening long, but it would be impossible to forget the impression that Sparks made on us with what can only be referred to as an assault synth with a three-foot whammy bar. He had us hooked on that thing, and he knew it! It was on full display during “While We’re Young,” another new song.
Yet another wonderful aspect of a Snarky show is the way the horn players walk off stage if they are not part of the current action. This is a great old-school move, one that the boys in Naughty Professor also work to perfection.
The band kept rolling without respite as they dipped back into Culcha Vulcha again for “Grown Folks.” Jamison Ross’ drums, always in tandem with League’s bass, helped introduce this one with Bob Lanzetti’s funky guitar. Funk with muted trumpet? Glorious! And Reynolds just tore it up on tenor (while the screen blipped out).
League then addressed us, thanking us for coming and highlighting the Tarpon Springs family and friends, including Mom and his 99-year-old “Yaya” (grandmother, who attended the previous three Bay area shows!)
We got one more Culcha Vulcha tune, “Gemini,” launched by Lanzetti on slide guitar. After Bullock played alto flute again, there was some remarkable vocalese from Maher and Ross with help from League. With Sparks’ synths in the mix, it was very Syd Barrett-Floyd-like, pure magic. Justin Stanton, who moved back and forth from keyboards to trumpet, had a great electric piano solo.
New tune “Chonks” was full-frontal funk, Maher on amazing wah-wah trumpet, Sparks on the assault synth, and Bullock soloing on tenor. And then they absolutely ROCKED OUT, kicking this one ALL the way up, a true polyrhythmic event at the end.
League offered the intro to “Xavi” after explaining that we were required to participate in a percussion experiment. One half of the hall would be clapping, when prompted, in four, while the other half would be clapping in three (look, musicians, that’s the best I can do here). Lanzetti had a great solo, and the horns were monsters, and then there were claps, and Stanton on electric piano, and… it was mind-blowing. And done.
Coaxed back on stage for an encore, League again introduced the band and thanked us again before closing with “Sleeper” from We Like It Here (oh, hell, yes, we do!). The assault synth got us rolling, League switching to synth bass. He sat down while Sparks and Stanton dueled it out, and the band shut it down with a roar.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll gladly say it again: Snarky Puppy and Tedeschi Trucks Band define the modern big band. And for that we are forever grateful.
[SP: Even Us, Semente, While We’re Young, Grown Folks, Gemini, Chonks, Xavi; E: Sleeper]
For those who arrived early, there was great entertainment in the courtyard with Ronnie Dee and the SuperStars. That is an excellent band, and their funky set provided the perfect beginning to the night.
