YELLOWJACKETS - Raising Our Voice
Mack Avenue Records: MAC1137
Russell Ferrante (piano and Keyboards) Bob Mintzer (saxophones and EWI) William Kennedy (drums) Dane Alderson (bass) featuring Luciana Souza (vocals)
No recording dates or location given.
No one could accuse the `Yellowjackets`, that most urbane of jazz groups, of lacking consistency. For nearly 40 years they have been producing music that aims to invite the interest of the truly committed jazz muso whilst reaching out to entice those who simply like vivacious and soulful instrumentals. It’s too substantial to be categorised as easy listening but it exists in a sort of half-way house between that and modern jazz; `the sound of surprise it ain’t but in its execution it represents musicianship of the highest order, polished and immaculate in every respect.
For this latest release they have re-introduced a vocalist to the line-up who delivers mainly non-lexical Flora Purim style refrains to add colour and dimension to the theme statements and counterpoint to the instrumental sounds; on a couple of occasions she sings in what sounds like Portuguese in a rather flat Astrid Gilberto manner but in the main she warbles and la, la’s her way through the set contributing svelte flow. The tunes themselves fall into fairly predictable patterns: there is smooth and silky, perky and jerky, laid back and Latin with a straight-ahead swinger to ring the changes plus a nod to their back catalogue with the opener `Man Facing North`. Everybody gets to contribute something to the playlist including the new bass player, Dane Alderson who inhabits and enhances the ethos of the music with his warm, soft focus sound and who like his compatriots proves to be a formidable practioner of the art
.
So what’s not to like? I suppose that to ears attuned to listening to more cutting edge styles of jazz the Yellowjackets music sounds a bit `off the peg`, devoid of tension and effort – though clearly the mastery demonstrated by Ferrante & Co has only been achieved at the expense of a great deal of effort. Perhaps because they make it sound so effortless the attention easily wanders leaving us with an appetite for something with a bit more grit and bite.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Mack Avenue Records: MAC1137
Russell Ferrante (piano and Keyboards) Bob Mintzer (saxophones and EWI) William Kennedy (drums) Dane Alderson (bass) featuring Luciana Souza (vocals)
No recording dates or location given.
No one could accuse the `Yellowjackets`, that most urbane of jazz groups, of lacking consistency. For nearly 40 years they have been producing music that aims to invite the interest of the truly committed jazz muso whilst reaching out to entice those who simply like vivacious and soulful instrumentals. It’s too substantial to be categorised as easy listening but it exists in a sort of half-way house between that and modern jazz; `the sound of surprise it ain’t but in its execution it represents musicianship of the highest order, polished and immaculate in every respect.
For this latest release they have re-introduced a vocalist to the line-up who delivers mainly non-lexical Flora Purim style refrains to add colour and dimension to the theme statements and counterpoint to the instrumental sounds; on a couple of occasions she sings in what sounds like Portuguese in a rather flat Astrid Gilberto manner but in the main she warbles and la, la’s her way through the set contributing svelte flow. The tunes themselves fall into fairly predictable patterns: there is smooth and silky, perky and jerky, laid back and Latin with a straight-ahead swinger to ring the changes plus a nod to their back catalogue with the opener `Man Facing North`. Everybody gets to contribute something to the playlist including the new bass player, Dane Alderson who inhabits and enhances the ethos of the music with his warm, soft focus sound and who like his compatriots proves to be a formidable practioner of the art
.
So what’s not to like? I suppose that to ears attuned to listening to more cutting edge styles of jazz the Yellowjackets music sounds a bit `off the peg`, devoid of tension and effort – though clearly the mastery demonstrated by Ferrante & Co has only been achieved at the expense of a great deal of effort. Perhaps because they make it sound so effortless the attention easily wanders leaving us with an appetite for something with a bit more grit and bite.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
