Born as a studio spinoff from the sprawling, , Ghost-Note has turned into the band with nine lives. While still built on the preternatural rhythm section tandem of and percussionist , the group arrives in Oakland for two shows at Yoshi’s Nov. 25-26 featuring a revamped eight-piece lineup.
Featuring the smoldering soul pipes of Mackenzie Green, Ghost-Note brings a new vocals-up-front sound and a recent album, that’s no less ferociously grooving than the project’s two previous releases. But listening to each of the three records one could easily think there are several bands called Ghost-Note on the concert circuit. “The simplest explanation is the evolution has been shocking in some ways,” Werth said.
“When you listen to the albums, they’re all very different. You have to remember that this started as a concept album for drums and percussion, to capture this unique brotherhood that Sput and I have.” Searight was something of a studio legend by the time he joined Snarky Puppy in 2006.
He’d won a Grammy for the 1997 album “God’s Property,” earning the award in the “best gospel choir or chorus album” category with a Dallas ensemble founded by his mother, Linda Ray Hall-Searight. While the album was co-produced by urban gospel great Kirk Franklin, “I never considered what I was doing in gospel,” Searight said. “Our music wasn’t accepted in the Black church.
The pastors and elders were not having it, but youth organizations loved us and embraced .
