YELLOWJACKETS
Twenty Five
Heads
Up
You can hardly blame the Yellowjackets for
wanting to celebrate their 25th anniversary with a special
release, so Twenty Five is a welcome addition to
their discography. And while I’ve not followed the
band really closely for many of those 25 years, I do appreciate
that they are more interesting and utilize improvisation
to a greater degree than do many fusion or smooth jazz groups
who have sprung up in the quarter century since Yellowjackets
first began their group career.
There have been changes in the group during
that 25 year period. The original lineup was led by guitarist
Robben Ford, who had been a member of Tom Scott’s
L.A. Express and toured with Miles Davis in the 1980s. The
band still includes original members Russell Ferrante (keyboards)
aand Jimmy Haslip (bass), now joined by saxophonist Bob
Mintzer and drummer Marcus Baylor. Mintzer has been a member
since the mid-90s, while Baylor has been the de facto drummer
since 2000. On Twenty Five this lineup demonstrates
its versatility as it plays music from the Yellowjackets
repertoire ranging from 1986’s gospel-infused “Revelation”
through 1992’s “My Old School” all the
way to 2005’s Marcus Baylor composition “Free
Day,” with other significant stops along the way.
The band also demonstrates its evolution as the older songs,
while certainly recognizable, are definitely colored by
the current lineup and the way the group plays today.
Few groups have the ability to play both electric
fusion and more straightforward acoustic jazz with such
authority. Part of that comes from Mintzer, who besides
being a formidable tenor sax player is also a big band arranger
and leader of some note. Haslip and Ferrante are both talented
musicians who have grown much since the early days of the
group, and it’s certainly an advantage to have two
players in the band who’ve worked together for such
a long time. Baylor fits into the group very well, providing
kicked-up rhythmic work on numbers such as “Free Day,”
as well as straight ahead bop-influenced drumming on a piece
like the finale, “RunFeYerLife.”
This release also includes a separate DVD
that includes an entire concert recorded at the Naima Club
in Forli, Italy on October 7, 2005 (the CD was recorded
in Paris 10 days later) as well as interviews with band
members (past and present) and session players, and a variety
of other background and retrospective footage. It’s
a really nice bonus for the group’s fans, and the
DVD concert includes songs not included on the CD performance,
though there is, obviously, a fair bit of crossover.
Twenty Five is a nice package celebrating
musical longetivity and creativity that is rare these days.
If the past is any indication, the Yellowjackets are no
doubt finished with their well-deserved look back and are
already thinking about where their music might take them
next. That’s what’s kept this group vital for
this long, and it certainly has the potential to keep them
going well into the future.
