The New York Times Streams GRAMMY Winning Snarky Puppy's New Album 'Sylva' Out 5/26 + Nat'l Tour

Snarky Puppy is the inventive instrumental collective led by bassist, composer andproducer Michael League. Impulse!/Universal Music Classics are proud to partner with the band on their first major label release, Sylva, coming May 26. The ambitious album is a creative departure for the band, who have collaborated with the acclaimed Metropole Orkest (Elvis Costello, Tori Amos and John Scofield) from Holland, and was recorded live in its entirety. As an added bonus for fans, the album will be physically bundled with a DVD “Making Of” documentary that features performances of all six songs with the Metropole Orkest in Rotterdam, Holland.
 
Snarky Puppy has been driving their own home-grown, creative endeavors through independent releases, a tireless touring schedule and an army of impressive musicians devoted to authentic and passionate music-making. The band will tour on the heels of their album release in the U.S. and offer a sneak peek of Sylva streaming in full with The New York Times for the next week.
 
Sylva marks a different direction from previous Snarky Puppy projects by joining together with an orchestra to the composition itself. Metropole Orkest joins Snarky Puppy for this dreamlike cinema-concept-album dedicated to the forest. In the words of Michael League, the forest is "at one and the same time innocent, frightening, inspiring, impenetrable, fragile, stoical, a revelation, a shelter, a labyrinth, a temple, a tomb, a sanctuary, a parliament and a prison."
 
Each of the six ‘movements’ of this suite is about a different forest that League has encountered, from the languishing forest swamps of Louisiana to the towering Redwood Forest, to the gothic fairytale forests of children’s dreams. In keeping with this ‘organic’ theme, Snarky Puppy decided to record this project live in front of an audience over a period of two nights. In a room transformed into a forest landscape made of metal and wood sculpted by Dutch craftsmen, a 300-person audience sat scattered amongst the musicians, listening to Sylva through headphones. This incredible scenery was reflected in the cover art for Sylva, which is the creation of Miraphora Mina, the graphic artist known for her work on the "Harry Potter" films. Her work beautifully compliments the layers and textures found in Sylva.  
 
Formed in Denton, Texas in 2004. Snarky Puppy’s 11-year “do-it-yourself” career is wildly impressive and admirable. The band scored a Grammy Award in 2014 for Best R&B Performance, and their last album We Like It Here, debuted at #1 on the iTunes Jazz chart where it continues to linger a year after its release.

 
U.S. Tour Dates
 
5/22: Jacksonville, FL @ Jacksonville Jazz Festival
5/26: Denver, CO @ The Alamo Draft House And Theater *Screening*
6/10 – 6/13: San Francisco, CA @ SFJazz
6/14: Los Angeles, CA  @ Playboy Jazz Festival
6/15: Washington, DC @ DC Jazz Fest at The Hamilton
6/16: Washington, DC @ DC Jazz Fest at The Hamilton
6/17: Roanoke, VA  @ Jefferson Center
6/18: Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
6/19: Richmond, VA @ Friday Cheers at the Brown’s Island
6/20: Newport News, VA @ Ferguson Center for the Arts
6/21: Vancouver, BC @ Vancouver International Jazz Festival
6/22: Victoria, BC @ Victoria Jazz Festival
6/23: Chicago, IL @ City Winery
6/24: Chicago, IL @ City Winery
6/25: Chicago, IL @ Millennium Park Music Series in Millennium Park
6/28: Saratoga, NY @ Saratoga Jazz Fest
7/31: Newport, RI @ Newport Jazz Festival
8/1: New York, NY @ Watermark
9/18: Evergreen, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheater
9/20: Monterey, CA @ Monterey Jazz Festival
9/24: Los Angeles, CA @ Royce Hall (UCLA)
11/20: Cheney, WA @ Eastern Washington University Jazz Dialogue Festival