Grammy-winning jazz ensemble Snarky Puppy have just released Trinity, the first single from their upcoming album.
Snarky Puppy recorded Empire Central in early March of 2022 in a converted venue space at Deep Ellum Art Company in Dallas, where they played two shows per night for eight nights to small, intimate audiences.
“People had been telling us that they enjoyed our music much more live than they did listening to the records,” says bassist and bandleader Michael League. “So we thought that a live record made sense. But we wanted the sound quality of the performance to be stellar — I’m not a big fan of most live recordings because of the poor audio quality.”
Characteristically groovy, Trinity is named after the Trinity River, which runs through the area that connects the cities of Fort Worth, Dallas and Denton, where all of the members of Snarky Puppy have either lived, studied, worked or played.
Watch the video for Trinity below:
Led by League, the lineup for Empire Central features 20 band members: three guitarists, four keyboardists, two brass, two reeds, a violinist, and multiple percussionists and drummers.
The 16-track, 95-minute recording expands upon the acclaimed group’s signature mix of jazz, blues, rock, soul, gospel and funk.
Empire Central also features the last recorded performance of ’80s funk pioneer Bernard Wright, who died this May at the age of 58, shortly after the album’s recording sessions.
Snarky Puppy’s last album was the Live at the Royal Albert Hall, which was released in late 2020 and won the Grammy Award for best contemporary instrumental album. The band had previously won the same award for 2016’s Culcha Vulcha and 2015’s Sylva, along with their first Grammy for best R&B performance in 2013.
Here’s the track listing for Empire Central:
- Keep It on Your Mind
- East Bay
- Bet
- Cliroy
- Take It (feat. Bernard Wright)
- Portal
- Broken Arrow
- RL’s
- Mean Green
- Fuel City
- Free Fall
- Belmont
- Pineapple
- Honiara
- Coney Bear
- Trinity
Snarky Puppy’s Empire Central will be released Sept. 30 via GroundUP Music.
