2022 · Album
Empire Central
GroundUP Music · Released: September 30, 2022 · Award: Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, 65th Grammy Awards
Live in the Center, Together
Empire Central captures Snarky Puppy at full reach, a live document that won a Grammy for what it simply was.
Empire Central is Snarky Puppy's fifteenth album and seventh live release, recorded and released in 2022 on GroundUP Music. It won Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 65th Grammy Awards—a recognition that speaks to how the band has sustained itself not through reinvention, but through the integrity of its ensemble approach. This is a live record, which means what you hear is the thing itself: no overdubs, no studio surgery, just the band and its collaborators playing together in real time.
Snarky Puppy has always worked with a rotating cast of musicians, and that collaborative DNA runs through Empire Central. The album finds the band operating at the height of its powers—the rhythm section locked, the horns responsive, the whole thing breathing like it's been rehearsed a thousand times and also like anything could happen. PopMatters gave it four stars, recognizing it as solid work from a band that has earned its audience through decades of touring and recording. This is not a departure or a statement; it is Snarky Puppy doing what Snarky Puppy does, which by this point means something: tight, intelligent ensemble playing where every voice matters and none dominates.
For listeners unfamiliar with the band, this is a reasonable entry point—live records show you who a band actually is. For those already following them, Empire Central confirms what they already knew: that Snarky Puppy remains one of the few ensembles in contemporary music serious enough about collaboration to make it sound effortless.
