It's a bit dizzying keeping up with Michael League of Snarky Puppy and GroundUP Music. He's perpetually on the road, dropping new music videos, signing new artists, and making new connections. But he carved out some time to tell us about a few artists we should be checking out.
A bassist, entrepreneur, and community builder, League makes his debut at Carnegie Hall tonight, as Snarky Puppy performs with David Crosby, Chris Thile and others. (The concert, part of "The '60s: The Years That Changed America," has been sold out for weeks.) An even more sprawling assortment of artists will soon converge on the second annual GroundUP Music Festival, in Miami, Florida. Our Jazz Night In America crew will be onsite at the fest, which happens Feb. 9-11.
This Checkout podcast offers a vibrant, eclectic playlist of GroundUP music. Some of these tracks are premieres, as noted below. League gives us the inside scoop and back story of five blossoming artists from around the world: Alina Engibaryan from Armenia, Magda Giannikou from Greece, Roosevelt Collier from Florida, Sirintip from Sweden, and Becca Stevens from North Carolina.
Full playlist:
"Grown Folks," Snarky Puppy, Culcha Vulcha
"Tam Tam," Banda Magda, Tigre
"Well Loved," Becca Stevens, Regina
"Shofukan," Snarky Puppy ft Defjen, YouTube
"Sun Up, Sun Down," Roosevelt Collier, Exit 16 (out March 9)
"In My Garden," Sirintip, Tribus (out Feb. 9)
"We Are," Alina Engibaryan, We Are (out Feb. 16)
"Big Ugly," Snarky Puppy, Culcha Vulcha
