“Mustard n’Onions,” the just-released, double helping of funk from Ghost-Note has been cookin’ for six-years and its savory beats strike my main nerve. Ghost-Note, the brainchild of Robert “Sput” Searight and Nate Werth, coming out of Snarky Puppy nearly ten years ago, is now a bona fide funk factory. This album of course features the powerfully, kinetic collaboration of Nate and Sput on percussion and drums with a rock steady rhythm section, a truly effervescent horn section and psychedelic keys throughout.
To top it off, they’ve brought in a legendary guest list including Benard Wright (keys) and Casey Benjamin (sax), both of whom have tragically passed prior to the release of the album. Special luminaries appear on nearly every song making this album a multi-course smorgasbord of funk flavor. Here’s my track-by-track coverage, with some extra spicy comments from Sput throughout.
“I feel like mustard stinks. I feel like onions stink. You put the two of them together … it’s just funky,” says drummer-keyboardist Robert Sput Searight.
JB’s Out! (Do It Babay) starts with a bit of horn fanfare before the rapid-fire rhythm powers up. It’s an adrenaline pumping groove, naturally featuring the horns as a JB homage oughta. This one sets the tone for the whole album as the whole band clicks as a fine-tuned, high rpm juggernaut. Special guests on this one include Mackenzie Green on vocal, Xavier Lynn on guitar and Kyla Mascovich on trumpet.
Move With a Purpose immediately feels a bit retro, with a silky synth and flightly flute opening. That segues into none other than Karl ‘Diesel’ Denson on flute with a gorgeous ride that’s sure to carry me through the summer. It also has some beautiful piano work from the band’s friend and mentor Bernard Wright.
Where’s Danny starts off with a engine-revving sound on trombone from the youngest member of the band, Atlanta’s own Danny Wytanis. It’s a rollicking, rambunctious jaunt reminscent of the great Fred Wesley who I know has been a guidepost for Danny.
The title, a band in-joke, came about after Sput, feeling the effects of psychedelics, couldn’t find his surrogate little bro at a music festival. “We lost Danny for two hours!” Sput chuckles today. “I was like, ‘I haven’t met his parents yet! It would be horrible for me to tell them I lost their kid!’”
Origins opens up with Nate on go-go esque bongos and then slides into punch horn-synth walkabout music. The horns drop out for a a bit of trance synth and after another round of the main theme, Keith Anderson guests with a power tenor sax salo. Keith is a veteran of the jazz -funk scene with his own trio and also with Roy Hargrove and Kirk Franklin. After the solo, there’s a full on, dreamy sequence with horns, synth, percussion that comes back into focus with the main theme to close out.
PoundCake features a power horn line with extra punch from Casey Benjamin as well as bari from Sylvester “Sly5thave” Onyejiaka. I feel it’s a good representation of the current signature Ghost-Note sound, absolutely crisp percussive rhythms with horns and/or keys as the lead voice. There’s a great fuzzed-up synth (or could it be Casey?) solo midway in this one for some extra grease.
Phatbacc sets a fast pace a MonoNeon bass driven groove at the outset. The pulsing horns remind me a bit of some early Brecker Brothers riffs. The rhythm relaxes a bit for a short piano injection before the horns come back firing on all cylinders. The little fills from drums, synths, bass, guitar tickle the eardrums before the full onlslaught closeout with a final shout to end it.
Grandma’s Curtains echoes Tower of Power with Sly’s bari sax scoop prominently in front. The horns cruise throughout this with excellent tenor phrasing and the high energy party sounds in the background. The swirling organ callback harkens back to Ebony Jam or Squib Cakes. Eric Gales bluesy guitar work is unmistakable. The lyric call and response “Does It Feel Real Good To You? Is Sho Feels Good to Me! Is That All Right?” makes this perfect for a house party. Gales’ close could fit right in with “What is Hip?”
Sput wrote this one in the image of his ’70s soul favorites — Tower of Power, Sly and the Family Stone, and Parliament-Funkadelic. (He also mentions a bit of Hendrix as an inspiration, and with Gales’ explosive guitar work, that association isn’t far from mind.) The tune is fever-pitch funk, with an atmosphere of sweet, personal nostalgia just underneath: “When this music was being created in the ’70s,” Sput explains, “I was pulling at my grandma’s curtains when she was babysitting me, ’cause I wanted to look out the window.”
Revival Island begins with a building, signaling note and scintillating percussion fron Nate’s amazing array of sounds. I really enjoy this one for the classic complexity of the Nate-Sput interaction. This one is an all out 160 bpm sprint from start to finish. It features some Travis Toy on pedal steel, Mark Lettieri (Snarky Puppy) on guitar including a nifty solo and Jay Jennings (Snarky Puppy) on trumpet.
Yellow Dan has the globally recognizable sound of Marcus Miller on bass for a good part of the lead. It’s a slower jam with full-strings and prominent horns but it’s Marcus’ vehicle all the way.
Most of the time when I do my reviews, I don’t read the PR until after it’s drafted but in this case, I cheated. I’m glad I did because as the notes say, this tune features “Marcus Miller, whose funky melodicism is the perfect fit for the strings-accented “Yellow Dan” — titled for its evocations of Yellowjackets and Steely Dan.
Bad Knees lets Peter Knudsen riff with some greasy funk licks to kick off, joined quickly by a super horn section melody. Sly’s bari is so seductive. The break sounds like another party where “you gonna get what you need.” Jonathan Mones absolutely smashes an amazing alto solo to close it out, definitely a shining moment.
Synesthesia takes off into another galaxy with some spacey synth that merges with a full horn galactic journey. Nate’s percussion prominence serves this one real well. Jelani Brooks has such a sultry, sensuous solo.
The instrumentation here is very rich and I’d tag this as a new favorite. I felt compelled to understand the meaning of ‘Synethesia” –
Synesthesia is when your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously. Some examples include tasting words or linking colors to numbers and letters,” according to ClevelandClinic.org. So appropriate!
Slim Goodie reminds me of that great funk-fusion of another great Texas band, The Crusaders. This one has more force and a a lush sound with beautiful keys and percussion, behind a great horn chorus. A glorious touch is the dueling sax solos out of the left and right channels between Sly and Jonathan. The keys are also extraordinary with the solo from Dominique Xavier Taplin. Bernard Wright adds some key playing on this one also.
Mustard n’Onions is probably my album favorite which is not always the case with the title track. But this one is some absolute booty shakin’ earthquakin’ funk. The bass and drum thumping with some damn funky synth sets the foundation.
The solos here are distinctive with Snarky Puppy’s trumpeter Jay Jennings up first followed by Peter Knudsen on guitar and then “Sly5thave” on bari. Hard not to love a tune that let’s the band show off one by one!
Origins Reprise features MonoNeon on the bass solo and that alone makes it special. It’s a space odyssey of the low end that builds in intensity right up to the end.
Nard’s Right, an obvious play on the late keyboardist’s name. The tune is an extended Nard solo with some terrific drum programming from Devin Way that’s bookended horn licks on the front and back end.
Buy on Bandcamp
Listen on Tidal
The Band
Robert Sput Searight – drums, keys
Nate Werth – percussion
MonoNeon – bass, rhythm guitar
Peter Knudsen – guitar
Dominique Xavier Taplin – keys
Vaughn “VKeys” Henry – keys
Sylvester “Sly5thave” Onyejiaka – bari sax, tenor sax
Mike Jelani Brooks – tenor sax
Jonathan Mones – alto sax, flute
Danny Wytanis – trombone
String Section
Sylvester “Sly5thave” Onyejiaka – conductor, arranger
Carlos Roberto Gándara Garcia – violin I
Israel Torres Araiza – violin II
Anna Arnal Ferrer – viola
The review didn’t mention it, but it sure sounds to me like, lurking under Danny’s blazing T-bone in “Where’s Danny”, is the basic horn-line of PhatBacc!
It’s a two-fer!
Love this album!!! Already got my tix for the Blue Note show in August. Can’t wait!!!
I like that observation, I think I noticed it subliminally but def hear it on relistening. Thanks for the read! Have fun at Blue Note! Here’s a vid I recorded at the Resonate Festival a few weeks back. https://youtu.be/YD5KBZgQA0A
oh, man, thanks Jake!! i think I have watched every Ghost-Note clip on YouTube about a hundred times. Love those guys. I discovered them watching the Zildjian Live series (I play drums for fun, not professionally), and was just stunned, so I started digging into their stuff. I’ll be 70 years old in a couple months and these guys have given me a new musical life. Can’t wait to see ’em.