# Jazz this week: Yellowjackets, Pangea, Greater St. Louis Hispanic Festival: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/09/28/jazz-week-yellowjackets-pangea-greater-st-louis-hispanic-festival-video/
- Published: 2017-09-28T09:45:10+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**The Yellowjackets opened a Sept. 23 night show at the Ferring Jazz Bistro in St.
Louis with the catchy, upbeat melody of the song “Spirit Of The West.” The quartet,
known for its unique brand of jazz fusion, put listeners in a mood to relax.**

Yet despite the sense of calm, the band held the audience in sway with an engaging
set. That was due in no small part to one of the Yellowjackets’ most renowned qualities:
unpredictability.

It was musical comfort after a difficult week in St. Louis. There had been protests
across the city following the acquittal of a white police officer charged with first-
degree murder for shooting a black man. And it was not easy for locals to find relief
in music. A number of bands that had been scheduled to play canceled their shows
because of security concerns. Outside a Billy Joel concert, protesters chanted “
no justice, no profits.”

But Jazz St. Louis, which runs shows at the Bistro, is a nonprofit organization 
and as Yellowjackets saxophonist Bob Mintzer put it, “a great organization” that
presents “shows all for the right reasons.”

The band, in its 37th year, has had a number of different lineups, but Mintzer, 
pianist Russell Ferrante and drummer Will Kennedy have performed together for much
of the band’s tenure. Bassist Dane Alderson played at the Bistro and on the band’s
most recent album, _Cohearence_, released on Mack Avenue Records in 2016.

Between songs from the band’s 1990s catalog—“Spirit Of The West” and “Red Sea”—Mintzer
switched from a tenor saxophone to an electric wind instrument (EWI), playing peppy
melodies over Ferrante’s ambient fills. It got interesting when the two musicians
layered licks atop one another. Kennedy, meanwhile, remained deep in the pocket,
using just the snare drum and the crash cymbal. Ferrante took the latter song into
a cool-jazz space, then played faster, choppier lines as Alderson laid a steady 
bass foundation underneath.

On the next song, “Out Of Town,” from the 1987 album _Four Corners_, Alderson provided
a nice swing rhythm while Ferrante and Mintzer continued to skillfully trade solos.
Ferrante built his solo around two-note phrasing before ending with a flourish across
the keys on a grand piano. Mintzer had a bluesy solo in which he asked provocative
questions and offered a series of snappy responses.

Kennedy delivered one of the highlights of the show in his solo at the end of the
song. He built it around drum rolls on the snare, mixing in rim shots off the middle
of his sticks. After making an idea known on the skins, he would hammer it home 
on the alloy and then moved steadily back and forth and side to side across his 
kit. Even at low volumes he remained expressive, using a light touch to bring the
solo to a close.

The band followed with the title track of _Cohearance_. With its absence of electronic
effects, the song had an almost classical sound. Despite the fact that it came from
a band noted for its fusion roots, it didn’t feel disjointed from the rest of the
show.

From there, the concert took a funkier turn, pivoting on a song titled “Dewey (A
Tribute To Miles Davis),” on which Mintzer returned to the EWI. In one section, 
he moved into a lower register—while Alderson reminded the audience that the bass
is the real engine of funk.

It was the Yellowjackets’ 15th year performing at the Bistro, and the last night
of a four-night run. The occasion prompted Mintzer to comment on how extended runs
like this are a dying convention.

“Jazz groups used to hone their craft—like in New York City at Birdland, they would
play for a month or two months at a time,” said Mintzer during the first set. “That
dwindled to a week at a time, and now more often than not, it’s one or two nights.
So we love this.”

The band closed the set with “Why Is It” off their 2011 Mack Avenue album, _Timeline_.
Here again, the band subverted expectations. Each band member had a chance to demonstrate
his chops. Alderson was especially impressive, crafting a musical conversation with
his bass guitar by using a looping machine to build his phrases atop one another.
The groove got many in the crowd to bob their heads. The person next to me smiled
and said, “Never seen this at a jazz show.”

Turns out it was also his first time seeing the Yellowjackets.

![Картинки по запросу Yellowjackets in St. Louis](https://i0.wp.com/3.bp.blogspot.
com/--5dtcNfMcgY/WcBXnvEWtBI/AAAAAAAAMNY/68wNZWzkdj8ayHMLnmoZDzTGa5w17GbvwCLcBGAs/
s1600/yellowjackets4.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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