While the Los Angeles-based Yellowjackets have been a creative force on the
jazz scene since 1981 when they recorded their eponymous debut, their fourth
Mack Avenue Records album, Raising Our Voice, once again ups the ante with bold
new strides by inviting vocalist extraordinaire Luciana Souza to collaborate
with the group for seven of its thirteen tunes as well as subtly taking a
resistant stand against the status quo of the cultural and political
undercurrent of our times. The Yellowjackets have consistently forged ahead in
their evolving artistic statements. The band has recorded close to 30 albums,
been nominated for 17 GRAMMY® Awards, and has adventurously amplified the
eclectic, electroacoustic
soundscape, creating a unique jazz sound since its fusion beginnings.
“The band keeps moving forward,” says saxophonist Bob Mintzer who joined
the group in 1990. “It’s one of the few partnership bands in the last four
decades. It’s democratic, laissez-faire and accommodating to everyone in the
band to contribute. We’re constantly reinventing ourselves as a reflection of
what’s happening in the world.”
The Jackets are comprised of pianist/keyboardist/co-founder Russell Ferrante,
bassist Dane Alderson in his second recording with the group and drummer Will
Kennedy, who joined the band in 1987 and then in 2000 took a 10-year hiatus
before returning to the drum chair. As a relative outsider, Souza contributes
wordless vocals as well as songs sung in Portuguese and English. She was quickly
won over by the band.
“They’re killers,” she says. “They’re so serious yet also so much
fun. We laughed a lot during the sessions. Their curiosity is alive, and their
joy is to make great
music. I was originally going to just do three songs, but it ended up that
I’m on over half the record.”
The collection features three old Yellowjackets tunes arranged for a fresh
ride with Souza’s contributions, two co-writes with Ferrante and Souza,
three new
originals each for Ferrante and Mintzer, and Alderson’s first original piece
for the band along with two short electronics interludes.
Unlike the last album, 2015’s Cohearence, where the music was toured before
the studio recordings, Raising Our Voice grew organically from the
collaborative
nature of the sessions. “There was a gap between the last album and this
one,” says Ferrante. “We hadn’t been playing a lot live, so most of these
tunes came
alive in the studio and were sparked by the electricity and chemistry with
Luciana.”
Kennedy adds, “This is the album where we were the least prepared for the
writing and rehearsals. It was a bit of a cram. But that gave it an excitement.
And then
Luciana, who came in at the last moment, was a great discovery for bringing her
talents as a gift to the band.”
The Ferrante and Souza collaboration began years earlier when talking about
working together. “As they were thinking of the next album, Russ came to the
house
and we went into my studio and we talked,” explains Souza. “He played some
music and I sang along, and it was very sweet and unguarded.”
“We looked through some music that had a Brazilian feel to it,” Ferrante
says. “We chose songs that lyrically fit her musicality.”
Raising Our Voice leads off with the vibrant reworking of the grooved “Man
Facing North” (originally recorded on the Jackets’ 1993 album Like
A River). Ferrante
on piano and Mintzer on tenor sax take swinging breaks while Souza follows
Alderson’s bass lines and sings counterpoint to the tenor with sweet, lilting
wordless
vocals that lift the song with storytelling.
Other Souza conversation-like contributions include the gorgeous ballad
“Quiet” (she wrote the first half with Portuguese and English lyrics and
Ferrante wrote the
second half), the reworking of the Brazilian-tinged “Timeline” (a Ferrante
composition from the Jackets’ 2011 album of the same name with Souza taking
the lead with wordless vocals and conversing with Mintzer) and another
re-orchestrated band number, “Solitude” from Like A River, written by
Ferrante, with new Portuguese lyrics by the singer who playfully engages in a
fetching call-and-response with both Alderson and Mintzer.
Souza also heartens Ferrante’s sprightly “Everyone Else Is Taken”
and spices his mysterious “In Search Of” which was inspired from a quote by
Thomas Merton:
“There is no one so wrong as the one who knows all the answers.”
Ferrante contributes the moving, introspective tune “Mutuality,” based on
the Martin Luther King, Jr. speech, “Network of Mutuality.” In the midst of
Souza’s musing
support, the harmony goes through every key (minor and major). “This is a good
example of making a statement but on a subtle side,” he says. “It really
connects to the title of the album, which has a political slant. It’s about
waking up to see what’s going on. A lot of musicians get in their own
bubbles of charts and harmony, but don’t connect to the world we live in. We
need to be less preoccupied and see the urgency of making music as a
resistance.”
Mintzer’s three new songs include the deep-grooved “Ecuador” (his
tenor saxophone takes the tasty role of a rhythmic instrument) and the upbeat
“Strange Times.” He also contributes the most unusual Yellowjackets tune,
“Swinging With It,” a pure swinger complete with walking bass lines.
“Straight-ahead music is a big part of my legacy,” he says.
A key component to Raising Our Voice is the band’s stellar rhythm section of
Kennedy and Alderson. “We provide a good foundation for our other band mates
to stand on” says
Kennedy. “Inspired by music from around the world, we all listen, grow, and
incorporate those influences in our sound.”
“They gave me the freedom to explore,” says Alderson, the Perth, West
Australia native who now lives in Virginia. “I’m a huge fan of the
RC-300 Loop Station by Boss combined with the Roland VB99 midi unit, which
I used on the two short pieces, ‘Emerge’ and ‘Divert.’”
Alderson’s first full composition for the Jackets is the upbeat
“Brotherly,” which buoys with his tumbling bass lines. “It was just a bag
of ideas at first,” he says. “But then I corresponded with Will and we
talked about grooves. We’re both big fans of the UK band Brotherly, so we were
influenced by it when we put this tune together.”
“It’s a different and unusual snapshot of where the Yellowjackets are
today,” says Kennedy. “We’re getting older, but we’re still inspired and
listening.”
Mintzer sees a bright future for the Yellowjackets. “What attracts me about
the group is how stylistically broad we are,” he says. “There are no
barriers. We’re free to try new things without making the music overly
complex. I always say this is the band you always wanted to be in. We’ll see
where we go next.”