Yellowjackets

Time changes everything. It’s a simple piece of wisdom that’s inescapable. Music – like every other aspect of our culture – is subject to various dynamic forces: technology, commerce, fashion, politics, you name it. The result is an evolution that is barely perceptible at any given moment, but inescapable over the long haul.
The Yellowjackets, cutting-edge purveyors of innovative, eclectic jazz for twenty-five years, are no strangers to this change. Indeed, they are agents of change. With every recording since their 1981 debut album – indeed with every note they’ve played in the studio and onstage since then – the Jackets have pushed the boundaries of improvisational jazz, and have been leaders in the music’s inescapable evolution.
The story of the Yellowjackets’ genesis is admittedly convoluted – a series of creative lefts and rights with fortuitous results. Keyboardist Russell Ferrante, bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Ricky Lawson first assembled as session players for jazz guitar virtuoso Robben Ford’s 1977 instrumenal release, The Inside Story. Although Ford’s label wanted him to follow up with a more pop- and vocal-oriented album, the band – then known as the Robben Ford Group – preferred the instrumental approach. They renamed themselves the Yellowjackets, and released an album by the same name in 1981. Ford made appearances on their first couple recordings, then moved on to other projects. The band and its former leader parted on amicable terms after the release of Mirage a Trois in 1984.
"That was a very exciting time for instrumental music," Ferrante recalls. "It seemed like a lot of people were open to mixing and matching various musical styles. There wasn't the strict compartmentalization that you see in radio now."
With the success of innovative instrumental bands like Weather Report around the same time, crossing and merging genres had become a successful strategy, artistically as well as commercially. "There was no thought about whether this style should go with that one," Ferrante adds. "Nothing was genre specific. It was just the music that we had all played – R&B music and electric music and acoustic music, blues, pop, the whole thing was just all music. We just did what came naturally."
By 1987, Lawson had left the band and was replaced by William Kennedy, whose polyrhythmic sensibilities opened doors to an even greater sense of exploration – and a further departure from the familiar, Haslip recalls.
"During that time, I had been listening to a lot of African and Afro-Cuban music," he says, "and I started writing in a lot of 6/8 patterns and experimenting with that kind of thing. I brought it over to Russ, and he was really interested in it. We started experimenting with a lot of polyrhythmic composition.”
The result was Four Corners, an album with a distinctly world music sensibility, and one of the Yellowjackets’ most commercially and artistically successful albums to date.
Subsequent albums – Politics (1988) and The Spin (1989) – dispensed with some of the multi-layered intensity of Four Corners and took a more acoustic direction. Greenhouse, released in 1990, welcomed tenor saxophonist Bob Mintzer into the Yellowjackets lineup. Mintzer’s dedication to the jazz tradition, along with his highly developed skills as an arranger, have since taken the ‘Jackets to a new level of sophistication over the past twelve years.
"It was very interesting," Mintzer says of his early days with the band. "I was challenged. There was a way of playing and writing that had been in place for a while. I basically tried to step into that, acknowledge what had already been going on and add to that in some way."
Haslip’s high praise picks up where Mintzer’s modesty leaves off. "Bob is an amazing musician," he says. "He has a very distinct voice. He’s seriously steeped in the jazz tradition. He also has a very wide, eclectic view of composing, so he lends himself to what we are trying to do. He’s very much into experimentation, and he has his own big band, so his skills as an arranger are also very good to have on board."
Throughout the ‘90s, the ‘Jackets continued to explore a diverse cross-section of sound and rhythm. The relaxed and mellow Dreamland, released in 1995, marked a brief reunion with Warner Brothers that also spawned Blue Hats in 1997 and Club Nocturne in 1998.
The Yellowjackets entered the new millennium with their self-released Mint Jam. Recorded live at the Mint in Los Angeles in July 2001, the two-disc set was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Backing up the regular lineup of Ferrante, Haslip and Mintzer on Mint Jam is drummer Marcus Baylor, who has since become a permanent member of the band.
Time Squared, the followup to Mint Jam, was released on heads Up in May 2003. Their first studio recording in five years, Time Squared captures much of the energy and spontaneity that made Mint Jam a formidable Grammy contender.
In response to countless requests from fans over the years, the Yellowjackets released their first Christmas album in September 2004. Peace Round includes several traditional holiday songs, each with a unique contemporary jazz spin. Altered State, released in March 2005, continues to merge the traditional with the progressive by exploring unusual time signatures and exotic rhythms.
The Yellowjackets celebrate their milestone 25th anniversary in May 2006 with the CD/DVD release of the aptly titled Twenty-Five. The CD portion of the two-disc set features a live 2005 performance in Paris, wherein the current lineup of Ferrante, Haslip, Minzer and Baylor deliver a brilliant set that includes vintage ‘Jackets compositions along with more recent material. The DVD includes a second live performance, filmed at the Naima Club in Forli, Italy, in October 2005. In addition to the concert footage, the DVD also includes a variety of behind-the-scenes features: interviews with current and past band members, retrospective performance footage and much more.
And yet, beyond the milestone anniversaries and the polished multimedia releases that celebrate them, the Yellowjackets continue to look to the future, to the next evolutionary step. "I think we could be together for another 25 years," says Mintzer. "It's the kind of band that could thrive for a long time, because of the democratic philosophy, and the level of commitment to what we do. There’s a long-standing bond that we share, and I don’t think it will ever go away. It’s just something that developed over the years of playing together and making music together."

 

YELLOWJACKETS CELEBRATE 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Twenty-Five Features Classic Tunes That Have Made
The Jackets Jazz Fusion's Quintessential Group
Free Bonus DVD Includes Electrifying Live Performances, Interviews, And Much More

In 1981, a small crew of talented musicians led by guitar virtuoso Robben Ford dedicated themselves to pushing the boundaries of jazz with a deceptively intense, distinctive sound that incorporated elements of bebop, funk, R&B and rock. They called themselves the Yellowjackets, and the buzz was instantaneous.
That was 25 years ago, and a few of the names and faces have changed since then. What remains is a powerhouse quartet - including original members Russell Ferrante on keyboards and Jimmy Haslip on bass - that's still fiercely dedicated to that original vision of improvisational jazz that draws from a vast range of musical sources and yet defies categories. That initial buzz is no less intense today than it was a quarter century ago.
Heads Up International celebrates this landmark anniversary with the May 23, 2006, release of Twenty-Five (HUCD 3112), a combination CD/bonus DVD package that captures two electrified live performances by the Yellowjackets during their European tour in the fall of 2005. In addition to the live performances themselves, the DVD portion of the two-disc release offers an array of behind-the-scenes material: interviews with band members (past and present) and session players, and a variety of other background and retrospective footage. The project offers a snapshot of where the Jackets are today, and a look back at where they've been.
"The basic foundation, that initial spark of innovation, is still there," says Haslip. "We're very open minded and are always looking to the horizon to see what's up ahead. We're very dedicated to our craft, and we're constantly trying to progress. That ultimately is a motivating factor in keeping a band like this going. It's a laboratory, in essence, where some great experiments have taken place."
Recorded at The New Morning concert hall in Paris in October 2005, the CD is essentially an eight-song retrospective of some of the band's finest work - as interpreted by the current lineup of Haslip, Ferrante, saxophonist Bob Mintzer and drummer Marcus Baylor. The songs connect to every period of Yellowjackets' evolution - from the uplifting "Revelation" (1986) to the free-spirited "My Old School" (1992) to the intricate rhythms of Marcus Baylor's "Freeday" (2005).
"Our intention was to include some of the earlier tunes, but to play them in the way we play now," says Ferrante. "Paris was one of the strongest shows on that tour. Live performances in general are always very much in the moment, and the results can be hit-or-miss sometimes. Some nights are better than others, but everything came together on this particular night."
Bridging the old with the new has been a smooth process for Baylor, the relative newcomer to the band who joined the lineup in 2000. He's discovered that success with the Jackets is not about rank or tenure, but about being positive, open-minded and willing to grow. "When a new piece is added to the puzzle, the band automatically takes on a new personality without even thinking about it," says Baylor. "But these guys are just so open minded. They just say, 'Hey, let's just play, not necessarily this way or that way, but let's just play and find a way to connect the pieces of the puzzle together.' And when we do play, we are of one mind. Personally, that's what I want people to see, more than just this guy who plays great or that guy who plays great. I just want people to see four guys who work well as a unit and move in the same direction to make positive music for our listeners to enjoy."
The DVD performance, filmed at the Naima Club in Forli, Italy, includes a set list that digs back even further. "Imperial Strut" and "Matinee Idol" are taken from the Jackets' eponymous 1981 debut album, while Ferrante's devotional "Geraldine" and the environmentally conscious Ferrante/Haslip composition "Greenhouse" are representative of the Jackets' late-1980s and early-1990s groove. "Time Squared," a rhythmically complex piece penned by Mintzer and first heard on the 2003 album of the same name, is in part a tribute to the courage and perseverance of New York and its residents in the aftermath of 9/11.
The group considers the free bonus DVD as a way for them to give something back to their loyal fans. The DVD was directed and edited by Tony Zawinul, son of the multi-faceted jazz keyboardist Joe Zawinul. "Tony came to Los Angeles and we talked for hours at various locations, including the studio where we recorded with Robben Ford," says Ferrante. "We went to the house where we all first met. We traveled around to different studios in L.A. where we recorded. He interviewed a number of musicians that we worked with along the way. There are archival videos, mostly from Europe. A lot of the festivals there are televised, so there's documentation of a lot of those performances."
And yet, for as gratifying as milestone anniversaries can be, Yellowjackets continue to look to the future. "I think we could be together for another 25 years," says Mintzer. "It's the kind of band that could thrive for a long time, because of the democratic philosophy, and the level of commitment to what we do. There's a long-standing bond that we share, and I don't think it will ever go away. It's just something that developed over the years of playing together and making music together."
Whether you've been on board since the very early days or you've just discovered the Jackets in recent years, Twenty-Five is a big enough number to accommodate everyone. Experience the sublime magic that comes from a quarter century of innovation and exploration.