Eclectic Yellowjackets Focus on Solid Jazz Improvisation

The Yellowjackets have been a difficult band to define. Sometimes grouped withjazz & funk aggregations such as Spyro Gyra, occasionally linked with smooth jazz, the group--formed in 1981--has flirted with both those areas from time to time. But its roots are primarily linked to the fusion jazz of the ‘70s and ‘80s. And, expanding upon those sources, they are--at their best--one of the most eminently listenable groups in the contemporary jazz arena.

On Thursday night at Catalina Bar & Grill, the Yellowjackets turned up with a slightly modified personnel lineup. With the departure of Peter Erskine, the drum chair has been filled lately by either Marcus Baylor or Terri Lyne Carrington, and on this night by Baylor. But the balance of the ensemble--founding members Russell Ferrante (keyboards), Jimmy Haslip (bass), as well as saxophonist Bob Mintzer, who joined the band a decade ago--provided a strong and stable nucleus.

Although the group has recorded with, among others, Michael Franks, Take 6 and others, their frame of reference at Catalina’s was clearly directed toward solid, improvisational playing. Mintzer is one of the rare woodwind artists who can make the electronic wind instrument into an expressive voice--one that supersedes its inherent synthesizer qualities. He was even better on tenor saxophone, especially during a loose, romping jaunt through the blues in which he never allowed his substantial technique to intrude upon the warm communicative qualities of his melodic inventions.

Ferrante’s soloing was filled with roving passages, his phrasing moving across bar lines, often finding the darker elements in the harmonies. Haslip, as always, was a marvel of articulateness, frequently doubling with Mintzer’s saxophone phrases to produce spirited thematic expositions, always providing a solid, rhythmically rooted foundation.

Baylor is clearly a gifted young drummer, one with considerable potential. But the Yellowjackets were a bit too lenient in allowing him to determine the course of many of the other players’ solos via his own too-predictable surges of sound.

That caveat aside, and despite the fact that this is a band that is in transition, the Yellowjackets are always worth hearing.

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* The Yellowjackets at Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Tonight at 8:30 p.m., $25 cover; Sunday at 7:30 p.m., $23 cover. Tonight at 10:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9:30 p.m., $20 cover. Two-drink minimum. (323) 466-2210.