Ghost-Note is the moniker of percussionists Robert “Sput” Searight and Nick Werth, two factions of Texas’s Grammy-winning jazz fusion ensemble Snarky Puppy who are known within contemporary jazz circles for what they call their “artistic communication through rhythm.” However, the variant “on their own” may be misleading; often performing as a ten-piece, the pair’s title—in percussive terms, “ghost note” refers to a note played at a low volume—proves apt, as their revolving lineup tends to cause as much, if not more, commotion than the project’s core members themselves.
Such was the case for Ghost-Note’s Pickathon Slab Session, a late night pregame to their raucous Galaxy Barn set at last year’s festival. With their performance of the MonoNeon-written “Milkshake,” the Denton duo made the most of their tight septet, with prominent sax solos and a double-duty keyboardist/keytarist at their disposal in addition to their frenetic percussing (Searight on drums, Werth on bongos before taking up a drumstick and tambourine and moving to a second drum set). It’s rhythmic chaos under cover of night, as all of the festival’s best sets are prone to be.
As always, this episode of the Slab Sessions was produced by the excellent folks at Half Stop Sessions.
