Snarky Pupply are back in Australia for the Melbourne Festival.
For over ten years, Grammy Award– winning jazz-funk collective Snarky Puppy have been rewriting the rulebook on American jazz. Led by visionary bassist and composer Michael League, Snarky Puppy calls upon an ever-changing roster of more than 40 of America’s greatest session musicians to deliver the most explosive, most irrepressible and most unpredictable big band experience in the world today.
The once Texan, now New York-based quasi-collective has gone from the best-kept secret to one of the most respected names in instrumental music. In 2013 alone, Snarky Puppy gave almost 200 performances and workshops on four continents, including North Sea Jazz, Monterey Jazz Festival, Jazz á Vienne, Blue Note Tokyo, and Melbourne’s very own International Jazz Festival.
Featuring a line up of musicians who perform regularly with artists including Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg, Kirk Franklin, Justin Timberlake, Roy Hargrove, and Marcus Miller (to name just a few), and with their latest album, We Like It Here, still sizzling Snarky Puppy bring their whirlwindof soul vibrations, power-packedfunk and deadly improvisation toMelbourne Festival.
Rounding out this night of sonic pandemonium is Kormac’s Big Band, an 11-piece, 1950s jazz influenced hip-hop orchestra hailing from Dublin.
Led by the eponymous DJ Kormac – who made a name for himself through beat-heavy, party-ready reworkings of old style swing and bebop – Kormac’s Big Band bring his out-of-this-world compositions to life with the help of rap MCs, a full brass section and a healthy dose of scratching.
Firm festival favourites, the Big Band have moved quickly from dance tents to main stages since forming in 2011 – Glastonbury, Bestival and Electric Picnic became Europe, Asia and Africa culminating in a tour of Australia in 2013 with Portishead and The Flaming Lips.
“Kormac kicked the night into action with his 11-piece orchestra…A hugely entertaining set, bringing DJing to a whole new level.” Irish Mirror
FOXTEL FESTIVAL HUB
Fri 24 & Sat 25 Oct
Doors at 11pm
$45
Ticketmaster 136 100
melbournefestival.com.au/hub
