Happy 10th Anniversary to Snarky Puppy’s We Like It Here, originally released February 25, 2014.
While it’s one of the most fun records in my regular listening rotation, We Like It Here begins with a whisper. “Shofukan” opens with a twinkling guitar line, mysterious, shimmering, before the band drops in with muted horns. But soon after the curtain rises on this mysterious journey the band trades in smoke and mirrors for joyful funk. The arrangement consistently shifts gears at a moment’s notice, never once feeling random. The two sounds then entangle: around 4:15, the guitar re-emerges, horns elaborate, but a synth solo comes charging onto the scene. By the track’s end, they are perfectly fused: the mysterious opening melody forms the foundation of a shout chorus, led by the horns and ultimately sung by band and audience alike. Go see Snarky Puppy live today, and you can still sing along to “Shofukan,” just like this.
The exuberant exchange of dynamics, the reappropriation of song elements across instruments, and the boundary-breaking joy of communal music-making found on “Shofukan” is what defines We Like It Here, Snarky Puppy’s seminal live-in-studio album. The recording process combines the sonic precision of a studio release with the death-defying improvisational risks of live performance. While certainly more fusion than traditional jazz, it embraces the form’s love of community, exchange, and a never-ending search for the next thing.
This communal dimension of We Like It Here is especially clear in its engagement of the audience listening at home, rather than the one in the studio. Replete with singable melodies and clear song structures, Snarky Puppy never lose their accessibility in their more challenging moments. For example, a catchy horn riff dominates the first ninety seconds of “What About Me?” As a result, when the band cuts out for a saxophone breakdown, we assume we’re headed back to the riff. And indeed, the cadence is started, but we magnificently shift keys into brand new territory. But the move to the new key is so exciting that it doesn’t feel like our expectations have been messed with just for the sake of cleverness. Instead, it just makes the new direction more exciting, like being given a gift for no reason at all.
While dynamic full-band interplay is the main draw for “We Like It Here,” its improvisational depth is the gift that keeps on giving. The exchange between Bob Reynolds’ sax solo and Larnell Lewis’ drumming on “Outlier” is the stuff dreams are made of. Lewis—the freight train at the heart of Snarky Puppy—is simultaneously laying foundation while pushing Reynolds in brand new directions, their jam becoming a true symbiotic relationship as the rest of the band joins in. Elsewhere, Shaun Martin’s talk box solo on “Sleeper” is tender and soul-drenched, changing expectations for the instrument’s potential while lending gravity to a night mostly dedicated to joy.
Listen to the Album:
But of course, the capstone is “Lingus.” The tune itself is a masterclass: a slow, swampy horn melody paired with a funky bass riff, hard pivots to a scintillating guitar riff, and a shout chorus that anchors the ten-minute odyssey.
But it is dominated by perhaps the best-known jazz solo from the past decade, in which Cory Henry demolishes his keyboards through several minutes of lightning-in-a-bottle dexterity and creativity. Playing dizzyingly fast lines in unison on both his right and left hands, each note is intentionally placed and pushes the story further. His harmonic explorations are intense but never cerebral; he brings listeners to new places like he’s casually opening a door to a new dimension.
Of course, the solo is made greater by the rhythm section’s consistent, slowly escalating backing part, which picks up in intensity just as Henry takes new turns. And while the crowd had been holding its collective breath, it erupts once Lewis and Nathen Werth signal the end of the solo with a thundering single iteration of the Bo Didley beat. The band takes a victory lap, Henry trading licks with a horn solo, as the whole room celebrates an evening of music, creativity, and joy. There are very few things like it.
Listen: