Yellowjackets Faqs

Yellowjackets FAQ's

Freda (Greenhouse album)
	It's was originally recorded as a traditional BLUEGRASS fiddle piece written and performed by a fiddle player named KENNY BAKER . . . He was a member of a famous bluegrass band called the NEWGRASS REVIVAL . . .

Going home (Mirage a trois album)
	The synth melody was actually play by Richard Elliot on Lyricon. Lyricon was an early wind controller used by musicians like Tom Scott and Richard Elliot. It's nearly impossible to get that level of expression from a keyboard. Using Yamaha's breath controller may help a little. (RF)

Greenhouse promo video
	We did that shortly after the recording of the Greenhouse disc . . . GRP didn't know what to do with it because it was over 9 minutes long !! It was directed and produced by our good friend Brian Linse' (JH)

Left handed, upside down (Jimmy Haslip)
	i was self taught and a natural left handed person . . My Dad purchased a right handed bass for me when I was 14 years old and not knowing anything about the instrument, I learned to play it upside down and never bothered to change what I doing (JH).

Keyboards used by Russell on Joni Mitchell video 'Refuge of the roads'
	A Yamaha GS1. This was one of the first digital synths and a pedecessor to the DX7. It had an amazing feel and polyphonic aftertouch. One of my all-time favorite synths. A Dyno-My rhodes, a mod done by eccentric inventor, Chuck Monte. He really hot-rodded up the Rhodes by moving the magnets closer to the tines and putting in his own preamp and chorus. I still have it but rarely use it these days. (RF)
Keyboards used by Russell on 'Mint Jam'
	On Mint Jam I used a Korg O1W FD, Korg SG piano module, Roland 760 Sampler and a Roland 2080 module. The Wurlizer piano sound came from the O1W. My main keyboard was a Yamaha C7 acoustic piano. (RF)

Live wires promo video
	GRP Live Wires Promo video (not officially released) containing: The Dream (feat. Michael Franks), Revelation (feat. Take6) and Claire's song.

Matinee Idol (First Album)
	Matinee Idol was written for Yellowjackets' first recording. It's really a pretty simple song comprised of two sections. The first is built around a simple blues melody riding atop the interlocking drums, bass and guitar parts. The second section was influenced by my attraction to the music of Weather Report. This section revolves around a G dominant tonality, with a kind of call and response between the chord melody and the bass line. In my mind, what makes the tune work is the funky groove and the precision of all those interlocking parts. (R.F.)

Russo, Marc: why did he left the YJ
	Marc Russo left the group back in 1989 and he had some very interesting propositions and new committments in his professional career . . . As we are all friends . . . We supported him and his decision to go and fullfill his new direction. We still get a chance to perfrom from time to time and I can only say that it brings back some wonderful memories and a very enjoyable time together playing music . . . . . (JH)

Shades
	This was our fourth recording and our 1st for MCA JAZZ . . . . . So I had worked with Gary Katz and Donald Fagen on several projects prior to recording SHADES . . . . . . I really Love Donald's writing and out of curiosity during a session with him, I asked him if he had any songs that could be recorded by the Yellowjakcets ! He said YES !!! and gave me a demo of the song that became our title cut ! I didn't even realize it, but the song had been titled by Donald and was originally called ROUGH STUFF . . . . . Not knowing that it was titled we called it SHADES ( the slang expression for sunglasses) . . . . And thought it would have been chosen by the recording company as a possible single for radio airplay !!!!! ?? NOT THE CASE . . . . They picked "AND YOU KNOW THAT" and then they decided that it would be interesting to use Donald's tune SHADES as a bonus track for the Compact Disc ! . . . A marketing ploy to sell Cds !!! Regardless . . . . Donald liked our version of the song and it is duly noted on the Steely Dan website !! All in All . . . We are proud of this CD, it was a total blast making this recording and it won a Grammy for BEST R&B INSTRUMENTAL 1986 . . . . (JH) At the time Shades came out, we were still in the LP realm. That meant you could only get about 20 min/side on an LP before losing level and to some extent quality. We had too much music and had to drop 2 tunes (Wildcats, Shades). We picked the songs that we felt made the most cohesive program. Fortunately with the advent of the CD, we could include everything. (RF)

Shop bass, listed on 'Dreamland'
	That was pertaining to a bass that I got from MIKE TOBIAS . . It was hanging out in the a back corner of his SHOP . . . behind a talble and was used primarily to thump on and check out amps ! I liked it and borrowed it for the DREAMLAND project . . . When asked by the engineer; MALCOLM POLLOCK "What bass it was?" I answered . . . "It's a SHOP BASS! ". . . It stuck and we listed it as such on the credits as it was a work horse for the recording ! (JH)

Spin, the
	ON the entire SPIN recording I was exclusively playing a TOBIAS 5 string fretless . . . . It's a basic Tobias and I was using original DEAN MARKLEY round wound strings; I just plugged into a direct box . . . I believe I had a SIMON BOX at the time and that's all !!! (JH)

Yellowjackets (1st album), bass used by Jimmy
	It was a Yamaha BB2000 that I had just recieved as an endorsee . . . I plugged it in, it sounded great and I used it for almost the entire recording ! (JH)