Snarky Puppy bassist and founder Michael League, center, performs in Vienna, Austria on June 24, 2019. Herbert Neubauer/AFP via Getty Images/TNS.

DAVIS, Calif. — Jazz fusion collective Snarky Puppy kicked off a three-city tour of the Northern California on Thursday at UC Davis’ Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

The group, started by bandleader Michael League at the University of North Texas and now based in New York, won a Grammy this year for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album with 2022’s Empire Central.

League was joined by the familiar cast of Zack Brock on violin, Chris Bullock on tenor sax and flute, Jay Jennings and Mike “Maz” Maher on trumpet and flugelhorn, Bobby Sparks on organ, Bill Laurance on keyboards, Bob Lanzetti on guitar and percussionist Keita Ogawa. Newest member Nikki Glaspie, who spent the last few years in Beyonce’s touring band, sat behind the drum kit.

The room offered amazing acoustics for Snarky Puppy, which got to work right after taking the stage. “East Bay” began with the brass section blazing, before rolling into a solid mellow groove and a guitar solo by Lanzetti.

“Keep It On Your Mind” also showed the band in its groove with League bopping his head and dancing while plucking out the funky bass line. Laurance and Sparks went back and forth on the wobbly synth-laden tune.

“The idea was to write songs about and … for Texas; celebrating Texas’ musical legacy,” League said, explaining the origin of Empire Central and how each of the ensemble’s members wrote a song, which concluded with 16 tracks.

They proceeded onto the Brock-penned “Honiara,” which League said was difficult for the percussionists to learn. But Glaspie easily held down the syncopated beat, punched by violin and horns playing first in unison and then on contrasting rhythms. Brock shifted his playing from bluegrass-like fiddle to imitating an electric guitar, complete with screechy feedback and grinding riffs.

“Bet” had the band rocking with a Latin-inspired beat, held down by the electric guitar and keyboards driving the melody. After plucking out a steady bass line throughout most of the song, League set his bass down and and began striking the cymbals alongside Glaspie while dancing with a huge smile on his face.

On “Cliroy,” another funk-fueled Empire Central track, Snarky Puppy slowed things down. Each member had a solo, highlighted by Jennings—the primary writer—on trumpet. Jennings produced sounds for which a player would typically need a mute to implement, and played with speed and dexterity.

League dedicated emotionally instrumental tune “Belmont” to late keyboardist Bernard Wright, who contributed to the recording of the band’s latest album, and called him a hero. Wright passed away tragically after being struck by a car while crossing a street in May 2022, shortly before the album’s release. After introducing the band and leaving the stage, Snarky Puppy returned for an encore, allowing Sparks to play the closing notes on the funky whammy clavinet.

Snarky Puppy label-mates House of Waters preceded the headliners. Bassist Moto Fukishima and hammered dulcimer player Max Zbiral-Teller were joined by Keita Ogawa on drums. Fukishima was a force of nature, fingers moving at breakneck speed on his six-stringed instrument.

Zbiral-Teller, known as Max ZT, frenetically kept up and held his own on the instrument used most in Irish folk music, emitting sounds similar to that of a koto or marimba. The duo played songs from its new album, On Becoming, concluding with “Hang In The Air.”

Snarky Puppy plays at the Fox in Oakland on Friday and on the main stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival on Saturday.

Follow Mel Bowman at Twitter.com/melmichel and Instagram.com/coco_michel_coco.