Yellowjackets - Twenty Five (2006) EAC-FLAC

Formed in 1977 and known originally as the Robben Ford Group, the eventually-named Yellowjackets consisted of Robben Ford, Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ricky Lawson, all top-notch L.A. session musicians. Ford had originally assembled this lineup to record his 1979 solo album The Inside Story which was released under the name of Robben Ford. During this initial period the band’s sound combined elements of blues, jazz fusion, and progressive rock with Ford contributing vocals. Over the next year the group began moving in a more democratic direction, eliminating Ford’s vocals and embracing a more commercially oriented jazz-funk approach overall and the band signed with Warner Bros. as Yellowjackets.

For some veteran bands, a live album can be a way to buy time until the next studio release. For the Yellowjackets, Twenty Five offerns an opportunity to celebrate 25 years of growth, change and development. Following the addition of Bob Mintzer on tenor saxophone in 1990, the band's evolution from smooth jazz to serious contemporary music was solidified. Since then, Mintzer's sax has become the predominant sound of the Yellowjackets, a decision that founding members pianist Russell Ferrante and bassist Jimmy Haslip seem to have embraced without allowing their egos to get in the way.
Among the CD's highlights are "Jacketown," drummer Marcus Baylor's "Free Day" and "Greenhouse." Live albums are by their nature an opportunity for the members of the band to flex their musical muscles, but the Yellowjackets temper the urge to overindulge in gratuitous solos, preferring to keep things within the framework of the entire group