Review: Ghost-Note ‘Mustard n’ Onions’

Review: Ghost-Note ‘Mustard n’ Onions’

By Hal Horowitz

“Are you ready to get down? C’mon and take it to the bridge. I feel good!” the great James Brown used to exhort to his audiences and on recordings before launching into one of his patented stop/start funk numbers and machine gun vocals.

It’s too bad he’s not still around because the Ghost-Note collective would surely have reached out for his services on ‘Mustard n’ Onions’, the outfit’s third album. As it is, they lead off the sprawling 15 track, hour and twenty minute opus with a tribute to the Godfather of Soul with “JB’s Out! (Do It Babay).” The opening track lays out the blueprint for Ghost-Note’s finest and most focused release yet.

But it has taken six years to get here.

The band’s founders, drummer/keyboardist Robert Sput Searight and percussionist Nate Worth (both from Snarky Puppy), have been busy with their full-time job. Plus it’s not easy corralling a 10-piece group together. Regardless, the wait has paid off with a groove-heavy set that maintains its caffeinated drive throughout its extended length.

Along with Brown, take a heaping helping of Tower of Power’s horns, add some Parliament/Funkadelic psychedelics, work in Sly and the Family Stone take-you-higher enthusiasm, a touch of Zappa-weirdness and a few oblique references to 80s new wavers Oingo Boingo, for a high voltage indication of Ghost-Note’s rollicking, party-shaking vibe.

As usual, there’s a bunch of guests invited to add their talents to this shindig. Blues-rocking guitarist Eric Gales brings his electrifying, some might say manic, playing to “Grandma’s Curtains.” Bassists don’t get much funkier that Marcus Miller who almost pops those four fat strings off the neck of his instrument on the pulsating “Yellow Dan.” Saxist Karl Denson is a natural, putting down his horn and picking up flute on the appropriately titled, conga heavy “Move With a Purpose,” which wouldn’t have been out of place on a 70s Curtis Mayfield set. The latter two tracks also benefit from a string section appearing occasionally adding some Isaac Hayes orchestrated tastiness.

But even when they don’t invite outsiders in, as on the frisky “Where’s Danny,” featuring the most volcanic trombone work this side of Trombone Shorty from the titular Danny Wytanis, the mood shuffles and pops with explosive energy.

A few selections lower the temperature, but not by much. The bubbling congas of “Slim Goodie” supply a simmering sheen allowing synthesizer player Dominique Xavier Taplin to strut her stuff. “Synesthesia” also cools things down with strings but still features superb sax work from member Mike Jelani Brooks, laying into a Stanley Turrentine-styled pulsating feel. Neither of these could be considered mellow, but in the context of the tightly wound, often agitated atmosphere dominating the proceedings, they provide a bit of respite for listeners to catch their breath.

The tasty hot-dog-toppings title track heads for P-Funk territory with crisp beats and an innovative horn chart. It’s impossible to stay seated when the Freddie Hubbard-inflected jazz trumpet solo kicks in as tightly knit drums provide the grease. It also gives guitarist Peter Knudsen a chance to open up and stretch out.

An appearance from keyboardist Bernard Wright who passed in 2022, on the closing “’Nard’s Right,” is a reminder of how wonderful his playing was. This was one of his final sessions before his untimely death.

There are some random vocals, but this is predominantly an instrumental showcase for one incredibly talented ensemble. Hopefully we don’t have to wait another six years for Ghost-Note’s follow-up.

Somewhere, James Brown is looking down and smiling.

Pre-order ‘Mustard and Onions’ Here

Ghost-Note website

“Bad Knees”