Yellowjackets - Four Corners (1987)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD. As was often the case around 1987 - and as noted in the advertisement below - the CD version included extended versions of at least one track plus a bonus track tacked on the end, Indigo.

Based on the album and track titles, this is a theme album based around travel. If you're looking for traces of world music influences, you can find them occasionally, but those aren't readily apparent. Even though the group gained a new drummer for this album, William Kennedy, the music is much an extension of the good stuff the group produced for their previous album, Shades. It's jazz fusion along the lines of Weather Report (which had just split) and Steps Ahead, but the difference is in the writing. To my ears, this music skews a little more instrumental pop/smooth jazz with more hooks and hummable melodies than found with those other groups. To date, the group has released more than 25 albums and I'd put this one in the top 20% of that output - an opinion "confirmed" over at Best Ever Albums.

The album was nominated for a Grammy award in the category of Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental, eventually losing to Still Life (Talking) by the Pat Metheny Group.

Reviews/ratings:

• DownBeat (★★★★): "The commitment seems to be there, the chops certainly are, and from what Four Corners says, so is the passion."
• Billboard: "Might be the band's most derivative album ever, but considering the influences mined here, that may well appeal to fusion fans."
• CashBox: "Slick, latinified, and bubbly."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Contemporary Jazz: #3
• CashBox Jazz: #3
• Radio & Records Jazz Radio National Airplay: #1

Tracks: My favorites today are Out Of Town, Sightseeing, Mile High, and Geneva.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I'm getting some strong summer of '87 vibes from this one but nothing in particular comes to mind. That summer, between my junior and (first) senior year in college, I returned to San Antonio to spend about 3 months with my parents, had a summer job as a glazier/painter and took a couple of early morning classes at the local community college during the second summer session: Intro to Philosophy and Government. I'm not a fan of summer courses, but escaped with a B in both. 

Previously revisited for the blog:

Collection (1995)	Shades (1986)
Like A River (1993)	Samurai Samba (1985)
Greenhouse (1991)	Mirage à Trois (1983)
Politics (1988)	Yellowjackets (1981)