Mike “Maz” Maher is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated band Snarky Puppy, a group that, since its beginnings in 2004, has made it its mission to smash genre walls and steer jazz in new directions. In 2016, Maz released the album Idealist on Snarky Puppy’s homegrown label GroundUP Music. It features his new band, also called Maz, and is bursting with influences from jazz to funk to indie-rock to pop. It also found him exhibiting a talent few fans knew he had: singing.