Meanwhile, over on the Top Jazz Albums for the same week, David Sanborn was on top with Pearls, his lush recording with orchestral arrangements. And Grover Washington, Jr. was also on the chart with All My Tomorrows, a more stripped-down  album with strings.

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Top 10 Contemporary Jazz – March 22, 1992

1. Yellowjackets – Live Wires (GRP)
2. Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea – Play (Blue Note)
3. Marcus Roberts – As Serenity Approaches (Novus)
4. Diane Schuur, In Tribute (GRP)
5. The Harper Brothers, You Can Hide Inside the Music (Verve)
6. Acoustic Alchemy, Early Alchemy (GRP)
7. Vanessa Rubin, Soul Eyes (Novus)
8. Special EFX, Global Village (GRP)
9. Kilauea, Tropical Pleasures (Brainchild)
10. Steve Laury, Passion (Denon)

I was a fan of Yellowjackets at the time. I’d  listened to “Mile High,” “Geneva,” and “Wildlife” from Four Corners many times. I liked some tracks from The Spin and Greenhouse. On this live recording, I loved “Revelation” with Take 6 on vocals. I enjoyed Michael Franks adapting “Local Hero” into “The Dream.” I still recommend “Wildlife,” a track then-bassist Jimmy Haslip describes as “an African 6/8 piece with several layers of interlocking melodies and polyrhythms. It creates a hypnotic mood.”

I know Bob Mintzer is the saxophonist on this and all subsequent Yellowjackets recordings. Whatever happened to Marc Russo, the saxman he succeeded?

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Top Contemporary Jazz Albums
Week of May 4, 1996

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