The Stanford Daily Album Review: Snarky Puppy’s ‘Family Dinner – Volume 2′

By: Benjamin Sorensen, Music Desk Editor

Published: January 31, 2016

http://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/01/31/snarky-puppy-family-dinner-volume-2/

“Family Dinner” is both a series of films from the recording studio and a how-it’s-made documentary about the artistic process behind each song. It also weaves together a thoughtful commentary on love and the lifting power of music through talking head interviews and unplugged musical interludes. It’s undergirded by a strong sense of community and giving, as proceeds from the album benefit the New Orleans based Roots of Music project to empower underprivileged youth.

The album is also entirely focused on its guests. Snarky Puppy’s hospitality creates a platform of musical and cultural exchange by bringing together guests from all over the world, coming from as far as Sweden and Peru (bandleader Michael League even brings his recording crew to a private island in Mali when his desired guest, Salif Keita, is unable to make the trip to the New Orleans studio).

Jacob Collier performing his unreleased composition, "Don't You Know." (Photograph by Stella K.)
Jacob Collier performing his unreleased composition, “Don’t You Know.” (Photograph by Stella K.)

There’s no requisite age, either. Before launching into his tear-jerking ballad, “Somebody Home,” 74-year-old David Crosby (of Crosby, Stills & Nash) pokes fun at his fellow guest, 20-year-old Jacob Collier, by musing on what might happen to the wunderkind’s priorities “when the hormones kick in.” You see Michael League and the rest of the band laughing in the background, but Crosby, like all of the guests, is the star. 

Read more...