Yellowjackets

[laughs]

And, uh, I ca- come to find out that Bob Mintzer from the Yellowjackets actually studied with him as well.

He grew up in New Rochelle.

And, um, then I moved to California and I studied with a guy named Lawrence Booking for a little while, and then I met Bill Green, who was a fantastic multi wind player, studio guy, Kansas City guy.

... who I really got deep into.

And then after Dave Weckl was probably, like, Will Kennedy from the Yellowjackets, 'cause my dad-

Mm-hmm

... was, like, a fusion head.

So he took me to the Jack- Jacksonville Jazz Festival to see the Yellowjackets.

And then probably the next sort of shock to my system was Philly Joe Jones.

Mm-hmm.

If you remember a few weeks ago, I talked about Kurt Elling, what a great vocalist he is.

We played some music from his recent album, recorded live and in the studio with the Yellowjackets, reinterpreting the music of Weather Report.

Uh, this weekend I was home hanging out, and I used my SF Jazz membership to watch them live from the, from the, uh, Minor Auditorium.

Watched him perform, and he did some scatting that even the band thought they couldn't believe he-- they were hearing.

Kurt Elling adds yet another layer to Weather Report's kaleidoscopic music, with his voice and original lyrics on a new album entitled Play Weather Report Alive in Europe.

a collection of mostly live performances recorded with the Yellow Jackets, except that what we really liked from this album was not recorded with the Yellow Jackets, not recorded in Europe and not recorded live.

It's a rendition of Elegant People, a track from Weather Report's Black Market, which appears among the bonus studio recordings that Elling added to the new release.

an elegant ride as elling renamed the tune up next another elegant ride through a well-established kylodoscopic repertoire that of sun rock with a steering rendition of nuclear war by the l a singer jimita rose Recent developments have unfortunately given this song renewed urgency, and Jemita Rose, with her distinctive artistic personality and voice, might be one of the best play singers to interpret it with contemporary credibility, as she does on her amazing new album entitled Meta Sun.

You can also listen to Back to Funk or any show here on 2SER On Demand via 2SER.com. You can get in touch with myself by sending an email through to backtofunk at 2SER.com or search for Back to Funk or Meme in your socials.

To take us out of today's show, let's take a track by Kurt Elling and Yellow Jackets.

From the recently released album, Kurt Elling and Yellow Jackets play Weather Report, a live in Europe plus bonus studio recordings released just at the end of August on Big Shoulders Recordings.

This is a track from the album, a bonus studio recording of the tune Palace Palace, Palladium.

Thanks so much for tuning in to today's show and until next week, peace and love.

Next up is a new album by Kurt Elling.

The entire title is Kurt Elling and Yellow Jackets Play Weather Report Alive in Europe.

And this is Kurt Elling's adaptations of some great Weather Report music.

We're going to begin with Palas Palace, where he reimagines Palladium from Weather Report.

What a great composition by David Crosby.

And we started out that set with another vocalist.

This was from Kurt Elling and the Yellow Jackets playing Weather Report.

And we heard his rendition of the Weather Report tune Palladium.

But in the two months between Kevin and going to work with Prince, Bobby and a couple of us tried to do smooth jazz.

And we were doing Yellow Jackets and Crusaders and David Sandor.

That's hipper than smooth jazz, really.

Yeah, this was...