[8] Other members of the group have included pianist Vijay Iyer, saxophonists Avram Fefer, Carl Hancock Rux, Matana Roberts, and trumpeter Lewis "Flip" Barnes.

[8] The founding members of the group—Vijay Iyer and Bruce Mack on keyboards, Rene Akhan, Morgan Craft and Kirk Douglass (now of The Roots) on guitars, Jared Michael Nickerson and Jason Di Matteo on electric and acoustic bass, Swiss Chris and Qasim Naqvi on drums, vocalist Eisa Davis and violinist Simi—began rehearsing together in late August 1999, making their debut at CBGB.

By that time, the band included trumpeter Lewis “Flip” Barnes, percussionist Tia Nicole Leak, saxophonist Micah Gaugh, flautist Satch Hoyt, cellist Julia Kent, and vocalists Lisala Beatty and Justice Dilla-X.

In 2006, they released a two-CD live set, If You Can't Dazzle Them With Your Brilliance Then Baffle Them With Your Blisluth, recorded at shows in Bordeaux, France; San Sebastien, Spain; and at Tonic and the Vision Festival in New York City.

[9] That same year, the band released another two-CD studio set, More Than Posthuman: Rise Of The Mojosexual Cotillion, which was more focused on vocals, lyrics, and dance rhythms than their previous work.

In 2008, Burnt Sugar provided a live soundtrack to Oscar Micheaux's silent film In Our Gates at Lincoln Center and released the studio album Making Love To The Dark Ages in partnership with LiveWired Records.