YELLOWJACKETS - Samurai Samba (1985) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

T he hive is alive with the sound of saxophones, but it’s still all about the groove on Samurai Samba. Keyboardist Russell Ferrante chooses soft keyboard textures, the rhythm section of Haslip and Lawson keep things funky, and Russo’s saxophone comments on the action but doesn’t drive it the way he would on Shades. Otherwise, there’s not much that separates this Samba from their other moves: you have the crossover pop song (“Lonely Weekend”), intoxicating grooves (“Homecoming,” “Deat Beat”) and soulful, smooth jazz (“Daddy’s Gonna Miss You,” “Silverlake”). Since I’m naturally distrustful of jazz, I tend to watch a band that will slip a “Sylvania” and “Silverlake” onto the same album with a raised eyebrow. 

My tastes tend to run more traditional, which is to say I favor the sly dissonance of bop and its related offspring. Yellowjackets do that too, on the closing “Samurai Samba” of all places, but making an album with a little something for everyone only makes everyone a little happy. Of course, as I’ve said before, I have a big blind spot when it comes to jazz, and the ‘80s saw a transitional period where jazz, funk and pop music got swirled together into a kind of supermarket samba that initially attracted new listeners to jazz. If you ask me, the new listeners were people in silly turtlenecks with unpronounceable audiophile components (“The D is silent...”) who were convinced that jazz was the audio equivalent of wheat germ, but I don’t know why you would ask me. It is interesting, however, that jazz critics who would pore over every note recorded by Miles Davis or John Coltrane and gush at the achievements of Weather Report and Pat Metheny would seldom devote a fraction of the energy to breaking down the work of Yellowjackets or Tom Scott. But then I tend to lump jazz into one big bucket, and clearly there’s a little jazz elf at work in the bucket rolling some of the jazz grapes to one side and some to another. And that’s how I started with a hive analogy and ended up with a grape-rolling elf in a bucket. web

Tracklist:

1. Homecoming 5:13

Russell Ferrante

2. Deat Beat 5:25

Russell Ferrante / Jimmy Haslip / Ricky Lawson / Marc Russo

3. Daddy's Gonna Miss You 4:33

Russell Ferrante / Jimmy Haslip / Ricky Lawson / Marc Russo

4. Sylvania 4:14

Russell Ferrante / Jimmy Haslip / Ricky Lawson

5. Silverlake 5:45

Russell Ferrante

6. Lonely Weekend 4:20

Bobby Caldwell / Joseph Curiale / Russell Ferrante / Ricky Lawson

7. Los Mambos 4:24

Paulinho Da Costa / Russell Ferrante / Marc Russo

8. Samurai Samba 5:18

Russell Ferrante

Credits:

Vocals – Bobby Caldwell, Carl Caldwell, Marilyn Scott, Paulinho Da Costa

Bass [5-string] – Jimmy Haslip

Drums, Drums [Electric] – Ricky Lawson

Guitar – Carlos Rios, Michael Landau

Keyboards – Russell Ferrante

Percussion – Paulinho Da Costa

Saxophone [Alto] – Marc Russo

YELLOWJACKETS - Lifecycle (2008) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

If the Yellowjackets needed a guest guitarist, who would be the best person for the job? Pat Metheny would be an excellent choice, as would Al di Meola, John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell, or John Scofield. Well, the Yellowjackets did hire a guest guitarist for Lifecycle -- an excellent and well-known guitarist, in fact -- and they feature him extensively on this 2008 release. The guitarist is Mike Stern, who enjoys a strong rapport with the Yellowjackets' 2008 lineup: Russell Ferrante on acoustic piano and electric keyboards, Jimmy Haslip on electric bass, Bob Mintzer on tenor and soprano sax and bass clarinet, and Marcus Baylor on drums and percussion. Stern and the Yellowjackets are a perfectly logical combination -- especially in light of the hell-bent-for-jazz direction the Yellowjackets have favored since 1991's Greenhouse. With Greenhouse (which was Mintzer's first album with the outfit), Ferrante and Haslip made it clear that they wanted the Yellowjackets to be considered a serious, heavy-duty jazz combo instead of a group that pandered to smooth jazz stations. That isn't to say that the Yellowjackets' 1980s output lacks merit -- many of their '80s recordings are quite creative -- but with Greenhouse, Ferrante and Haslip really emphasized their Weather Report/Miles Davis/Return to Forever heritage. And that mindset continues to serve the Yellowjackets well 17 years later on Lifecycle. Jazz purists and bop snobs, of course, would argue that if you use electric instruments and have been influenced by rock or funk in any way, you aren't playing jazz, but the truth is that Stern and the Yellowjackets do bring a serious jazz improviser's mentality to engaging tracks like Haslip's bluesy "Country Living," Mintzer's mysterious "Falken's Maze," and Ferrante's probing, somewhat John Coltrane-ish "Measure of a Man." With its blend of electric and acoustic instruments, Lifecycle is relevant to both fusion and post-bop -- and it is also proof that collaborating with Stern was a very wise move for the Yellowjackets. by Alex Henderson

Tracklist:

1 Falken's Maze 6:25

Written-By – B. Mintzer

2 Country Living 6:24

Written-By – J. Haslip

3 Double Nickel 6:42

Written-By – M.Stern

4 Dreams Go 6:49

Written-By – M.Stern

5 Measure Of A Man 7:33

Written-By – R.Ferrante

6 Yahoo 4:52

Written-By – B. Mintzer

7 I Wonder 6:01

Written-By – B. Mintzer

8 3 Circles 7:30

Written-By – B. Mintzer, J. Haslip, M. Baylor, R.Ferrante

9 Claire's Closet 5:05

Written-By – R.Ferrante

10 Lazaro 5:15

Programmed By [Programming], Sequenced By [Sequencing] – Jimmy Haslip

Written-By – B. Mintzer, J. Haslip

Credits:

Marcus Baylor : Drums, Percussion

Russell Ferrante : Keyboards, Percussion, Piano

Jimmy Haslip : Bass (Electric), 

Bob Mintzer : Clarinet, Clarinet (Bass), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)

Jerry Mitkowski : Piano Technician

Mike Stern : Featured Guitar 

YELLOWJACKETS - A Rise in the Road (2013) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The title of this Yellowjackets effort is an apt one. The departure of co-founding bassist Jimmy Haslip in 2012 left a huge hole in the lineup. Haslip wasn't only the group's bassist, but one of its most productive composers. Founding pianist/keyboardist Russell Ferrante, with longtime members saxophonist Bob Mintzer and drummer Will Kennedy, eventually chose Felix Pastorius, son of the mighty Jaco, and a seasoned performer in his own right. (On a number of tracks here, he plays his father's bass, loaned to him by its owner, Metallica's Robert Trujillo.) The younger man doesn't play with the same "lead bass" flash of his dad -- at least in the studio -- his style here reflects the role Haslip played, but his tone and nimbleness are his own. (Check his fleet-fingered work as it meets Ferrante's arpeggios in "Thank You.") The band still carries within it the meld of contemporary and straight-ahead jazz -- with Mintzer there is always going to be a nod to post-bop in there -- but the feel is far more immediate and organic. They departed from their usual recording procedure and cut the album live in the studio, adding relatively few overdubs later. Mintzer's opener, "When the Lady Dances," is a straight-ahead post-bop number that pops and swings with a fine understated solo by Ferrante. The pianist offers "Can't We Elope," a rewrite of Herbie Hancock's "Canteloupe." It's one of three tracks here that features the trumpet of Ambrose Akinmusire. The meaty piano groove and the twin horns offer a stylish, fresh take on soulful hard bop. Another of the pianist's compositions "An Amber Shade of Blue," features a knotty head with some fiery call and response between Akinmusire and Mintzer -- the track fades in what seems like mid-jam. Mintzer's "I Knew His Father" is both a welcome to the younger Pastorius and a nod to Jaco--the saxophonist played in the Word of Mouth Band and was present at Felix's birth-- drawing a large circle to a close. Its meld of Latin groove, punchy swing, and boppish blues, offers the younger bassist a fine opportunity to comp, fill, and run the board as the band gets deep inside the melody. A Rise in the Road provides longtime Yellowjackets' fans plenty; but more importantly, it delivers a a bracing new approach and a renewed sense of swinging adventure.

  (This comment is posted on allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower our blog O Púbis da Rosa)

Tracklist:

1 When the Lady Dances 5:07
Bob Mintzer2 Civil War  5:47
Bob Mintzer3 Can't We Elope  5:27
Russell Ferrante4 An Informed Decision  6:29
Russell Ferrante5 Longing  7:17
Russell Ferrante6 Thank You  5:46
Bob Mintzer7 Madrugada  5:08
William Kennedy8 An Amber Shade of Blue  6:57
Russell Ferrante9 (You'll Know) When It's Time  4:52
Russell Ferrante10 I Knew His Father  4:52
Bob MintzerCredits
Bass – Felix Pastorius
Composed By – Bob Mintzer (tracks: 1, 2, 6, 10), Russell Ferrante (tracks: 3, 4, 5, 8, 9), William Kennedy (tracks: 7)
Drums, Percussion – William Kennedy
Piano, Keyboards – Russell Ferrante
Tenor Saxophone – Bob Mintzer
Trumpet – Ambrose Akinmusire (tracks: 3, 4, 8)