A Quarter Century of Bass Buzz with the Yellowjackets
Jimmy Haslip
Has it really been 25 years since Yellowjackets mainstays Jimmy Haslip and keyboardist Russell Ferrante first pollinated the contemporary-jazz scene with their stinging grooves, sophisticated compositions, and no-boundaries blowing? Apparently so, as the Jackets’ 19th release, Twenty Five, marks the occasion. The fan-friendly two-for-one package features a live-in-Paris CD and live-in-Italy DVD, with extras like archival footage and interviews with past and present members. On both discs, the band—Haslip, Ferrante, saxophonist Bob Mintzer, and drummer Marcus Bailey—reinterprets 13 tunes drawn from nine albums (ranging from their self-titled 1981 debut to last year’s Altered State). The result is an impressive outing that showcases the quartet’s integrity and maturity. We spoke to Haslip to get the lowdown on the project and the subsequent year-long celebratory tour.
How did you go about selecting and arranging material from the Yellowjackets catalog?
We waded through a vast amount of material and dug up some old warhorses we hadn’t been playing. Our goal was to try to represent all 18 albums, which was impossible, so we picked songs we were comfortable interpreting in our quartet setting. In all, we prepared about 20 pieces for the tour. Our concept, given time constraints, was to stay close to the original versions and keep them recognizable. We learned them as-recorded and then added or changed a few things to inject the current band sound. As the tour progresses into next spring, we’ll have guests such as Bobby McFerrin and Marc Russo sitting in, in various cities, which may lead to learning a few more songs.
How have you grown as a bassist and musician over the last 25 years?
Overall, the most important aspect is that I have a stronger vision as an artist. It comes down to needing good compositions to advance your musicianship, and I’ve been fortunate to be around people like Russell and Bob Mintzer. That has enabled me to grow measurably as a writer and also as a producer, because we’re meticulous about our recorded sound.
Playing-wise, my knowledge of feels, harmony, and soloing has gone up several notches, as has my string count! I started on 4-string, went to 5 in the mid ’80s, had a 6 by 1990, and I even did a tour on 7-string. Plus, I played fretless almost exclusively from 1989 to 1998. During that period I studied upright players like Ron Carter, Cecil McBee, Dave Holland, and Charlie Haden, and that opened me up to other possibilities. Acoustic bassists play with a lot of girth, which gives them a fatter sound and greasier groove. That led me to play with a more acoustic approach: using fewer notes and being more spontaneous and flowing when improvising bass lines. The band’s penchant for polyrhythmic figures and odd time signatures has also enhanced my playing. And I’m constantly motivated to learn more. It’s like the old saying: The more you know, the more you realize how much you don’t know!
What has been the one constant throughout the Yellowjackets’ history?
Russell and I have a mirrored vision of the band and the music. We set a precedent for keeping the music collaborative and open, and to not be afraid to try new ideas, for better or for worse. It has been a wonderful laboratory for all who have been involved. The future for us is to stay the course in striving to create music that both challenges and touches listeners. In addition, with the amount of clinics and residencies we now do, we have serious careers as educators to uphold.
Overview
Can Be Heard On
Yellowjackets, Twenty Five [Heads Up, 2006]
Phil Brown, The Jimi Project [www.philbrownguitar.com, 2006]
Various artists, The Royal Dan: A Tribute [Tone Center, 2006]
Jaco Pastorius Big Band, The Word Is Out [Heads Up, 2006]
Michael Franks, Rendezvous in Rio [Koch, 2006]
Currently Spinning
Donald Fagen, Morph the Cat [Reprise, 2006]; Miguel Zenón, Jíbaro [Rounder, 2006]; assorted Béla Bartók and Alban Berg; assorted solo baritone guitar music; John Scofield, Grace Under Pressure [Blue Note, 1991]; Michael McDonald, Blink of an Eye [Reprise, 1993]
Twenty Five Tour Gear
Roscoe 6-string (with D’Addario Prisms strings), SWR 550x or 750x head with Goliath III 4x10 cabinet
Jimmy’s 5 Favorite Yellowjackets Tunes
1. “City of Lights” from Run for Your Life [GRP, 1993]: “I’m not a big fan of tunes that mix funk-fusion with straightahead jazz, but Russell found a hip way to combine the two in his composition. I’m also proud of our performance on the track and how all the elements came together.”
2. “Memoirs” from Like a River [GRP, 1992]: “Bob wrote this eerily beautiful, unusual ballad that inspired all of our performances. I experimented with using a chorus pedal as a color at different, almost random points in the piece, and Bob got a gorgeous sound on his EWI [electronic wind instrument].”
3. “New Lullaby (For Gabriela)” from Dreamland [Warner Bros., 1995]: “This was special for me because I wrote it when my daughter was born. It was also the first piece we recorded where Bob played clarinet, and he gave it such a soothing, wonderful sound.”
4. “Galileo (For Jaco)” from Politics [MCA, 1988]: “I wrote this when I found out Jaco had passed away. I was really depressed, but at the same time I wanted to celebrate my relationship with him and the huge impact he had on me.”
5. “Greenhouse” from Greenhouse [GRP, 1990]: “Russell and I wrote this after reading a whole journal on global warming. It was a tribute to understanding more of what was going on with the world and the environment, and the fact that we do it on Twenty Five is certainly timely.”
How'd He Do That?
Russell Ferrante’s piano-written two-bar bass ostinato from the main section of “Imperial Strut” is quite a handful for any bassist. Advises Haslip, “It’s a study in chromatic 16th-notes and octave leaps, which requires some serious concentration. However, it is repetitive, so once you have it worked out, relax and let it sit in the center of the pocket.” Caution: If you watch Jimmy play it on the Twenty Five DVD, remember his bass is strung upside-down and lefty!
Where’s the Sheet Music?!
Much of the sheet music that Keyboard publishes is copyrighted material, licensed from the artists to run only in the printed version of the magazine. Keyboard continues to offer the explanatory text of these lessons online, but in order to get the complete song transcriptions and other bits of licensed sheet music, you need to have a copy of the magazine.
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