Yellowjackets Hope to Write Their Own Ticket

Longevity is not exactly a familiar experience for jazz ensembles. There are, of course, such stellar exceptions as the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras. But even though the Ellington personnel remained relatively constant for decades, the Basie history unfolded in a series of installments with different players.

The same could be said for other big bands--Woody Herman and Stan Kenton, to name only two--while other “ghost� bands (performing under the name of a famous leader who has died) maintain longevity in title alone.

Smaller groups have had even less success, which makes the Yellowjackets’ history of more than two decades one of the rare jazz achievements.

Keyboardist Russell Ferrante and bassist Jimmy Haslip have been with the group since it surfaced in 1977 via a recording session with guitarist Robben Ford. Saxophonist Bob Mintzer has been with the band since 1990; only the drum chair has seen a succession of players, with Marcus Baylor and Terri Lyne Carrington the most recent occupants.

Commercial success has played an important role in the Yellowjackets’ longevity. A pair of Grammy Awards in the mid-’80s and continuing top-level chart appearances have been characteristic elements in the band’s long-term high visibility. So when Warner Bros. failed recently to renew its contract, its members decided to take their recording career into their own hands and issue their next CD on their own, primarily via their Web site,https:// www.yellowjackets.com.

The first project will be a live effort, scheduled to be recorded this week at the Mint in Los Angeles. Tracks for the album will be chosen from the best selections produced during two sets each night, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We’ve been writing music for a while,� Mintzer says, “anticipating a new album, and we’ve got at least 10 new songs. But it wasn’t really clear to us what we should do in terms of signing with a label, so we thought, ‘Let’s just go in and record the music, No. 1, because it’s ripe; it’s ready to go.’ We talked to some people we knew who’d been on major labels and then gone ahead and done their own projects, and they all seemed to have done pretty well. They may have sold less numbers but made more money and wound up being the owners of their record masters, which, we’ve now discovered, is really important.�

The Yellowjackets’ recording effort is emblematic of changing tides in the business of jazz, which is searching (as it has done, with varying degrees of success, for decades) for the elusive profit point between art and commerce. But Mintzer is quick to assure Yellowjackets fans that the group will continue to work on its longevity.

“We’re in new territory,� he says. “All this is just a function of the way the industry is right now. But we feel we’re playing better quality dates than ever right now. And as soon as the new album is finished, we’ll make it available on our Web site and sell it at concerts. So don’t worry; we’ll be around. The Yellowjackets aren’t going away.�

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The Yellowjackets at the Mint, 6010 Pico Blvd. Los Angeles, Tuesday and Wednesday with sets at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. (323) 954-9630.

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Verizon on the Horizon: When George Wein first found his way into the jazz world, all he really wanted to do was play the piano, which he did (and does) with style and imagination. But when he founded the Newport Jazz Festival in 1954, his career took a dramatically different path.

Since then, for nearly 50 years, he has been the jazz world’s premiere impresario, producing concerts in virtually every part of the world (and still trying to sneak in a piano performance whenever he can find the time).

Wein, through his Festival Productions and his trusty producer Darlene Chan, is responsible for the continuing high quality of the Playboy Jazz Festival. In September he will kick off the first Verizon Music Festival, Los Angeles, which he hopes will be a continuing fall music fest (with a strong jazz component) in the Southland.

“We’re trying to do a lot of things with this,� says Wein, whose remarks are still delivered with the broad vowels of his Boston upbringing. “Since we’re doing a music festival, we have a lot of different kinds of music groups. But, hey, a jazz festival is a music festival now, anyway. They stopped being pure jazz events a long, long time ago. So our whole goal is just to present as much good quality music as we can that can relate, one way or another, to jazz.�

The festival, which takes place in locations around Los Angeles from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, features among its headliners Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Fania All-Stars, Joshua Redman, McCoy Tyner and the Lula Washington Dance Theatre, Jane Monheit, Daniela Mercury and Richard Bona.

Several of the events are linked to previously scheduled performances: the Hollywood Latin Jazz and Salsa Festival at the Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 29, and Mercury and Bona’s appearance at California Plaza on Oct. 2. The larger-venue performances will also be matched by Verizon Music Festival events in clubs such as the Temple Bar, the World Stage and the Jazz Bakery.

“We’re hoping to emphasize emerging talent in the club programs,� Wein says. “In the case of the nonprofit locations--the World Stage and the Bakery--we’re providing grants to help subsidize them, because we feel they’re very important to the Los Angeles jazz scene.�

In addition, admission to two programs--the California Plaza event with Mercury and Bona and a Sept. 30 performance at Central Park in Pasadena with Redman, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Meshell Ndegeocello and John Mayall--will be free.

“Nothing is easy about these events,� says Wein, pointing out some complications that had to be overcome with Marsalis and the Lincoln Center group, who are doing a different program--the West Coast premiere of Marsalis’ “All Rise�--with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl on Sept. 13. “But we worked it out.� Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra will do a “United In Swing� program for the Verizon event.

“You can’t do these things if you don’t have sponsors, because some acts cost a fortune,� Wein adds. “Which means you don’t always make much money, but you have to spend what it takes to offer a good show. Verizon will continue with us, and I’m naturally hoping to continue the event in Los Angeles. Once you establish a beachhead, it’s nice to continue.�

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The 2001 Verizon Music Festival at locations around Los Angeles, Sept. 28 through Oct. 2. Info: (310) 450-1173 or on the Web at https://www.verizon.com/musicfestival .