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Russell Ferrante

Well known as the keyboardist for the group Yellowjackets, RussellFerrante was born in San Jose, California in 1952,and began studying piano at the age of 9 years old. His early musical experiences revolved around the church where his father was the choir master. His interest in jazz and improvisation was kindled in high school and shortly thereafter he began performing with various R&B and jazz groups in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The bay area was an exciting place to be in the early 70’s with musicians freely combining musical styles. This exposure to seemingly every kind of music helped prepare Russell for his professional career which began in 1973. It was then that he met guitarist, Robben Ford and toured the U.S. and Europe as part of legendary blues singer, Jimmy Witherspoon's band. Russell moved to San Francisco in 1975 where he continued to be active on the vibrant local music scene and landed his first teaching job at the Community Music Center in the Mission District.

In 1977 Russell moved to Los Angeles in order to continue working with Robben Ford. Within a short time, he was recording and touring with a variety of musicians including Robben, Joe Farrell, Tom Scott, and Joni Mitchell. It was during this period that, Russell, Robben and Jimmy Haslip co-founded the jazz group, Yellowjackets. It was also during this time that he began working as a freelance writer, arranger and producer for numerous recordings including those by Bobby McFerrin, Michael Franks, Al Jarreau and many others.

Presently, Russell continues his 25 year association with Yellowjackets who concertize and conduct clinics worldwide. From their inception in 1980, Yellowjackets have recorded sixteen albums, receiving thirteen Grammy nominations and winning two awards, Best R&B Instrumental Performance in 1986 and Best Contemporary Jazz Performance in1989. They also wrote and performed music for the motion picture Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home.

Russell has taught and conducted dozens of clinics at colleges and private music schools throughout the United States, Japan and Europe. Included are those at the prestigious Berklee School of Music (who offer a course analyzing Yellowjackets music) and U.S.C. where he is an adjunct professor.

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Liner Notes

Lorraine Feather's Language Turns A Witty Phrase

Read "Lorraine Feather's Language Turns A Witty Phrase" reviewed by Ken Dryden


I got to know Lorraine Feather through reviewing several of her CDs, amazed by her gifts as a lyricist and singer, who was equally at home with witty songs and tender ballads. I first met Lorraine when she was performing at the late lamented Manhattan club Danny's Skylight Room with pianist Shelly Berg. We would chat during IAJE conferences and I was delighted when she invited me to write the liner notes for this CD. This release stands the test ...

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Album Review

The Yellowjackets: Parallel Motion

Read "Parallel Motion" reviewed by Peter Jones


Of the original 1977 members of the Yellowjackets, all but keyboards man Russell Ferrante departed long ago. But saxophonist Bob Mintzer, who joined in 1991, is still there and, to a large extent, the idea also lingers on: we hear echoes of it in the work of Snarky Puppy, for example. That idea was/is Californian jazz-funk. But how do you keep it sounding fresh after 45 years and 26 albums (27 if you count the one with Bobby ...

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Album Review

Grant Geissman: Blooz

Read "Blooz" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


There are several ways of judging the success of a recording. Perhaps a hearing makes the listener, if a musician, want to sit in and jam. That is a good sign. Then there is the “sit still test." For many, the direct, emotional and physical connection between music and brain leaves them simply hanging out, absence of motion impossible, sitting still not an option. Grant Geissman's Blooz happily passes both tests. Turn the volume up and a blues party comes ...

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Album Review

Marilyn Scott: The Landscape

Read "The Landscape" reviewed by Jim Worsley


Some artists feel obligated to put out a new record every one-point-three years, or whatever their factory warranty calls for (mileage may vary). Others are more interested in quality than quantity. On her first record since Standard Blue (Prana, 2017), jazz vocalist Marilyn Scott has something to say about The Landscape. More than the title track, Scott's concerns with our landscape is the scope and focus of seven original compositions, all co-written with pianists Russ Ferrante or Scott Kinsey. Scott ...

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Album Review

Robben Ford: Pure

Read "Pure" reviewed by Doug Collette


It's only fitting guitarist Robben Ford assigns a closeup of his chosen instrument to the cover of Pure. His devotion to the axe is at least equal to, if not greater than, the ardor he elicits from fretboard fanatics. But then that's a deserved devotion as the man demonstrates in less than two minutes at the very outset of his first instrumental studio album since Tiger Walk ( Blue Thumb,1997): the one-time member of Tom Scott's L.A. Express and Miles ...

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Album Review

Russell Ferrante Trio: Inflexion

Read "Inflexion" reviewed by Jim Worsley


Pianist, composer and arranger Russell Ferrante has been on the jazz scene for decades. He has worked with everyone from Lee Ritenour to Joni Mitchell to Al Jarreau to Bobby McFerrin to Eric Marienthal and many more. However, he is best known as a founding member of The Yellowjackets back in 1977, along with Robben Ford and Jimmy Haslip. In 2020, at age sixty-eight, Ferrante is the only original member still with the band, and recorded his debut album as ...

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Extended Analysis

Lorraine Feather: Language

Read "Lorraine Feather: Language" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


Lorraine Feather Language Jazzed Media 2008

By its very title, Language, from singer and lyricist Lorraine Feather, implies that Feather and company believe that they have the musical and linguistic chops to take on such a sophisticated concept for our entertainment. So it's good to find that Feather is a heavyweight who--with a championship caliber crew in her corner--delivers a resounding KO.

To some ears, story songs--word-intense tunes--may seem overly Broadwayesque and ...

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Recording

Guitarist Dave Haskell Releases Debut Album, "Pivot Point", Feat. Robben Ford, Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip

Guitarist Dave Haskell Releases Debut Album, "Pivot Point", Feat. Robben Ford, Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip

Source: Michael Bloom Media Relations

The history of jazz is strewn with brilliant players who have inexplicably eluded widespread recognition, flying under the radar of labels, journalists, and fans. But guitarist Dave Haskell’s stealth status over the past two decades isn’t hard to explain. He’s spent most of that time on the move as a commercial pilot, fulfilling a dream that took root as a child, about the same time he became enamored with the guitar. Before Haskell took to the air as a profession, ...

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Event

Lorraine Feather & Russell Ferrante To Perform At Seattle's Earshot Jazz Festival

Lorraine Feather & Russell Ferrante To Perform At Seattle's Earshot Jazz Festival

Source: Michael Bloom Media Relations

On October 12th & 13th vocalist Lorraine Feather and pianist Russell Ferrante will perform (as a duo) for two nights at Tula’s in Seattle, as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival. Lyricist/singer Lorraine Feather has been heard on numerous records, in films and on television. She has received seven Emmy nominations as a songwriter. She began focusing on solo recording projects as an artist in 2001, first featuring her lyrics to instrumental classics by Fats Waller and Duke Ellington, then ...

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Event

Vitello's Jazz Club Hosts "Jazz For Japan" Concerts And Fundraiser Event With Support From Local Jazz Community

Vitello's Jazz Club Hosts "Jazz For Japan" Concerts And Fundraiser Event With Support From Local Jazz Community

Source: Kim Koury

100% Proceeds Donated To The Japan Red Cross Vitellos's Jazz Club in Studio City in association with the Los Angeles Jazz Society welcomes the LA jazz community to come and support the victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Musicians and fans will be coming together from 11:00 AM-11:00 PM Saturday, April 9 for an all day concert benefit raising funds for the Japanese Red Cross. Vitello's is located at 4349 Tujunga Ave, Studio City, CA 91604. The ...

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Interview

Notes from the Net: Grant Green Reissued, Russell Ferrante Interviewed, Plus News, Reviews, and More

Notes from the Net: Grant Green Reissued, Russell Ferrante Interviewed, Plus News, Reviews, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Here's this week's compilation of assorted news briefs and links related to jazz, improvisation, and creative music in St. Louis, including news of musicians originally from the Gateway City, recent visitors, and coming attractions, plus assorted other items of interest:* For our obligatory weekly Miles Davis-related links, there's a story in the San Jose Mercury News with more on this weekend's tribute to Davis at Stanford University. Also, for the latest news on the proposed film biography of ...

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Interview

Yellowjackets Keyboardist Russell Ferrante Interviewed at AAJ

Yellowjackets Keyboardist Russell Ferrante Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

2006 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Yellowjackets. It has been a quarter of a century of continuous evolution, both musically and in terms of changes in band personnel.

From their R&B beginnings with guitarist Robben Ford in '81 right through to the sophisticated and utterly distinctive brand of jazz that they play today, the Yellowjackets have moved with the times, absorbing different aspects of world music and adding new rhythms and influences to the pot.

Keyboardist Russell Ferrante took ...

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Performance / Tour

Yellowjackets Songbook Concert to Feature Russell Ferrante and Marcus Baylor

Yellowjackets Songbook Concert to Feature Russell Ferrante and Marcus  Baylor

Source: All About Jazz

The Yellowjackets Songbook At the Berklee Performance Center Friday, April 8, 2005 To Feature Herb Alpert Visiting Professors, Yellowjackets Members Russell Ferrante and Marcus Baylor BOSTON, MA — Song, Delta Air Lines' low-fare subsidiary, and Berklee College of Music are pleased to present “Song's Nothing Conservatory About It," an exciting, eight-concert series. The next concert is the Yellowjackets Songbook, Friday, April 8, 2005, 8:15 p.m., at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Ave., Boston,MA. Berklee welcomes WGBH-FM 89.7 as the ...

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Music Industry

BERKLEE PIANO WEEK 2001 TO FEATURE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JOANNE BRACKEEN AND VISITING ARTISTS RUSSELL FERRANTE OF THE YELLOWJACKETS AND ARMEN DONELIAN

BERKLEE PIANO WEEK 2001 TO FEATURE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JOANNE BRACKEEN AND VISITING ARTISTS RUSSELL FERRANTE OF THE YELLOWJACKETS AND ARMEN DONELIAN

Source: All About Jazz

BOSTON, February 27, 2001 -- Berklee College of Music will present Piano Week from Monday, March 5, through Thursday, March 8. The annual series will feature concerts and clinics by visiting artists, Berklee's renowned piano faculty, and some of the college's top student pianists. All events are free except Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night concerts in the wheelchair-accessible Berklee Performance Center. BPC events are $4.00 -- $1.00 for seniors. Tickets are available at the box office, 136 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Parabbean Tales

Blue Canoe Records
2022

buy

The Landscape

Blue Canoe Records
2022

buy

Blooz

MESA/Bluemoon
2022

buy

Parallel Motion

Mack Avenue Records
2022

buy

Powerless

Blue Canoe Records
2021

buy

Pure

Ear
2021

buy

Unzip

From: The Landscape
By Russell Ferrante

Parabbean Tales

From: Parabbean Tales
By Russell Ferrante

Drive Time

From: Powerless
By Russell Ferrante

Spoons

From: Inflexion
By Russell Ferrante

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