Live action that sees a coming together of one of the most credible jazz rock fusion bands and one of the most applauded jazz singers
Kurt Elling and the Yellowjackets have joined forces for a bold, live reimagining of Weather Report’s most enduring compositions, captured on Alive in Europe + Bonus Studio Recordings, out today via Big Shoulders Records. The album, recorded during the 50th anniversary of the Bratislava Jazz Days, finds Elling bringing his distinctive vocal approach and original lyrics to a repertoire defined by Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul and Jaco Pastorius, while the Yellowjackets supply their signature blend of acoustic fluency and electric groove.
The live set opens with ‘The Elegant Ride (Elegant People)’, Elling’s lyrical take on Jaco Pastorius’ funk‑driven signature piece from Mysterious Traveller (1974), the album that first showcased Pastorius’ arrival as a compositional force within the group.
From there, the programme moves into Pastorius’s two‑part ‘The Fanfold Hawk / A Certain Continuum’, a suite that draws on the bassist’s harmonic language and lyrical sensibility, followed by ‘A Secret in Three Views’, Elling’s vocal realisation of Pastorius’ ‘Three Views of a Secret’ – a composition later associated with Pastorius’ solo work but rooted in the same creative world that produced his Weather Report contributions.
Wayne Shorter’s compositional voice is represented by ‘Pallas’ Palace (Palladium)’, which is just brilliant the soaring, harmonically rich piece from Heavy Weather (1977), Weather Report’s best‑selling album and a landmark of jazz‑fusion that also featured ‘Birdland’ and ‘Teen Town’. ‘Palladium’ has an admirably raucous opening. I prefer the live version to the studio one – Elling’s vocalese here is breath taking and deserves a hatful of awards for just that.
The audience start to go a bit potty for ‘Palladium’. After all – you want atmosphere on a live album and you get it here. I think too of recent Weather Report material covered by artists; ‘Palladium’ crops up more than most.
Shorter’s influence is further felt in the group’s interplay and improvisatory approach throughout the set. Joe Zawinul’s presence is marked by ‘Current Affairs’, taken from the final Weather Report studio album, Weather Report (1982), a track that blends Zawinul’s synth‑led textures with Shorter’s saxophone lyricism.
Nestled among these Weather Report classics is ‘Intrigue’, a Bob Mintzer original that first appeared on the Yellowjackets’ 2022 album Parallel Motion – a sleek, jazz‑funk number that sits comfortably alongside the fusion heritage of the main repertoire.
The collection is completed by three bonus studio recordings that offer a more intimate, refined counterpoint to the live energy. They are certainly cleaner and less febrile, the yin to the yang of the equally terrific earlier ones. Featuring Elling with pianist Joey Calderazzo, guitarist Mike Moreno, bassist Dane Alderson and drummer Marcus Finnie, these tracks are ‘The Elegant Ride’, ‘Pallas’ Palace’ and ‘The Face in the Barroom Mirror’. The studio ‘Elegant Ride’ is better than the live one, mainly because of the use of sticks rather than toms at the beginning and the slightly more exact feel.
‘The Face in the Barroom Mirror’ is another Shorter composition and isn’t on the live tracks, its moody harmonic landscape providing a fitting close to the album’s dual live‑and‑studio narrative. Rating: ****
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