For 40 years, the contemporary jazz group the Yellowjackets has been a commercial and critical success.
In 2023, the band visited the KNKX studios for a session and talked about how they've endured and where the group's focus is today.
Yellowjackets officially formed in the late 1970s as a backup group for the guitarist Robben Ford. It's now comprised of Russell Ferrante on piano and synthesizers, Bob Mintzer on woodwinds, Will Kennedy on drums and Dane Alderson on bass. They almost broke up shortly after forming, as Ford left the group to do solo projects.
"We all thought that was the end of the band," Ferrante said. "We had really been built around him, and he's such a dynamic and amazing musician. But we persevered."
Saxophonist Mark Russo replaced Ford's guitar, which helped keep the Yellowjackets together. The addition of Kennedy in the mid-1980s was another crucial buoy, though he also left the band for a time.
"I actually thought I was finished being a Yellowjacket, and for some reason those threads wouldn't come off of me," he said. "Ten years later, I inquired again, and we of course kept in contact. We're all one big happy family," Kennedy said.
Eventually, Mintzer, who performs on saxophone and electronic woodwind instrument, or EWI, replaced Russo. Mintzer's first encounter with the band came in a smoky cloud of bad omens at the Blue Note jazz club in New York.
"I show up at the Blue Note and the club was on fire and everybody was standing out on the street," he said. "That was our first meeting, and I thought, 'Hm, what does this mean?'"
Thankfully, the jazz club fire wasn't the red flag Mintzer thought it was. Through the years, the band has continued to spit out chart-topping albums for which they've earned dozens of awards, including two Grammy wins and 17 nominations.
A hallmark of their sound — and reason for their ongoing success — was the group's embrace of musical technology. By the early '80s, the Yellowjackets were playing heavily with MIDI, an electronic interface frequently used in music, and sequencers on recordings and in live performance. The group has since diverged from those leanings.
"I think actually we've been moving in the opposite direction the last few years, more toward an acoustic sound," Ferrante said.
But one thing hasn't changed: the band's catchy, soulful compositions, which merge jazz with contemporary R&B.
"The music always has a strong groove, and as Bob often says, you're tapping your foot. You don't exactly know why," Ferrante said. "It's music that's really carefully composed. But also, there's room for improvisation and interaction."
After 40 years, 25 albums, and a few personnel changes along the way, the Yellowjackets are still going strong and enthralling audiences across the world with their unique sense of groove and interplay.
Songs heard in this episode:
- "Intrigue"
- "Samaritan"
- "Inevitable Outcome"
