By Ed Enright | Published July 2025
Points In Time by John Yao and His 17-Piece Instrument is more than a hard-swinging recording from an ace large ensemble led by a forward-thinking composer-arranger (and distinguished trombone voice). It’s also a commemoration of tandem anniversaries currently at the forefront of Yao’s memory: his arrival on the New York jazz scene 20 years ago, and the 10 years that have passed since he released his first big band album, the acclaimed Flip-Flop. Inspired by these two milestones, the album is informed by a number of professional and deeply personal experiences that have marked his two decades as a bandleader and sideman in the Big Apple. The music reveals the major strides Yao and his collaborators have taken since Flip-Flop made the JY-17 a widely known entity in the lineage of the iconic Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. For the album’s repertoire, Yao chose favorite tunes from throughout his discography — revising small-group compositions in vibrant new arrangements — as well as new pieces he penned during intervening years, plus a fresh take on Herbie Hancock’s “Finger Painting.” The eight fully fleshed-out arrangements on Points In Time largely embrace pillars of classic big band form like sax section solis, trombone choir passages, call-and-response exchanges between the reeds and brass, straightahead soloing (both muscular and lyrical), a persistently swinging feel (at all tempos) and traditional shout-chorus climaxes. But Yao, who was appointed to the 100th class of Guggenheim Fellows earlier this year in the field of Music Composition, isn’t averse to modernism, as heard on his boldly assertive “The Other Way” — a 12-tone adventure that quite possibly indicates new directions for the JY-17’s planned third outing. Outness of a whimsical variety rears its head on the brooding “Triceratops Blues,” a tune Yao originally penned for his three-horn quartet Triceratops, with alto saxophonist Billy Drewes and bass trombonist Max Seigel conjuring Late Cretaceous period grunts, groans and growls during their solo spots. Other musicians with longtime connections to Yao in this rendition of the JY-17 include tenor saxophonists Tim Armacost and Rich Perry, trombonist Matt McDonald, trumpeters Nick Marchione and David Smith, bassist Robert Sabin and drummer Andy Watson. Yao himself solos on “The Other Way” and “Early Morning Walk,” reminding us of this visionary artist’s round instrumental tone and rhythmic drive as an improviser.
