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Snarky Puppy, from left: Justin Stanton, Chris Bullock, Nate Werth, Michael League, Robert "Sput" Searight and Brian Donohoe. Bullock and Donohoe will not appear on this gig.

Snarky Puppy is a multilayered jazz outfit that can write and play with precision some of the most complex and interesting music you're likely to hear. But when it comes right down to it, the band just wants to make you dance.

"Our goal is not to confuse anybody," bassist and bandleader Michael League said of his band, which hits Martin's Downtown Bar & Grill on Friday. "If we're going to do our job, the audience is going to feel it, whether they know what we're doing or not."

Just keeping up with the stylistic impulses is like playing jazz geek fantasy league. Influences range from the jazz/funk of Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters to the dance and pop/rock of Michael Jackson and Prince. Neo-soul, chamber music, acoustic jazz, Brazilian and Balkan music fit into the mix as well, League said in a phone conversation late last month from the Lafayette, La., area where he was checking out the studio Snarky Puppy will use for its will next record.

In its five years together, the band has released three albums, each growing closer than the last to something that makes booties shake.

"It's definitely taken a turn," League said. "The first record was a little artsier, like sit-down-and-listen-to-this kind of a thing. Compositionally, I think we've all been moving ... in the kind of funkier, dancier direction, but that's not at the expense of any kind of quality. It's not in any way kind of a sell-out situation. We're trying to preserve the depth of the music but ... trying to make it to where people can't really not move."

But don't expect typical four-on-the-floor grooves. "Celebrity," one of the funkiest numbers from Snarky Puppy's latest, "Bring Us The Bright," splits time between 7/4 and 4/4 halftime beats.

"That's never going to go away," he said. "This band is about real creativity, and just the fact that it's funkier, or easier to move to, or more electric, doesn't make it any less creative."

Diverse snark

When the band began, League did all the writing and arranging. As Snarky Puppy has coalesced, he's relied more on the band members' musical personalities to drive arrangements. And more of the Pups have jumped into the songwriting mix.

Drummer/keyboardist Robert "Sput" Searight wrote "Loose Screws," a mixture of hyper-speed freak-funk, Brazilian street drum breaks and George Duke-inspired keyboard work.

Searight has a pretty impressive resume. He was part of the Gospel sensation God's Property, which with singer Kirk Franklin found major mainstream success in the 1990s -- Searight's mother had founded the act. Among his many gigs, "Sput" Searight has played keyboards with jazz drummer Billy Hart; keyboards and drums for five years with rapper Snoop Dogg; and has also worked with Erykah Badu.

On the road with Snarky Puppy, Searight sits behind the drum kit and plays with wild originality.

"He's got a really unique approach to music, period," League said. "He never plays the keyboard like a keyboardist, and he never plays the drums like a drummer. He plays every instrument like a musician. That's why he's got such a distinct voice and why he's played so many different kinds of gigs."

League, Searight, Justin Stanton (keyboards) and Nate Werth (percussion) are the core of the act. This time out, Mike Maher (trumpet), Bob Lanzetti (guitar) and Ian Rapien (saxophone) will join them.

Live in the studio

The band scored a coup recently when it signed with Ropeadope Digital, a record company that is home to such acts as DJ Logic, Marco Benevento, The Word, and North Mississippi Allstars. Master jazzers Christian McBride and Charlie Hunter issued music on Ropeadope, too.

For its first Ropeadope record, Snarky Puppy has booked Dockside Studio, a converted plantation in the swamps near Lafayette. Recent Grammy winners Dr. John and Irma Thomas recorded their winning music there, and Arcade Fire recently recorded there.

In November, the band will host a group of about 50 fans, friends and supporters to join it for the sessions, which it hopes will combine the best of its live energy with the sound of a great studio, League said.

"We've been getting a lot of pressure from fans about doing a live album," he said. "I guess because I know what it's like to hear the band in the studio and know what it's like to hear the band live -- and I'm just used to both -- I never felt that people would need a live record from us. But I guess you have to trust your audience.

"I think people like our live energy, and I think they feel like maybe it's a totally different thing to hear a Snarky Puppy album than a Snarky Puppy live show."