GroundUp Music Festival 2025 Wraps Up with a Crescendo, Leaving Miami Buzzing for More.

February 8th-9th, 2025

A weekend of music lovers, music history and phenomenal music to add to the richness of both, Snarky Puppy‘s 9th GroundUp Music Festival in Miami was top shelf for Jazz lovers from around the globe.

John Scofield‘s Trio played as I arrived Saturday evening. Their sunset jazz set, laden velveteen with comfort worthy of campfire or cabana, salt scent of seaside soft sonic stone’s throw away from the beach. Snarky Puppy & guests aplenty, the yearly festival had plenty of seating while letting the bass walk. Seeing shirts far back to 2018’s, the crowd has every reason to keep coming back. Drums and drums upon drums drummed beats upon ear drums, Brazilian-Afro-Cubano‐Colombian sequences marched hips a’sway. Made for carnival, BJJ, capoeira and parties like GroundUp’s.

Snarky Puppy hit the stage as the night grew, teasing their new album’s release. Eerie melodies, aspirant horns and creeping keys, bass grew dank like shadows, tenuousness and chained whimsy sounds wound and wore. Temptuoues tempos, a valence towards clouds. In but a song, Snarky Puppy took places unique to ear. Instrumentalists, tighter than surgeon-tied sinew. As they neared the end of their set, they gave a loving homage to their late mentor Bernard Wright, from their Empire Central recording.

GroundUp Music Festival. Michael Fryd (@michael.fryd)

Lisa Fischer‘s soulful Q&A brought the crowd crouched camp-close on the concrete. Family Dinner set filled w Femme Fatale friends onstage with Snarky Puppy. The stage was crowded with talent. Erica, Arlena and Anna joined for the weekend as backup vocals. Gaby Moreno led the band with her full, heavenly voice to start.

Eric Gales guitar impressed, riffing “Fear the Reaper” into a flurry of funk. The man was hell-sent with his fury upon his strings, ripping a string without missing a chord.

Lisa Fischer drew me close to the light of her voice, soaring vast and clear as sky, instrumentals lofting buoyant accompaniment. After “Jumping Jack Flash,” her rendition of “Wild Horses” with Snarky Puppy’s empyrean arrangement was most heavenly indeed.

Corey Glover and Will Calhoun from Living Colour joined for Snarky Puppy’s final two Family Dinner covers of the night, though audio issues led to an underwhelming conclusion to GroundUp’s 1st night, after so much amazing music throughout the night.

The pride in curating such world-class and lesser-known global talent to share their stage, such genuine lovers of music apparent.

After party at Magic 13 was a chill time to hang and vibe at the bar before the music started back up after midnight with Electric Kiff‘s weird, funky grooves well fit for the late-night stirrings heard among the crowd. Into SPAAAAaaace with that funk!

Ground Up Day 2 blessed with a gorgeous day in Miami Beach meant cursed by parking horrors, so close as Bandshell is to the beach. Arriving later than planned, I missed the early afternoon performances of Eric Gales & others. The revolutionary tradition of drumming, jazz and musical evolution itself wove throughout the weekend. Joy Locks‘ Steel Drum workshop drove this home to the secret messages passed through islands and generations of injustice still echoing today.

Bill Frisell Trio, stringed in triplets of intertwined rhythms, a fourth bassist accompanied. Spring gallop, rivulets of gentle streams to the ear, whistled away with sudden gusts of vigor on open plain of sound.

Bill Frissel Trio. Bobby Torek (epicasknetwork)

C4 Trio‘s cover of Nirvana oozed forth with growing energy of a swamp-river in a lazy, sticky deluge. As dusk approached, their music lofted through the air.

The second night of Family Dinner‘s guests, John Scofield, led with “Hand Jive’s ‘I’ll Take Less:” stringed with tension, warm beats and bass expanding, keys dappled until all arise to chug ahead with intrigue of steamboat casinos in the growing moonlight. Next came “Agogo” from Medeski, Martin, Wood & Scofield.

After Erica Van Pelt and Madison McFerrin‘s world premiere of “Spent,” her breeze-like soothing voice arched to soar over textured bedrock and chasms of Snarky Puppy’s sounds. Her new album out March 3rd, they next playfully began the light, groovy sexy gem of a brand-new classic.

Next guest was a bona-fide “cool and chill… most famous” artist Snarky Puppy conventionally plays with, Youssou N’Dour. With haunting vocals, pulsing jazz breakbeats, cobra-like brass arisings, music drifted rich and thick like scents of rich spice and smoke.

Shayna Steele, a long-time stage guest, joined again with the well-known Snarky Puppy, looking glamorous as divas everywhere ought to know they are. Glass flat sharp brass, stirrings of keys, her voice swam, embracing reflections of dark clouds above. Next, “Gone Under” rained delightfully upon us, thunderous drums and flashy bolts of brass.

Shayna Steele & Madison McFerrin. Dave Pecoraro (@mkdevo)

Family’s filtering out as Family Dinner concluded, Bill Frisell & John Scofield prepared their duet before Snarky Puppy’s final set of the weekend. The duet’s gentle dialogue opened to Q&A with each other as they played along. “Almost like a music camp,” with nearly half the audience self-identifying as musicians. Indeed, there are more musicians among attendees than common lovers of music like your humbled reviewer!

Snarky Puppy’s last set launched more smoothly than silk and tighter than the coordination of a rocket ship’s launch, bellowing syncopation, haphazard fall of breakbeats caught in bough of brass. Laying down aloft in unison, a convergence of textures, gymnastic poetry of sounds. Spiderwebs illumined, strong and connected though glistening with independent integrity.

Michael League. Dave Pecoraro (@mkdevo)

Michael League (Snarky Puppy’s front man) and Paul Lehr, co-founders of GroundUP Music Festival, did an amazing job with GroundUp 2025. Their music education and cultural celebratory non-profit did a wonderful job bringing diverse musicians from nearly a dozen countries together, fans from around the world, to celebrate music together once again at the beautiful Miami Bandshell. Don’t miss next year for more legendary jazz!