The Yellow Jackets, who appeared at IMAC that historic Saturday night, managed to lift the spirits of all of those present. After fourteen years, a dozen CD's, three different record labels, and several changes in personnel, the Yellow Jackets sounded as good as ever having released their newest CD, entitled "Dreamland", earlier this year.

As the house lights dimmed into darkness for the first of two sets, the Yellow Jackets entered the stage amidst the taped atmospheric tones of what sounded like different types of drums combined with wind chimes and celesta. The beginning of their first tune, "Red Sea", grew seamlessly out of these taped sounds, giving the effect of an ever-present musical continuum that the Yellow Jackets tap into whenever they perform. A high level of musician ship was maintained throughout the entire evening as Bob Mintzer, the group's reed player, and Russell Ferrante, the group's keyboard player, consistently fell into perfect unison following their long improvisational passages. Mr. Ferrante, sounding at times on his MIDI keyboard like the late Miles Davis, has a sensitivity for the musical phrase few MIDI keyboard players possess. Mr. Mintzer, switching between reeds and the EWI, short for electronic wind instrument, was able to infuse his jazz influenced solos with a sound that is totally new.

Driving the band's rhythm section were Jimmy Haslip on bass, and a tireless William Kennedy on drums. Watching Mr. Haslip's left handed, "upside down" technique -- his six string bass strung in reverse order beginning with the low E string on the bottom -- is enough to make even the most sure footed dizzy at first. While such a technique makes playing in a "slap-funk" style virtually impossible, Mr. Haslip's bass lines take on a subtle melodic quality that perfectly complements the Yellow Jacket's sound. His solo during "Player Song" was almost entirely in the instrument's upper register. Mr. Kennedy laid down a nonstop groove that lasted the entire two hour set, making the difficult task of keeping time through the other members' often abstract solos look easy.

There is an ongoing feud between traditional jazz aficionados and followers of jazz fusion, the former claiming the higher ground arguing that jazz fusion lacks the rhythmic nuance and harmonic complexity of traditional jazz. On the other hand, part of what gives jazz fusion its appeal is it's accessibility. While traditional jazz solos may be more complex, they tend often to alienate the uninitiated, leaving the new comer scratching his head and bewildered amidst a flourish of syncopated and dissonant musical passages. In jazz fusion, the melodies are "catchy," the rhythm is straight forward, and the solos are tailored never to alienate the listener. It is perhaps for this reason that the band chose not to have Mr. Kennedy play a drum solo, despite the at times vociferous entreaties from certain members of the audience.

The highlight of the show was the songs the Yellow Jackets played from "Dreamland" beginning with "The Chosen", a ballad featuring Mr. Mintzer on saxophone. "The Chosen" was followed by "Blacktop" the funkiest piece of the evening and featuring Mr. Mintzer on the bass clarinet and Mr. Ferrante sounding more like Miles Davis on his keyboard that ever. After playing the title track from their new album, Mr. Mintzer explained that the theme of their music is the forging of a better world -- the vision of all that the world "could be." The Yellow Jackets left the stage with the entire house standing on its feet. Upon their returned, they dedicated their encore to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The message was clear: dream of a better world, then work to make it so.

As published in Good Times, November 28, 1995.
© 1995 by Michael L. Maliner. All rights reserved.