Formed in 1977 and known originally as the Robben Ford Group, the eventually-nam

ed Yellowjackets consisted of Robben Ford, Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ri

cky Lawson, all top-notch L.A. session musicians. Ford had originally assembled
this lineup to record his 1979 solo album The Inside Story which was released un
der the name of Robben Ford. During this initial period the band s sound combined
elements of blues, jazz fusion, and progressive rock with Ford contributing voca
ls. Over the next year the group began moving in a more democratic direction, el
iminating Ford s vocals and embracing a more commercially oriented jazz-funk appro
ach overall and the band signed with Warner Bros. as Yellowjackets.
A nearly complete departure from smooth jazz, Politics is arguably the Yellowjac
kets' strongest effort to date. True, there is the pure pop of the single "Local
Hero" (which features a rhythm section more rock than jazz) and the accessible
"Evening Dance" to be considered, but they're the exceptions rather than the rul
e. Like Four Corners before it, Politics engages in exotic, dreamy textures, the
new wrinkle here being the joining of Russell Ferrante's keyboards and Marc Rus
so's saxophones to create intoxicating, complex themes (the opening pair of "Oz"
and "Tortoise & the Hare" are the best examples of this technique). The disc al
so finds the Yellowjackets incorporating elements of post-bop ("Downtown," "Fore
ign Correspondent") and more traditional jazz ("Helix," which affords a rare opp
ortunity to compare Ferrante's piano technique to those of artists like Chick Co
rea and Bill Evans). The biggest difference in sound comes from Russo, who downp
lays his typically smooth soloing for more cerebral fare. Jimmy Haslip's bass ha
s grown steadily more subtle over time, though he does showcase his fretless ski
lls on "Galileo (For Jaco)" and provides a perfect complement to Russo's sax on
the romantic "Avance." The rhythms of William Kennedy have moved higher in the m
ix, which partially accounts for Haslip's diminished presence, with guest Alex A
cua again providing occasional percussion. It's a pleasure to hear the Yellowjack
ets move beyond smooth jazz to bring their talents to bear on more substantive m
usic. Despite the variety of styles -- from giddy, Ponty-like patterns to though
tful, unfolding ballads -- the Yellowjackets treat every song with care and craf
tsmanship. The band returned to self-producing after this, so some of the softne
ss in tone that co-producer David Hentschel brought to the sessions was lost on
The Spin. Of the four albums that the band made for MCA, Politics is the one to
own.