Title - Parallel Motion
Artist - Yellowjackets
For those unaware, Parallel Motion — the new album from jazz fusion legends Yellowjackets — is a true testament to the longevity and resilience of a band who debuted over 40 years ago.
Consistently reinventing themselves through elevated instrumentation in their signature electro-acoustic soundscape, the current lineup consisting of Bob Mintzer (tenor & soprano saxophone/EWI), Russell Ferrante (piano/keyboards), Will Kennedy (drums, keyboards) and Dane Alderson (electric bass, MIDI Sequencing) showcases a collective at their prime.
Furthermore, this album features 9 new original compositions and guest vocalist Jean Baylor (4x GRAMMY® Award Nominee of the Baylor Project and R&B duo Zhané) on “If You Believe."
1. Intrigue
2. Challenging Times
3. Parallel Motion
4. Onyx Manor
5. Samaritan
6. Il Mio Amico
7. Resilience
8. If You Believe
9. Early
This beautifully crafted and wholesomely organic new album opens on the quietly fervent Intrigue and the seamless melodic musings within Challenging Times and they are followed by the methodically orchestrated, titular Parallel Motion and then comes the opulent Onyx Manor and the gentle hipsway of Samaritan.
Next up is one of my own personal favorites off this new recording, the sweepingly mesmeric ambiance created within Il Mio Amico which is itself backed by the gentle R&B-jazz funk of Resilience, the album rounding out on the gentle, almost ethereal balladry of the Jean Baylor-vocalized If You Believe, closing on the drum and percussion-led Early.
Russell Ferrante — piano, keyboards
Bob Mintzer — tenor and soprano saxophones, EWI
Will Kennedy — drums, keyboards
Dane Alderson — electric bass, MIDI sequencing
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