Recording of the Week, Yellowjackets, 'Parallel Motion'

As of 2022 the American jazz fusion band Yellowjackets has existed in some form for over 40 years, with this new album Parallel Motion another in a remarkably consistent stream of releases since the band’s inception. The group that became known as Yellowjackets originally began life in 1977 as the band for guitarist Robben Ford’s first solo album, with the lineup consisting of drummer Ricky Lawson, bassist Jimmy Haslip and keyboard player Russell Ferrante. Choosing to continue as a group, Ferrante and Haslip went on to be two of the longest-serving Yellowjackets members (though Haslip left the band in 2012), while saxophonist Bob Mintzer has been a staple of the group since 1991. The current incarnation of the group since 2015 now includes Mintzer and Ferrante alongside bassist Dane Alderson and drummer William Kennedy, the latter of whom originally played with the band for 12 years in the late ‘80s to late ‘90s before rejoining in 2010.

Almost thirty albums in Parallel Motion follows up the quartet’s album Jackets XL released back in 2020, also with Michigan-based label Mack Avenue Records, and stylistically not much has changed in those two years. The group’s well-tuned brand of clean, funky fusion is on full display here, with each member contributing to the album’s track listing with their own take on the sound. Bob Mintzer’s saxophone and occasionally EWI (electronic wind instrument) is the guiding light for many of these tracks, with his opener ‘Intrigue’ offering plenty to hold the listener’s attention, with his intertwining saxophone lines zig-zagging through different melodic flavours, and while the proceeding Ferrante tune ‘Challenging Times’ begins slightly robotically, once the rest of the band join in things start to loosen up a little.

The relative newcomer of the group, Alderson, proves to be quite an essential component of the band’s palette throughout the record, with his bright, modern bass tone dominating the low-end. His compositional technique seems to differ the most from the rest of the group too, with the obtusely harmonised ‘Onyx Manor’ standing out with its off-kilter chords and warm synth tones. Drummer Will Kennedy offers the smooth jazz-tinged ‘Samaritan’, while Ferrante contributes one of the gentler cuts on the album, ‘If You Believe’, with the penultimate track featuring guest vocals from Jean Baylor, though as the band starts picking up towards the end of the track Mintzer’s sax soars through to its upper limits.

Parallel Motion may not be the most off-the-wall album to bear the ‘fusion’ genre tag, and for some unaccustomed to the style it may well make for a gentler introduction; hardcore fusion-heads need not depsair though, as there’s still plenty of hard-hitting rock backbeats and oddly-accented, juicy harmonies to chew on too. With tidy technique and a well-carved aesthetic, as the group close in on their fifth decade of existence Yellowjackets have this down to a T.