Snarky Puppy Returns to the Paramount

Five-time Grammy-winning collective Snarky Puppy returns to the Bay Area this fall for a one-night performance at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre, presented by SFJAZZ on Friday, October 2 at 8 p.m.

Snarky Puppy. Courtesey of SFJAZZ

Led by bassist and composer Michael League, the genre-fluid ensemble has built its reputation on a sound that pulls together jazz, funk, soul, gospel, and groove-heavy improvisation into something both precise and exuberant. The group has long resisted easy categorization, and that refusal is part of its appeal. With a rotating cast that can include up to a dozen musicians, Snarky Puppy brings a collective feel rather than a fixed band, with players whose résumés span work with artists including Erykah Badu, Marcus Miller, Justin Timberlake, Roy Hargrove, Snoop Dogg, and John Mayer.

Their 2022 album Empire Central earned the band a Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and drew inspiration from their formative years in Dallas. That record folded Southern rock, electric blues, classic soul, R&B, and gospel into the group’s already expansive rhythmic language.

Snarky Puppy’s most recent release, 2025’s Somni, created with the Metropole Orkest, extends that palette further. The album pairs the band’s groove-centered writing with orchestral sweep, bringing a richer, more cinematic scale to League’s compositions.

At the Paramount, audiences can expect the band’s hallmark blend of tight ensemble interplay, deep-pocket rhythm, and the kind of live-wire momentum that has made Snarky Puppy one of the most popular large-format instrumental groups of the past decade. Whether arriving from the jazz world, the jam-band circuit, or contemporary groove music, listeners tend to meet the band in the same place: the pulse.

Get Tickets

Event: Snarky Puppy

Date: Friday, October 2, 2026

Showtime: 8 p.m.

Venue: Paramount Theatre, Oakland

Tickets go on sale Saturday, March 21, 2026, at 12 p.m. PT via SFJAZZ.org.