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Michael League

Michael League is a Grammy Award-winning bassist, guitarist, composer, arranger, producer, label owner, and bandleader based out of Brooklyn, New York.

As a military brat, he grew up all over the place. Michael attended the University of North Texas' jazz studies program for 4 years, then moved to nearby Dallas for another 3 years, where he worked with some of the most influential figures in modern gospel, R&B, and soul music, and was mentored by legendary keyboardist Bernard Wright (Miles Davis, Chaka Khan).

Michael runs the band with a grass-roots approach to the changing music industry that seems crazy, but has worked. Kinda. In early 2012, he launched his own imprint, GroundUP Music, under Ropeadope Records. The bands on the label kick ass.

Michael is passionately committed to music education and outreach, having given clinics at over 100 schools throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, Pacific, and Europe. He also plays with and produces for a multitude of artists so that he doesn't go insane only performing his own music. It almost works.

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Radio & Podcasts

Scenes from the 2023 Montreal Jazz Festival

Read "Scenes from the 2023 Montreal Jazz Festival" reviewed by Leo Sidran


Conversations on community, artificial intelligence, identity, fan engagement, healthy living, life on the road and more, recorded at the 2023 Montreal International Jazz Festival. Featuring Michael League, Nate Smith, Carlos Homs, Julius Rodriguez, Benny Benack III, Emmet Cohen, Stacey Kent and others. ...

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Album Review

Bokante: History

Read "History" reviewed by Chris May


Snarky Puppy leader Michael League does not like the band being called a jazz ensemble. He describes it as a “a pop band that improvises a lot, without vocals." But anyone listening to jazz through the aural equivalent of a wide-angle lens would likely keep Snarky Puppy in the picture. League's spin-off group Bokante improvises little and has vocals front and centre. The connection with jazz is more tenuous. Bokante could be called a “world music" group ...

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Album Review

Bill Laurance & Michael League: Where You Wish You Were

Read "Where You Wish You Were" reviewed by Cary Tenenbaum


As of this writing in Spring 2023, pianist Bill Laurance and bass and oud player Michael League have apparently been playing together in Snarky Puppy for almost 20 years. This may come as a surprise to some listeners who may still think of them as new kids on the block, so to speak. These two have been busy performing together all these years in the aforementioned band as well as backing up various artists ranging from Erykah Badu to David ...

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Album Review

Snarky Puppy: Empire Central

Read "Empire Central" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


A diciotto anni dalla nascita, gli Snarky Puppy sono tornati a Dallas —luogo d'origine della formazione— per registrare un nuovo album scegliendo l'approccio preferito: quel “live in the studio" con pubblico in sala che ha caratterizzato le loro opere migliori. Quindi otto notti alla Deep Ellum Art Company per mettere a punto 16 nuovi brani, ora pubblicati in doppio album, in triplo vinile. Il disco privilegia il ritorno ai valori musicali originari: una fusion ...

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Album Review

Snarky Puppy: Immigrance

Read "Immigrance" reviewed by Josh Deakin


Three years after their last release, Snarky Puppy's thirteenth studio album Immigrance makes a statement as a standard for jazz fusion that all modern artists should take note of. The opening track, “Chonks," sets the tone of the record with a fierce drum fill from Larnell Lewis which is reminiscent of reggae tones, an aesthetic which Snarky Puppy enjoy teasing on occasion. The record keeps pace as it weaves together the collection of songs which gives the illusion ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Michael League: "Hang on to the little victories"

Read "Michael League: "Hang on to the little victories"" reviewed by Leo Sidran


In this podcast interview, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Michael League talks about Snarky Puppy, the advantages to the American musical perspective ("we are light on our feet"), why “to create something authentic isn't really possible to me," how playing wedding and steak house gigs in Texas taught him about “humility and strengthening the muscles of versatility," the importance of making everything as fun as possible on the road, why he sees himself as primarily a student, moving to Spain, and ...

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My Playlist

Michael League

Read "Michael League" reviewed by Michael League


Here are a few albums that I'm listening to now. In this list, I decided to highlight several of the artists who will be at this year's GroundUP Music Festival, an experience dedicated to exposing open-minded listeners to new music. 1. Susana Baca, Eco De Sombras (Lusaka Bop, 2000) My first introduction to arguably the most important figure in Afro-Peruvian music (as well as a former cultural ambassador of Perú) was this record. I actually played ...

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band / ensemble / orchestra

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Where You Wish You...

The Act Company
2023

buy

History

Real World Records
2023

buy

Empire Central

GroundUP Music
2022

buy

Immigrance

GroundUP Music
2019

buy

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