Most Popular
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Barack Obama and Me
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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Mescaline on the Mexican Border
Texas is the only state in the country where peyote is sold legally. Really.
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Little Bitty Burger Barn
"It's okay to be little bitty in the big city" is an apt slogan for this new burger joint, where sliders rule
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Ghost Town CFS: Carriage House Cafe
Step back in time — to a spooky old carriage barn with a monster chicken-fried steak
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Barack Obama and Me (251)
It was the year 2000 and I was a young hungry reporter in Chicago covering a young hungry state legislator
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A Prison Cover-up During Hurricane Rita (16)
For days after the storm, inmates in Beaumont lived without A/C, electricity or hot meals. Press releases kept saying everything inside was fine. Guards and prisoners agree — that was nothing but B.S.
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Save Lobo: A Siberian Husky Mix is Sentenced to Die (28)
Why? Because he's big and intimidating and because one family complained about him over and over again
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge? (7)
All This Useless Beauty
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HoustonHipHop.com Relaunch Party (5)
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Are You Hot Enough for Citizen Lounge?
All This Useless Beauty
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Tired of the Hype, But That's All There Is
Next month, Houston gets to be a cool kid. But only for a week.
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The improbable redemption of Ashlee Simpson
"La La" Love You
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Rap's Rapidly Vanishing Female MC
The Why Chromosome
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A New Official State Song for Texas?
A case for a new — or different, anyway — state song
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Over the Weekend: Fotos, Dogs and Sausage. And Hannah Montana Too.
08:50AM 03/10/08 -
Friday Night: Wilco at Verizon Wireless Theater
05:04PM 03/10/08 -
Spring Training Doesn’t Count, Except for When It Does
04:29PM 03/10/08 -
Sausage Fest: Bangers and Mash at Red Lion Pub
11:40AM 03/08/08
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Recent Articles By Paul J. MacArthur
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Playbill
Tony Bennett
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Mount Coy
South Park Mexican carves out his place in history with the 2001 Music Awards
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Don Wilkerson
The Complete Blue Note Sessions (Blue Note)
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Lucky Star
The brass ring fell in Kirk Whalum's lap. He's kept it in his pocket ever since.
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Playbill
G3, featuring Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and John Petrucci
National Features
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SF Weekly
The Candidate
Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.
By Matt Smith -
The Pitch
How Not To Be a Rap Star
First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.
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Village Voice
Project Runaway
What becomes a gossip columnist most?
By Michael Musto
Yellowjackets
Wednesday, July 18, Sambuca Jazz Cafe, 909 Texas Avenue
By Paul J. MacArthur
Published: July 12, 2001When the Yellowjackets grew out of Robben Ford's Charles Ford Blues Band in 1981, it looked like another short-lived fusion venture à la Mahavishnu Orchestra. Sure enough, two years later Ford left the band in '83 to return to his first love: the blues. But Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ricky Lawson regrouped, brought in saxophonist Marc Russo and kept on making palatable jazz filled with pop flavors and some hints of light R&B. For a minute or two it looked like the band was headed down the Spyro Gyra path. But the Yellowjackets -- whose membership has changed often and now consists of Ferrante, Haslip, drummer Marcus Baylor and reedman Bob Mintzer -- have matured, in no small part thanks to Mintzer's challenging arrangements. Where the group once peddled a pop-R&B fusion, it now supplies a sophisticated form of acoustic/electric jazz with R&B, classical and world influences. Each successive album has a new twist. Today, the Yellowjackets are not only one of the longest-lasting fusion outfits but also one of the most innovative. Who would have thought?
