Yellowjackets

This video is drawn from the long-running German TV music series Ohne Filter and presents a 57-minute performance by the Yellowjackets in the program's studio in Baden-Baden before an audience numbering in the hundreds, captured by five cameras, on July 24, 1994. The band was promoting its then-current album, Run for Your Life, including the title tune, which is presented as an encore in the seven-song set and proves the most bebop-oriented number. The Yellowjackets perform in a straightforward manner, with bassist Jimmy Haslip only occasionally pausing the playing to announce a song title. The left-handed Haslip plays a six-string electric bass guitar that, although clearly designed to be played left-handed, nevertheless is strung as if for a right-handed player. (One can only assume that Haslip learned to play by turning right-handed guitars upside down and got used to that order of strings.) Saxophonist Bob Mintzer is the dominant instrumentalist, usually playing tenor, although he also uses a soprano and, on "Dewey," plays an EWI, with his lines doubled by keyboard player Russell Ferrante on Korg synthesizer. Haslip gets a showcase on "Jacket Town," a song from Run for Your Life, although after his early solo Mintzer steps in as the arrangement turns into a gospel-like rave-up. Drummer William Kennedy's only brief solo comes toward the end of "Run for Your Life," and thus at the end of the set. The performance gives a good sense of the Yellowjackets' appealing fusion style. Extra features of the DVD include a brief written biography of the group, a five-minute interview with producer Michael Au about Ohne Filter, and a three-minute commercial for Inakustik cable. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide