Yellowjackets Online: The Evening News

Review of “Mint Jam” in Downbeat Magazine

Mint Jam presents the live side of one of contemporary jazz' finest units, captured in L.A. in July, 2001. Working out on four favorites and eight previously unrecorded tunes, Yellowjackets brewed up a steaming night's entertainment for an appreciative audience at the Mint. From the Les McCann-inspired soul of "Les is Mo" through the convoluted fusion of "Evening News", on this session Yellowjackets prove once again that contemporary electric jazz isn't just about studio polish and glitz. This indie production (the result of one too many bad experiences with corporate labels, and sold only via their website) stands as perhaps their most satisfying recording to date.

A particular delight of this double-disc offering is Russ Ferrante's concentration on acoustic piano, giving the set a solidity which the electric keyboards and over-glossy studio production have sometimes liquified. His electric moments here, like "New Jig" and the organ on "Boomtown", are impeccably tasteful. The true triumph is their set-stalwart "Tortoise and the Hare", on which Ferrante restructured the original version's multiple synth parts into a splendidly engaging piano arrangement. Jimmy Haslip is a fleet-fingered marvel on six-string electric bass, moving from grinding subharmonics on the funky "Boomtown" into blissful, speedy guitaristics on "Evening News" and the long "Motet". His ball-joint interaction with Ferrante testifies to their decades of intent listening and friendship.

Bob Mintzer remains the ideal melody-man for this unit, his tenor sound bending easily to accommodate the tunes' multiple personalities. He burns with a bebop intensity through the intro of "Runferyerlife", teased onward by Marcus Baylor's tumbling drums. When he switches to the EWI wind-synth on the tense, complex "Mofongo", Mintzer is utterly smokin'. And if young Baylor isn't quite yet the drum titan that Will Kennedy was, he certainly possesses the right measures of taste and intuition to drive this stellar band along. Listen closely to Mintzer's "Mosaic" to catch how well Baylor executes the subtle rhythmic shifts.

One would not normally speak of Keith Jarrett and Yellowjackets in the same breath, which makes "Blues for KJ" seem unusual on the surface. It's a tribute to the spirit of Keith Jarrett which the 'Jackets claim has infused much of their music over twenty-odd years. Though the heavy electronic emphasis of some albums has tended to obscure the band's lyrical melodies, a sense of Jarrett's folky ambition is clearly present on this homage and "Tortoise". The uplifting "Motet", too, could have easily come from the repertoire of Jarrett's European quartet with Jan Garbarek. These are singularly beautiful performances.

If variety is the spice of life, Yellowjackets have learned how to perfectly season their live sets. It becomes difficult to sit still during the infectious "New Jig", rife with kaleidoscopic interchanges among the four, and "Les is Mo" is knee-deep in gospel-inflected soul. Of the twelve tracks only "Song for Carla", a tribute to Mintzer's wife, comes off as irresolute. For some reason Haslip appears to be MIA for the song's first half, leaving an uncomfortable gap in the support structure. The mood is buoyed upward once he enters for a pretty unison chorus with Mintzer, but then the bass drops to inaudibility again. Fortunately this quirk is only present on the one track. Mintzer's razor-keen tenor shreds the "Evening News", their habitual closer, and the eights-trading between Haslip and Baylor brings the audience to their feet for an inspiring finale. Magical.

- Todd S. Jenkins

Mint Jam: Disc 1: Les is Mo; Boomtown; Motet; Mofongo; Blues for KJ; Runferyerlife. Disc 2: Song for Carla; Tortoise and the Hare; Mosaic; New Jig; Statue of Liberty; Evening News.

Personnel: Russell Ferrante, piano, synthesizer; Bob Mintzer, tenor sax, EWI; Jimmy Haslip, electric bass; Marcus Baylor, drums.