The Yellowjackets at Blues Alley

The Yellowjackets
Blues Alley
Washington, D.C.
March 9, 2025

The Yellowjackets' visit to the historic Blues Alley venue in Washington was a valuable opportunity to witness a band which has been active for nearly half a century firing on all cylinders in a warm and intimate setting. The quartet's lineup has been stable since the entry of Australian bass virtuoso Dane Alderson in 2015 and the capacity of the band members to give and take empathically in such a setting highlighted just how different they can be from other all-star ensembles.

Bob Mintzer is well known by now for all of his arranging expertise with big bands around the world as well as his command of the tenor sax and the electronic wind instrument (EWI) and Russell Ferrante is also firmly established as a keyboard legend and composer but what they, as well as Alderson on bass and Will Kennedy on drums, have in common is great attention to the group sound at all times. This means a wide range of timbres, dynamics and general sophistication in service of the whole at all times.

Of course, each member also had plenty of chops and lines to burn. Bob Mintzer displayed a remarkably wide vocabulary which was always tune-appropriate and Ferrante and Kennedy, whose tenures with the band began in 1977 and 1987 respectively, proved to be tasteful and generous musicians at all times. Perhaps 6-string bassist Dane Alderson, the youngest member of the band, was the least known to some, but he showed no shortage of modern lines and formidable technique as well as compositional savvy as evidenced by his own tune, the title track from the Yellowjackets album, Fasten Up (Mack Avenue, 2025)—an energetic fusion extravaganza well suited to the live setting.

The band also performed "Swingmeister General," a beautiful mid-tempo tune from Fasten Up firmly in the tradition as well as another tune from the same album, "Unanswered Question," a plaintive piece which alluded to some of the classical compositional influences in the band.

Violinist Marissa Regni of the National Symphony Orchestra sat in with the band on a tune which featured her extensive doubling of Mintzer's sinewy EWI lines and the band brought the house down with what has become a modern standard, Ferrante's gospel-tinged "Revelation."