Stella K/Courtesy of the artist
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Stella K/Courtesy of the artist
Jazz fusion band Snarky Puppy, led by League, recently won the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards.
Stella K/Courtesy of the artist
Morning Edition Song Project is the series where songwriters are asked to write an original song about the COVID era. The newest addition is brought by Michael League. He plays all kinds of instruments; he's a producer, too — and the lead of the jazz-fusion group Snarky Puppy.
League is American, but when he's not on tour, he lives in Spain. And it was 12 months ago this very week that Spain went into lockdown. League remembers the weekend it was announced: he lived in the north of Spain and his girlfriend lives in the south. He had to act fast. "Saturday night, they made the decision. I packed an overnight bag, bought a flight," he says. "And on Sunday, I flew on one of the last flights that, I think, that operated in Spain for months." League brought a backpack and this little keyboard he can control with his laptop. And that was about it. He thought, at that point, it would be a few weeks, a couple of months; he'd make some music and go home. "And I was wrong," he says, laughing.