Reviewed by Eric Saeger
Considering the space Yellowjackets’ fill in the jazz continuum, one would expect them to be more of a household name than they actually are – meaning ‘outside the realm of people with rudimentary knowledge of the genre’. Loping, slick as hell, and often gorgeous, what these guys do isn’t quite fusion and not quite WeatherScan background either. It’s highly evolved stuff that eschews the sometimes-too-quirky knuckleballs of Weather Report in favor of post-bop reverence and blow-doors melody – as in the root riff of this album’s title track, which, in a different, less populated musical world, could become as much a staple of pop culture as Brubeck’s ‘Take Five’, if you’ll allow me an excited moment. Just a peach, this record. The baseball-card stuff: it’s their 21st album, celebrating 30 years, and longtime drummer Will Kennedy is back.
Grade: A+
—–
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGMcG4AlMtE
