Ghost-Note is a percussion-based

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

group from

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, with a rotating membership based around founding drummer Robert "Sput" Searight and founding percussionist Nate Werth, two members of the jazz band Snarky Puppy. The group also includes bassist MonoNeon, keyboardist Dominique Xavier Taplin, saxophonist/flutist Michael Jelani Brooks, saxophonist/flutist Jonathan Mones, and saxophonist/flutist Sylvester Onyejiaka. Ghost-Note's two albums – ''Fortified'' and ''Swagism'' – both reached No. 1 on the

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

Jazz Chart.

Career

Robert "Sput" Searight founded God's Property, a

gospel choir Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compos ...

affiliated with Kirk Franklin. Nate Werth was a music student at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

and a member of Snarky Puppy, then playing jam sessions around Dallas. Searight and Werth performed together with Snarky Puppy through seven albums (of nine the group recorded during that time). In 2014, Searight and Werth wanted to create another band that would focus on percussion and what they termed "conscious funk". They formed Ghost-Note and released their first album, ''Fortified'', on the Ropeadope label in October 2015, incorporating influences from jazz, hip hop and EDM music. ''Fortified'' featured Snarky Puppy keyboardist Shaun Martin, vocalist N'Dambi and guitarist Mark Lettieri, among others. The album went to No. 1 on the

Jazz chart. ''Swagism'' was Ghost-Note's second album, released in April 2018 on Ropeadope. This album also went to No. 1 on the iTunes Jazz chart. It featured guitarist Raja Kassis, spoken word artist and author Prudence the Auset Sneed, saxophonist Kamasi Washington and guitarist Brandon "Taz" Neiderauer. Matt Stieg ''of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'' magazine wrote that, on ''Swagism'', Searight and Werth "stretch their ensemble into all possible contortions, from CTI's disco to

D'Angelo Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...

's funk. It's the omnivorous diet of

J Dilla James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006), better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer, composer and rapper. He emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michiga ...

come to life in big-band form."

Touring

Ghost-Note began touring in 2015. A rotating membership of musicians joined them onstage, including keyboardist Daniel Jones, xylosynth player Nick Werth, drummer Alvin Ford Jr and bassist Cody Wright. In 2018, the touring ensemble included bassist Dwayne "MonoNeon" Thomas Jr., keyboardists Xavier Taplin and Vaughn "V.Keys" Henry, guitarist Peter Knudsen, and saxophonist/flutist Jonathan Mones. The group has played the Edmonton International Jazz Festival, the London Jazz Festival, the TD Ottawa JazzFest, and the Montreal Jazz Fest. They have performed in Memphis, Chicago, San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Dallas, as well as at shows in Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy.

Members

* Robert "Sput" Searight - drums, keyboards * Nate Werth - percussion

Additional contributors

* AJ Brown - bass * Dywane "MonoNeon" Thomas - bass * Dominique Xavier Taplin - keyboards * Vaughn Henry - keyboards * Sylvester Onyejiaka - saxophone, flute * Jonathan Mones - saxophone, flute * Mike Jelani Brooks - saxophone, flute * Peter Knudsen - guitar * Mike Clowes - guitar * Daniel Wytannis - trombone

Discography

* ''Fortified (2015)'' * ''Swagism (2018)'' * ''Mustard n'Onions (2024)''

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Musical groups from Dallas Jazz ensembles from Texas Musical groups established in 2014 2014 establishments in Texas