Prior to being presented with the new release by Bill Laurance & Michael League, I had actually been coincidentally taking the time to reconnect with the revered Snarky Puppy series, Family Dinner...
Two sensational live releases by the Texan-based jazz fusion collective (fingers crossed for a Volume 3 one day!) that proved genuine milestones within the Snarky Puppy legacy. A project that saw the already expansive ensemble open their doors to a wide array of artists and musicians, the sheer scope of these projects is daunting even to just relay in words here. Daunting but surely creatively satisfying in immeasurable ways as well - albums that serve as definitive validation of the band's over-arching success.
In many ways, the name, successes, accolades and scale of the collective must loom like a shadow for any Snarky Puppy member and the multitude of projects its vast array of contributors have gone on to tackle in the time in and around Snarky releases.
For Snarky Puppy founder Michael League and core contributor Bill Laurance, projects which afford them the opportunity of a reinvention of sorts must serve as wholesome reprieves. For pianist Laurance, his releases have proved consistently varied - albums positioning him amongst larger-scale ensembles like Germany's WDR Big Band or more recently with The Untold Orchestra for their brilliant album 'Bloom' released earlier this year have remained alongside projects that feature smaller scale trio formations or solo piano projects.
Similarly for League, as well as the cultivation of the GroundUP Music label, the guitarist and producer has immersed himself amongst a variety of dynamic projects and ensembles including Forq and Banda Magna, as well as consistently featuring as a key collaborator for a variety of names across the worlds of jazz, R&B, folk and fusion including Edy Forey, Lil John Roberts, Becca Stevens and David Crosby.
The release of the Bill Laurance & Michael League's 'Keeping Company' serves, comparatively, as a swift follow-up to their collaborative two-man debut with 'Where You Wish You Were', released just last year again through ACT Music. In a recent Instagram post, Laurance described the new release: "this record explores further the purity and simplicity of two old friends in free musical dialogue".
His words serve as such an elegant description of a project rooted within friendship but also one undeniably rooted within sincerity - musically, there's next to nothing that Michael League and Bill Laurance can't achieve, so to continually find inspiration within each other and within collaboration in this context is truly inspiring.
The music across the eleven tracks that comprise 'Keeping Company' is typically exquisite - a beautiful collage of folk-tinged, neo-classical jazz created by definitive masters of their craft. While the project as a whole absolutely deserves every bit of your attention, it would be criminal not to emphasise the sheer perfection of 'Yours' which may very well serve as the album's brightest moment.
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