YellowJackets
Twenty five

With an artistic partnership that has endured for 25 years, the Ferrante-Haslip duo can proudly claim to be among the longest-lasting in the history of modern jazz. Even Zawinul and Shorter didn’t make it so far, putting an end to their weather report after 17 years.

To celebrate this milestone, the American quartet decided to perform some of their most beautiful “tunes” in a happy and successful live setting in Paris. It must not have been a particularly difficult decision. After nineteen albums from 1981 to today, the YellowJackets can boast a repertoire of over two hundred pieces. It is true that the group had already released a previous double live album in 2002, but due to distribution difficulties (the group had just signed with a smaller label, Heads Up), “Mint Jam” was difficult to find as an import. No matter, though, because “Twenty Five” fills this gap, showcasing the group at a particularly successful moment where their artistic statements are clear and well-defined.

It’s a way of understanding, conceiving, and playing a type of modern jazz that is light, simple but not "easy", where the harmonic component favors the construction of themes with a special allure. The more distinctly “fusion” component, and thus more infused with virtuosity and fast tempos, seems, over time, to have thinned out considerably, allowing space for a more relaxed mood that favors the piano over the synthesizer and more spacious atmospheres. Even “Geraldine,” “My Old School,” and “RunFerYerLife” seem to live a second, calmer life, less driven by the desire to dazzle. Bob Mintzer, as usual, astonishes on tenor sax with lyricism and a sense of unity; perhaps only Jimmy Haslip’s bass sometimes errs a bit too much on the side of “super-technicality.” The surprise, though not entirely unexpected, comes from Marcus Baylor: the third drummer (after Ricky Lawson and the extraordinary William Kennedy) finely crafts with the drums, reworking moments like “Greenhouse” in a very personal way.

Ultimately, a truly precious album, thanks also to the presence, inside the packaging, of a DVD recorded at the Naima Club in Forlì, on October 7, 2005. For those who have never had the opportunity to experience this legend of modern jazz live, truly an excellent opportunity.