The Yellowjackets
In 1977, Ford assembled a group of veteran session musicians to record his album The Inside Story. The trio of musicians, which included keyboardist Russell Ferrante, bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Ricky Lawson, soon discovered a musical chemistry that led to the formation of the Yellowjackets. After the album's release, Ford's record label requested a more pop and vocal oriented follow-up album. Preferring instrumental compositions, this same group was eventually accepted by Warner Brothers as the Yellowjackets.
Their debut album Yellowjackets achieved public and critical acclaim. Mirage a Trois followed. In 1984 they reassembled for the Playboy Jazz Festival, adding percussionist Paulinho Da Costa and sax man Marc Russo. This concert's success resulted in the third Yellowjackets album Samurai Samba. 1986 saw the group's move to MCA Records to record Shades.
Prior to the landmark Four Corners album, Ricky Lawson departed to tour with Lionel Richie (and later, Whitney Houston) and was replaced by William Kennedy. Politics, the follow-up to Four Corners, returned to more acoustic textures. Marc Russo's final recording with the Yellowjackets was The Spin, recorded in Oslo, Norway. Greenhouse followed Russo's departure and saw the trio featuring big band arranger and saxophonist Bob Mintzer on some cuts and string accompaniments on others. Bob Mintzer eventually joined the Yellowjackets.
With 1995's Dreamland, the Yellowjackets returned to their first record label, Warner Brothers. In early 1999, William Kennedy departed the Yellowjackets and Peter Erskine joined the group for remainder of the year. Unfortunately, Erskine's schedule conflicted with the band's; he left without recording an album with the group. In early 2000, the Yellowjackets were again a trio, with Ferrante, Haislip and Mintzer using different drummers throughout the year. Marcus Baylor and Terri Lynn Carrington were among those joining the trio. Their Blue Hats release derives from this era as does Club Nocturne - a crossover album collaboration with guest vocalists Kurt Elling, Jonathan Butler and Brenda Russell.
In 2001, the self-produced and independently released live album Mint Jam saw Marcus Baylor transitioning to the band's full-time drummer. The Yellowjackets later signed with HeadsUp International and released Time Squared, Peace Round, Altered State, Twenty-Five (live CD/DVD retrospective), and Lifecycle (featuring Mike Stern on electric guitar). Russell can also be heard on three tracks of the latest David BeckerTribune recording, "Batavia.
Ferrante has taught and conducted dozens of clinics at colleges and private music schools throughout the United States, Japan and Europe. Included are those at the prestigious Berklee School of Music (who offer a course analyzing Yellowjackets music) and the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where he is an adjunct professor. He also does open counseling and live playing workshops at Musicians Institute. Noted keyboardist Derek Sherinian studied privately with Ferrante in 1985.
Read more about this topic: Russell Ferrante