The Yellowjackets | Greenhouse
As music lovers, there are moments through our journey we hear various style and compositional changes that simply don’t fit our perspective. While in transit, we find ourselves in somewhat of a dismal state about what our favorite recording artists are doing and why they didn’t stay on track with what we’re comfortable with. In this case, the esteemed Yellowjackets, initially a fusion band early on, engraved their signature on canvas with confidence - holding their place well within the ranks of the best in the jazz-fusion genre. After three albums, the group decided to progress into a new direction, contextually, by adding a new member and saxophonist Marc Russo. Now, phase two of this journey for the Jackets begins to redefine their voice and compositional focus delivering exceptional recordings like “Shades, Four Corners, Politics, and The Spin.”
Founding members, Russell Ferrante and Jimmy Haslip are two of my favorite musicians. They’ve remain creative and grounded with their sound. Yet, like many of you I was a bit apprehensive with the addition of veteran saxophonist Bob Mintzer to the band. Nonetheless, after hearing his rich tonality, compositional and arranging skills I see Ferrante and Haslip arrived at their defining moment as a band after suffering the lost of fellow band-mate and friend Marc Russo to pursuing a solo career … phase three begins. Henceforth, the Jackets persevered through the storm and kept their distinct sound in tack by staying focused and readjusting the lens through this passage with thought-provoking project titled “Greenhouse.” Politically titled, this gem out of the box jewel was craved, shaped and colored with intricate streams of odd-metered textures, complex melodies and multi-layered orchestrations their famous for to give listeners a fresh glimpse of what the Yellowjackets would look like in the future.
As I hear it, the Jackets music soared sonically, their interplay was (is) simply flawless as they moved effortlessly into a new dimension artistically and compositionally with this album. Therefore, the dawn of a new day was born as “Greenhouse” pulls from a fleet of old and garnered a cluster of new fans to be “Re-Jacketized” for years to come!
Jacket fans will certainly have their favorite from their awesome catalog, in the meantime Greenhouse fits perfectly in the mist as one of many by them that I adore.
Rob Young
The Urban Music Scene
I saw them around the summertime of the year when they had this album out. The live version of "Green House" blew me away. Saxophonist Bob Mintzer was a great new team-player when that album came out, and i also enjoyed the albums which followed.
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