Yellowjackets (they lost the “The” somewhere along the way) were formed back the late ‘70s initially as a back-up band for guitarist Robben Ford. However they soon were signed on their own to Warner Brothers Records and quickly became one of the most acclaimed bands in contemporary jazz. There have been some personnel changes along the way, but the current lineup includes original founding member Russell Ferrante (keyboards) and early bandmember Will Kennedy (drums), as well as Bob Mintzer who joined the group in the mid-90s. Bassist Dane Alderson, who replaced founding member Jimmy Haslip in 2015, is the new kid on this particular block.
This band with no one leader has recently released its 30th album, Parallel Motion, on Mack Avenue and are coming to town to perform on Sunday, November 13 at the Victoria Theater at NJPAC in Newark, as part of the TD James Moody Jazz Festival. Ferrante and Mintzer spoke with WBGO’s Gary Walker about the band’s long history together and their uniquely collaborative approach to recording and performing.
Watch their conversation here:
Interview Highlights:
Gary Walker: The band Yellowjackets are Russell Ferrante on keyboards, Bob Mintzer on woodwinds, Will Kennedy on the drums and Dane Alderson on the bass. These are friendships that are formed and last a long time because Marcus Baylor was a drummer in the band for almost a decade and Marcus's wife, Jean Baylor, is a guest on this new recording and does a beautiful rendition of a tune that you wrote, Russ.
Russell Ferrante: Yes, we have a lot of influences in our music. We like all kinds of music and have worked with people from different musical genres. This tune called “If You Believe” kind of came to me. I don't normally write lyrics, but I was just inspired to write some words to go with the music. And I thought of Jean because she had sung with us on a couple previous records and she has such a soulful, beautiful feeling in her voice. She comes from the gospel tradition that seemed to fit the tune. This is a sidebar, but now Marcus and Jean have their own band, The Baylor Project, which is just going gangbusters and we're so excited for them with the success that they've had. Anyway, I called Jean and I sent her the tune. She said, “Yeah, I'd like to do it.” Because of the pandemic and logistics, we had to do it remotely, which was a little challenging. I sent her a temp track. She sang a vocal that we played to, and then she came back and when she heard what the band did, she re-sang her vocal track.
Technology, man. It's just amazing in the year 2022. Sometimes you just look to the heavens and you pray. Your early days in church as a kid had to influence you later on. I'm thinking of the tune “Revelation.” It's almost an anthem for me and it's certainly a go-to-church tune, one that has been performed a number of times. I think Robben has done it. The guitarist Phil Upchurch I believe did it.
Russell Ferrante: Yeah, I think he was the first. That’s one of our tunes that we often play as an encore. It just has a great feeling. It's a moment where we're not trying to be fancy and reinvent the wheel. We tried to deliver a feeling with that song.
But the feeling of the Yellowjackets doesn't need reinvention because the invention itself seems to be a constant within the group. Bob, you wrote the opening track “Intrigue” and it's a nice vehicle for you as well. But as the band comes together, I hear what I want to call stop-time. Is there a stop-time reference in there with “Intrigue”?
Bob Mintzer: Actually, the thinking was to acknowledge the great longstanding bands in jazz, as in Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, the Art Farmer Group with Benny Golson, Elvin Jones’ band, the John Coltrane Quartet…just sort of bringing back the spirit of those great bands that had a sound and acknowledging some of the feeling in that music but updating it and sort of going somewhere a little different. What I really was so thrilled with was what will Kennedy put on there. This sort of Charleston beat on the drums took it out of that strict straight ahead jazz realm into this other area.
It was very cool. Once again though, there's Will looking over his shoulder, just like you did in reference to the great working groups of the past that are part of the rich canon of this music. That should be a message to some of the young players that might be watching this right now: Don't be afraid to look over your shoulder, because if you don't, you have to ask yourself, “Where does your traction come from?” It has to come from that which came before. Like you just mentioned, Bob, you take that and you put a little twist on it and you make it your own and you move ahead. That to me might be the definition of parallel motion [the album’s title]. Am I right there?
Bob Mintzer: That's really interesting. The title also could infer that there are these four entities moving in parallel motion, hopefully heading in the same direction with the same intent.
