YellowJackets and Big Phat Band at IAJE 05
by Shannon Kennedy
This year at IAJE, the Yellowjackets and Big Phat Band performed at the
concert after one night. I went to IAJE that day, and it was the first time I
saw both these groups perform. I have seen a few of the musicians in the
groups, such as Eric Marienthal from Big Phat Band, perform as a solo artist,
but I had never seen them perform in the groups.
Yellowjackets was the first of these two groups to perform. I was most
impressed by Bob Mintzer on sax and Russell Ferrante on piano. I have been
a fan of the Yellowjackets for a while, favoring their album "Time Squared",
and was very pleased when they played several tracks off the album.
Bob Mintzer played mostly tenor sax, but also played EWI. His EWI playing
was amazing, and I remember looking over at my friend, who also plays
EWI, asking him if HE could play EWI like that.
After the Yellowjackets performed, the went outside to sign autographs, so
of course I had them sign a CD and took pictures with each of them.
Big Phat Band performed immediately after the Yellowjackets, and I was
very impressed with them as well. I wasn't blown away so much with
individual players' abilities as I was with the group as a whole. I have never
heard a big band play so together - in tune, ending and starting notes and
lines together, phrasing… It was really great getting to hear them.
They also signed autographs after, but I didn't get theirs. Instead, I talked
to a couple of the people that I knew in the band and ended up taking
pictures of other people with them for them.
If you are interested in reading more about the IAJE conference, I wrote an
article about it that you can read, or if you are interested in seeing pictures
from IAJE, I also have a picture page posted.
