Yellowjackets to Release Studio Album

It’s been five years since Yellowjackets delivered a studio effort-the last was 1998’s Club Nocturne (Warner Bros.). Many of their fans might have even thought that the crossover jazz band was done forever, but nope. The band was just label shopping. And in the meantime the band self-released Mint Jam, a live album that garnered a Grammy nomination, which was enough to convince Dave Love at Heads Up to sign the group. (Mint Jam has subsequently been released overseas on Heads Up International.)

On May 27 Yellowjackets will release their latest studio-recorded CD, Time Squared. We listened and it’s part funky, part smooth. What did you expect? The band-keyboardist Russell Ferrante, bassist Jimmy Haslip, tenor saxophonist Bob Mintzer and drummer Marcus Baylor-has this to say about the meaning of the record’s title:

“A favorite pastime of jazz musicians is to alternately obscure the time, and then clearly articulate it. It’s elastic. Sometimes it’s objective, other times extremely subjective. It’s the canvas atop which we place our notes and songs. It is the backdrop to all we do. It’s the moment in which something takes place. It’s the past, present and future.”

Well, I’m kind of itching to tuck into some Jules Verne, Ray Bradbury and Carl Sagan right about now, here’s a track list:

Go Go

Monk’s Habit

Smithtown

Healing Waters

Time Squared

Gabriela Rose

Sea Folk

V

Claire @ 1 8

Village Gait

My 1st Best Friend

Originally Published March 17, 2003