{"title":"Jeff Parker","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"jeff-parker-suite-for-max-brown","title":"Jeff Parker - Suite for Max Brown","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e“I’m always looking for ways to be surprised,” says composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker as he explains the process, and the thinking, behind his new album, Suite for Max Brown, released via a new partnership between the Chicago–based label International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. “If I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, with staff paper and a pencil, I’m eventually going to fall into writing patterns, into things I already know. So, when I make music, that’s what I’m trying to get away from—the things that I know.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParker himself is known to many fans as the longtime guitarist for the Chicago–based quintet Tortoise, one of the most critically revered, sonically adventurous groups to emerge from the American indie scene of the early nineties. The band’s often hypnotic, largely instrumental sound eludes easy definition, drawing freely from rock, jazz, electronic, and avant-garde music, and it has garnered a large following over the course of nearly thirty years. Aside from recording and touring with Tortoise, Parker has worked as a side man with many jazz greats, including Nonesuch labelmate Joshua Redman on his 2005 Momentum album; as a studio collaborator with other composer-musicians, including Makaya McCraven, Brian Blade, Meshell N’Degeocello, his longtime friend (and Chicago\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eUnderground ensemble co-founder) Rob Mazurek; and as a solo artist. Suite for Max Brown is informally a companion piece to The New Breed, Parker’s 2016 album on International Anthem, which London’s Observer honored as the best jazz album of the year, declaring that “no other musician in the modern era has moved so seamlessly between rock and jazz like Jeff Parker. As guitarist for Chicago post-rock icons Tortoise, he’s taken the group in new and challenging directions that have kept them at the forefront of pop creativity for the last twenty years. As of late, however, Parker has established himself as one of the most formidable solo talents in modern jazz.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThough Parker collaborates with a coterie of musicians under the group name The New Breed, theirs is by no means a conventional “band” relationship. Parker is very much a solo artist on Suite for Max Brown. He constructs a digital bed of beats and samples; lays down tracks of his own on guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion, and occasionally voice; then invites his musician friends to play and improvise over his melodies. But unlike a traditional jazz session, Parker doesn’t assemble a full combo in the studio for a day or two of live takes. His accompanists are often working alone with Parker, reacting to what Parker has provided them, and then Parker uses those individual parts to layer and assemble into his final tracks. The process may be relatively solitary and cerebral, but the results feel like in-the-moment jams—warm-hearted, human, alive. Suite for Max Brown brims with personality, boasting the rhythmic flow of hip hop and the soulful swing of jazz.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In my own music I’ve always sought to deal with the intersection of improvisation and the digital era of making music, trying to merge these disparate elements into something cohesive,” Parker explains. “I became obsessed maybe ten or fifteen years ago with making music from samples. At first it was more an exercise in learning how to sample and edit audio. I was a big hip-hop fan all my life, but I never delved into the technical aspects of making that music. To keep myself busy, I started to sample music from my own library of recordings, to chop them up, make loops and beats. I would do it in my spare time. I could do it when I was on tour—in the van or on an airplane, at a soundcheck, whenever I had spare time I was working on this stuff. After a while, as you can imagine, I had hours and hours of samples I had made and I hadn’t really done anything with them\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“So I made The New Breed based off these old sample-based compositions and mixed them with improvising,” he continues. “There was a lot of editing, a lot of post-production work that went into that. That’s in a nutshell how I make a lot of my music; it’s a combination of sampling, editing, retriggering audio, and recording it, moving it around and trying to make it into something cohesive—and make it music that someone would enjoy listening to. With Max Brown, it’s evolved. I played a lot of the music myself. It’s me playing as many of the instruments as I could. I engineered most it myself at home or during a residency I did at the Headlands Center for the Arts [in Sausalito, California] about a year ago.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis New Breed band-mates and fellow travelers on Max Brown include pianist-saxophonist Josh Johnson; bassist Paul Bryan, who co-produced and mixed the album with Parker; piccolo trumpet player Rob Mazurek, his frequent duo partner; trumpeter Nate Walcott, a veteran of Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes; drummers Jamire Williams, Makaya McCraven, and Jay Bellerose, Parker’s Berklee School of Music classmate; cellist Katinka Klejin of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and even his seventeen-year-old daughter Ruby Parker, a student at the Chicago High School of the Arts, who contributes vocals to opening track, “Build A Nest.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRuby’s presence at the start is fitting, since Suite for Max Brown is a kind of family affair: “That’s my mother’s maiden name. Maxine Brown. Everybody calls her Max. I decided to call it Suite for Max Brown. The New Breed became a kind of tribute to my father because he passed away while I was making the album. The New Breed was a clothing store he owned when I was a kid, a store in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where I was born. I thought it would be nice this time to dedicate something to my mom while she’s still here to see it. I wish that my father could have been around to hear the tribute that I made for him. The picture on the cover of Max Brown is of my mom when she was nineteen.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is a multi-generational vibe to the music too, as Parker balances his contemporary digital explorations with excursions into older jazz. Along with original compositions, Parker includes “Gnarciss,” an interpretation of Joe Henderson’s “Black Narcissus” and John Coltrane’s “After the Rain” (from his 1963 Impressions album). Parker recalls, “I was drawn to jazz music as a kid. That was the first music that really resonated with me once I got heavily into music. When I was nine or ten years old, I immediately gravitated to jazz because there were so many unexpected things. Jazz led me into improvising, which led me into experimenting in a general way, into an experimental process of making music.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eColtrane is a touchstone in Parker’s musical evolution. In fact, Parker recalls, he inadvertently found himself on a new musical path one night about fifteen years ago when he was deejaying at a Chicago bar and playing ‘Trane: “I used to deejay a lot when I lived in Chicago. This was before Serrato and people deejaying with computers. I had two records on two turntables and a mixer. I was spinning records one night and for about ten minutes I was able to perfectly synch up a Nobukazu Takemura record with the first movement of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and it had this free jazz, abstract jazz thing going on with a sequenced beat underneath. It sounded so good. That’s what I’m trying to do with Max Brown. It’s got a sequenced beat and there are musicians improvising on top or beneath the sequenced drum pattern. That’s what I was going for. Man vs machine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It’s a lot of experimenting, a lot of trial and error,” he admits. “I like to pursue situations that take me outside myself, where the things I come up with are things I didn’t really know I could do. I always look at this process as patchwork quilting. You take this stuff and stitch it together until a tapestry forms.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—Michael Hill\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased January 24, 2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBuild a Nest (feat. Ruby Parker)\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - drums, vocals, piano, electric guitar, Korg MS20\u003cbr\u003eRuby Parker - vocals\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eC’mon Now\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - sampling, editing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFusion Swirl\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, bass guitar, samplers, percussion, vocals\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter the Rain\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - electric piano\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar and percussion\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams - drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMetamorphoses\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - glockenspiel, sequencer, sampler, Korg MS20\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGnarciss\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - alto saxophone\u003cbr\u003eKatinka Kleijn - cello\u003cbr\u003eRob Mazurek - piccolo trumpet\u003cbr\u003eMakaya McCraven - drums and sampler\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, JP-08, sampler, midi strings\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLydian, Etc\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, pandeiro, midi programming, etc.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDel Rio\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, mbira, sampler, Korg MS20, drums, electric piano\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3 for L\u003cbr\u003eJay Bellerose - drums and percussion\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, Korg MS20\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGo Away\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar and vocals\u003cbr\u003eMakaya McCraven - drums\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, vocals and sampler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMax Brown\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - alto saxophone\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - guitar, Korg MS20, JP-08\u003cbr\u003eNate Walcott - trumpet\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams - drums\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll songs composed by Jeff Parker (umjabuglafeesh music, BMI);\u003cbr\u003eexcept “After The Rain” by John Coltrane, and “Gnarciss” which contains elements of “Black Narcissus” by Joe Henderson.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“C’mon Now” features samples from the Otis Redding recording “The Happy Song (Dum-Dum).\" Produced under license from Atlantic Recording Corp. By Arrangement with Rhino Entertainment Company, a Warner Music Group Company.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll arrangements by Jeff Parker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered and edited by Jeff Parker at Headlands Center For The Arts, Sausalito, California and at home in Altadena, California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered, edited and mixed by Paul Bryan in Pacific Palisades, California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters, Los Angeles, California.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Paul Bryan and Jeff Parker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDesign \u0026amp; Layout by Craig Hansen.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53918417420629,"sku":"IARC0029LPUS","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a0572868824_16.jpg?v=1779793762"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-forfolks","title":"Jeff Parker - Forfolks","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003ealbum liner notes by Matthew Lux:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYears ago when Jeff and I were in a band together, I always insisted that our records could not have any liner notes. I was enthralled with the idea that imparting any information beyond the music itself was heresy. As if whatever the sound didn't convey needed to be left to the listener. Somehow, I was able to hold this opinion while simultaneously voraciously consuming every record jacket, CD cover, cassette J card and whatever else I could get my hands on regarding any music that interested me. Many years and finally the making of my own album forced me to confront my cognitive dissonance and recognize context can help the audience find their place in the art that they enjoy. That context is especially necessary when the artist is as under-appreciated yet influential as Jeff Parker.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen I met Jeff, he was the first adult (24 years old to my 18) whose musical taste was as broad as mine and my friends. He liked Eric Dolphy, De La Soul, ‘70s Miles, and Donny Hathaway. We first played together in the living room of my parents’ apartment. We agreed to each bring a friend to round out a group. He brought the amazing and criminally under-represented Sara P. Smith on trombone, and I brought my high school band mate Chad Taylor on drums. Chad\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand I were certainly outclassed that day, but nevertheless we all became fast friends. A few weeks later, at our regular jam session at the Bop Shop, I told my girlfriend (now wife) to pay attention to Jeff. \"He's going to be important,\" I said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Chicago that Parker had moved to was ripe with young musicians eager to push at the boundaries. There weren't many venues catering to these new attempts at mixing things up, but slowly a number of great bands coalesced out of a group of like-minded friends, mixing everyone's backgrounds whether punk, disco, jazz or whatever. I clearly remember going to see New Horizons Ensemble at the Hothouse with Jeff, then a few weeks later going to the Empty Bottle to see Tortoise. Within months he'd be in both those bands. He was instrumental in forging a link between players with different styles that helped define the sound of creative music in ‘90s Chicago.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's a particular thing to hear Jeff play solo. He is an unusually selfless improviser, often times laying out and highlighting the contributions of his band mates. He's never been one to play three notes where none would suffice. On this recording however he is by himself, joined only by his own ideas, looped or frozen, to flesh out the music he's creating in his mind. Hearing him craft entire sound worlds on these eight selections gives us an opportunity to really see how Parker orders sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe has been ordering sound with an amazingly diverse array of artists and collaborators for the past three decades. While it's common for a professional musician to be versed in many styles, that normally means a succession of genre tropes deployed to ensure the listener knows exactly where they are and what's supposed to be happening. A guitarist, for example, might play a Nile Rogers type rhythm on Disco or Funk, a favorite B.B. King lick on a blues or a Wes Montgomery phrase over a standard. Parker rarely does anything this overt. While perfectly capable (Once, in the studio, at the behest of a musician we were working with, I heard him take a solo that could have been an outtake from a Steely Dan album), he eschews genre playing and chooses a painterly approach to coloring the music, maintaining a deeply personal voice without weighing down the music with obvious stylistic maneuverings. His unique approach fits so well into so many contexts precisely because SOUND is his main focus and concern. One can clearly hear the breadth of Black Music in Parker’s playing. He is part of a continuum of musicians extending back to antiquity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe structures here challenge our preconceptions of background and foreground. ALL the layers are primary. We are presented with fully integrated sonic developments rather than accompaniment, melody, or \"soloing\". Often times a solo album is an excuse for an artist to display their virtuosity. The idea being, possibly, that unencumbered by other musicians, the soloist is free to ride off on flights of fancy. But a career spent in the practice of subtlety is thankfully apparent in every song here. On Forfolks, a standard of the Great American Songbook fits comfortably next to multi-layered improvisations, a Thelonious Monk tune, and several compositions of Parker’s own, dating back twenty-five years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMonk, I find to be an apt comparison. Both men were deeply involved in some of the most progressive musical movements of their respective generations, neither gaining much renown at the time, but both kept on doing things in their own quietly iconoclastic ways until the world caught up with them some twenty years later. I was fortunate enough to recognize the first time I heard Jeff Parker thirty years ago that I was witnessing something very special.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased December 10, 2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered by Graeme Gibson at Sholo Studio in Altadena, California on June 28th \u0026amp; 29th, 2021.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMixed by Graeme Gibson in Cypress Park, Los Angeles, California on July 15th \u0026amp; 16th, 2021.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSequenced by Scott McNiece.\u003cbr\u003eMastered by David Allen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePhotography by Lee Anne Schmitt.\u003cbr\u003eLiner Notes by Matthew Lux.\u003cbr\u003eDesign by Jeremiah Chiu.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Scott McNiece.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"license\" class=\"info license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition \"Cool Mint\" Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":53918514118997,"sku":"IARC0052LPCM","price":25.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53918514676053,"sku":"IARC0052LP","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53918511235413,"sku":"IARC0052CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a2972278449_16.jpg?v=1779972046"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-the-way-out-of-easy","title":"Jeff Parker - The Way Out of Easy","description":"\u003cp\u003eJanuary 2nd, 2023. Aside from being the second of a new year, it was a pretty ordinary night at ETA in Los Angeles, where guitarist Jeff Parker - alongside his ETA IVtet with saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose - had been holding down a regular Monday gig since 2016. At the time, nobody knew it was the first gig of the last year that ETA would be open for business.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver seven years of holding down that residency, Parker’s ETA ensemble evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form (sometimes stretching out for 45 minutes or more) journeys into innovative, often uncharted territories of groove-oriented, painterly, polyrhythmic, minimalist and mantric improvised music.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith that musical growth, the crowds for Parker and his band at ETA grew across the years too. What started as a sparse gathering of weeknight drinkers, friends, family, and Chicago expats (coming to get a shot of nostalgia for the atmospheres Parker used to create at Rodan across the ‘00s and early ‘10s) grew into a Los Angeles nightlife staple with a packed house and a line down the block for every show.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy January 2023 interest in Parker’s music was\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003estronger than ever, coming off successes with the December 2021 International Anthem\/Nonesuch release of Forfolks – a collection of solo guitar works – and the October 2022 Eremite release of Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, a double LP chronicling the ETA IVtet’s distinct, expansive approach to improvisation across four side-length tracks recorded and mixed live by engineer Bryce Gonzales.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMondays introduced the world to the ETA IVtet’s signature sound with a gathering of unnamed recordings from dates between 2019 and 2021. Parker’s new ETA IVtet offering stays true to that formula in some ways – as he returns to Gonzales’s archive of analog captures to gather four long recordings totalling around 80 minutes – while zooming in on a more particular moment in his journey. The Way Out of Easy provides us a macro-lens view of the ever-refining, infinite organic essence of the ensemble as they stretch out across a single night of soundmaking on January 2nd, 2023.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe engineer Gonzales is well known for the high-end audio gear he builds as Highland Dynamics, and even designed a custom mixer to be able to record the ETA IVtet, specifically, while only taking up a single space at the bar. In his liner notes for The Way Out of Easy, he colors his process and approach: “There are many different ways to make recordings and they all have their place. But for this band, the most important thing to consider is: not doing anything to get in the way of what they are saying to each other.” He refers to the simple schematic he used for capturing these performances – “basically only 4 level controls for one microphone per player” – which allows us an incredibly pure, honest, transparent and transporting experience of the music as it unfolds and is created in real time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe set begins with an extended take on Parker’s composition “Freakadelic” – a tune he originally recorded for his 2012 Delmark release Bright Light in Winter. The B-side piece “Late Autumn” finds Parker swaying in alliterative, arpeggiating cycles, using just a few plucked notes as he lays the compositional foundation. At first it almost sounds like an echo of the humble tunes he wrote alone with his guitar on Forfolks, but in this space his ensemble joins him to help build a beautifully multi-textured, gently-shifting four-dimensional construction out of a simple idea. On “Easy Way Out,” Butterss’s bobbing bass line leads, paddling the ensemble into a placid expanse of tender psychedelia while Bellerose dusts off the drums like an archaeologist unearthing ancient artifacts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt had become customary for the IVtet to end their shows every week with a standard or a tune – a practice that Parker embraced for wanting to give the audience something warm and familiar to take home after a long night of taking them out on creative limbs. Some of Parker’s more common calls were “This Guy’s In Love With You” by Burt Bacharach, “1974 Blues” by Eddie Harris, or “Peace” by Horace Silver. In this set, the IVtet closes not with a familiar song, but a familiar sound in the form of a dub\/reggae groove (given the name “Chrome Dome” by Parker in post), developing spontaneously out of lyrical ad libs by Johnson on solo saxophone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn early December of 2023, ETA co-owner Ryan Julio was forced to make a sudden announcement that the venue would permanently shutter at the end of the year. On December 23rd, Parker and the band played at ETA for the last time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn July 22nd, 2024, the ETA IVtet gathered to perform together for the first time since then, playing for a sold-out crowd of several hundred listeners – a smiling Ryan Julio among them – at Zebulon in Los Angeles. Gonzales was there, recording with his compact analog setup just behind the band on stage. The space may be gone but its spirit lives and the music moves forward into new vessels.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl Gatefold 2LP","offer_id":53918731403605,"sku":"ROW IARC0089LP","price":30.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53918696210773,"sku":"ROW IARC0089CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a2139666555_10.jpg?v=1780479346"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-the-new-breed-ia11-edition","title":"Jeff Parker - The New Breed (IA11 Edition)","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-about\"\u003eJeff Parker’s 2016 album The New Breed was a turning point for both Parker and International Anthem, changing the trajectory of his solo career as well as drawing an abundance of attention to our fresh imprint despite our then very limited catalog. Most importantly though, the album is the first to give voice to Parker’s wholly unique take on sample-based beat construction augmented by improvisation and live instrumentation (performed in this case by the high-level crew of Paul Bryan on bass, Josh Johnson on alto saxophone and keys, Jamire Williams and Jay Bellerose on drums, Parker's daughter Ruby on vocals, and Parker himself on guitar, synths, and other instruments).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat began as Jeff’s interest in understanding his own idea of hip-hop processes (and how they related to his work in jazz) expanded into a blueprint for much of his work since then. (Hear also: The New Breed’s expansive followup Suite For Max Brown, the gentle deconstructionist solo guitar of Forfolks, and the long-form slow bloom improvisation of The Way Out of Easy.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe IA11 Edition LP features our IARC 2025 obi strip, plus a new 16-page 11x11\" insert booklet with unpublished session photos, new liner notes by album co-producer Paul Bryan, and an in-depth conversation between Jeff Parker and IARC co-founder Scott McNiece.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"credits-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"tralbumData tralbum-credits\"\u003ereleased June 27, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduced by Paul Bryan and Jeff Parker\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJeff Parker - electric guitar, Korg MS20, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, loops and samplers, MIDI and drum programming\u003cbr\u003eJosh Johnson - alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bryan - electric bass guitar\u003cbr\u003eJamire Williams - drums\u003cbr\u003eJay Bellerose - drums and percussion (“Visions” only)\u003cbr\u003eRuby Parker - vocals\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEngineered, edited and mixed by Paul Bryan intermittently from February to December, 2015 in Santa Monica CA. Vocals recorded by John McEntire at SOMA E.M.S., Chicago. Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters, Los Angeles.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll songs and lyrics composed and arranged by Jeff Parker (umjabuglafeesh music, BMI), except “Visions” by Bobby Hutcherson\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch3 class=\"license-label\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"info license\" id=\"license\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"cc-icons commercial\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003eall rights reserved\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP (IA11 Edition)","offer_id":53919398887765,"sku":"IARC0009LP11","price":22.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a2865319863_10.jpg?v=1779451046"},{"product_id":"jeff-parker-happy-today","title":"Jeff Parker - Happy Today","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e the third album from guitarist\/bandleader \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJeff Parker\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e’s long-running \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eETA IVtet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, was recorded live at \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLodge Room\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e in Los Angeles on August 20, 2025. This fresh entry into the IVtet’s catalog captures Parker and the band – including drummer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJay Bellerose\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, bassist \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnna Butterss\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, and saxophonist \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJosh Johnson\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e – on record outside of the now-shuttered Highland Park micro-club ETA for the first time. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe performance also captures a distinctly joyful night of togetherness set against the backdrop of dark times. “\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2025 was a very difficult year for me and my family,” Parker says. “Dealing with being displaced from the Eaton fires for eight months, and the kind of toll that that instability took on my family’s mental health and general outlook, coupled with Donald Trump being back in office and basically making life miserable for everyone… There was a lot of sadness and despair. But feeling the sense of community that we created with our concert, and later hearing the recording, seeing the beautiful footage that had been shot and the photographs of such joy to be back in that space and to be making music again: It was a very happy moment. So I called the record \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. It’s meant to be a statement of joy.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat joy and camaraderie found in communal space seems to be a major catalyst for the ETA IVtet’s music. The band’s audience is, somehow, an essential part of the formula. Case in point: the show at Lodge Room was actually meant to be the cherry on top of a weekend of studio sessions by the band. Those sessions were intended to be the next album released by the group, its first ever studio record. Upon listening back, though, it was clear to Parker that the Lodge Room performance was the recording that shined brightest and felt most true to the band’s spirit, harkening back to the weekly session the four musicians held at ETA for so many years.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eETA was undoubtedly more than just the namesake of the band. Part laboratory, part low-stakes proving ground, it’s where the language of the IVtet’s sound percolated and coalesced over the course of an almost mythical seven-year-long Monday night residency that yielded two critically-acclaimed records—2022’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and 2024’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Way Out of Easy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—and an instantly recognizable \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003egroup \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003esound.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is that sound—the IVtet's signature syntax built around long-form, minimalist improvisation—expanding confidently into a larger space while creating the same hypnotizing, deeply-tuned listening effect on visibly enraptured audiences. The album contains two sidelong pieces recorded as the band performed in the round at Lodge Room, surrounded by an audience of 400 or so deep listeners. (The venue, appropriately enough, sits on the same street and just a few hundred feet away from the storefront that used to be ETA.) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe drastic change in venue size, and this document in general, is representative of an expanding demand to experience this band live that has been surging for years, starting with the release of their debut album \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMondays\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. For the subsequent, final year that ETA was open, there would typically be a line down the block on Monday evenings, with far more people trying to catch the show than the club could hold. Even if you \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ecould\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e get inside the building, given the limited capacity, the IVtet was a difficult band to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eactually see\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e play. Couple that with the fact that before the closure of the club in December 2023, the IVtet had never played outside of Los Angeles. Access to the live experience had been extremely limited, and that has seemed to feed a sense of mystery and allure around the band’s music for the many fans of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMondays\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Way Out of Easy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn paper, the IVtet’s growing audience is something of a conundrum. After all, minimal longform improvisation is likely the precise antithesis of streaming-centered content culture. Despite that, at the show that produced \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, as with any IVtet show, the audience willingly settles into and accepts the band’s pace as they iron out a story which digs deeply into every facet of an idea before investigating a new one. Here the attention economy feels lightyears away, the crowd instead surrendering to that old and very human penchant for \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003elistening\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. With open ears, the crowd stands ready for a big yarn, a long tale, and from the jump there seems to be a trust between performer and audience that mimics the trust between the musicians as they move from detail to detail. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The band isn't afraid to explore static spaces,” says Parker. “It seems like the thing is to stay on one idea for a while. Really, for a long time. To kind of exhaust it. And then one person shifts and then the thing moves together.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Everybody is constantly dropping crumbs and you can take them or you can leave them,” agrees Bellerose. “There are these little hints, these little moments, and everybody's aware of them.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“When it \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e time to change, it can change \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003every quickly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,” says Butterss. “If someone suggests a new idea, it can flip in an instant. Everyone's constantly ready to go with it if the moment calls for it.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLike Swimwear\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,” the side-length opener of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, contains a quintessential example of this distinct IVtet move. The track gets off the ground slowly but deliberately, ramping up tension over the course of its first ten minutes without a moment of harmonic dissonance. The band, rather, steadily pulls at the corners of the rhythm. Here each member steps forward and backward in the sonic space to build a gleefully disorienting group cadence, where the repetitions of the individual overlap in such a trancelike way that even soloistic breaks from Parker’s electric guitar or Johnson’s effected alto sax never manage to snap the tension wire. Bellerose works deep into the rhythmic fascia, employing all manner of auxiliary percussion—strewn across his kit, tucked into his shoe, or wrapped around his legs—all without a hint of novelty. Every micro-choice comes from a place of both curiosity and confidence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnd then the shift: just as the thing is about to come unglued Bellerose opts into a smooth, low-register downbeat groove that Butterss has been auditioning for the previous minute or so. Parker swiftly kicks into an organ-like drone while Johnson and Butterss stay the course. It’s a series of decisions that could go any number of ways depending on the night, like running water pushing into fresh geography, moving from tributary to mainstream, past the levee and into the floodplain. There is no set path; if it went a different direction it would still be the cumulative result of the same water flowing. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat is to say that there are no hard and fast rules to what the IVtet does. Defining the music, in fact, is something that the band takes special care not to do. Living in that mystery, it seems, helps to keep the path open, cleared to push into new and satisfying territory.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“For me, the thing to protect is just where it started from, which was freedom and openness,” says Bellerose. “In the early days of the band Jeff was recognizing how we were all communicating within the structure of playing standards. He's one of the greatest producers I've ever worked with because he has this vision. And a big part of producing is casting—putting the right people in the room. So these shifts, they're completely natural within these improvised pieces that we do because the foundation was there and Jeff knew it. He had already noticed the communication within the band, but wanted to really push it further.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe key to Parker’s push lies in the generosity to step back, to allow each member an equal voice, and to de-center himself. What we hear on \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is an egalitarian group sound by design, curious and intuitive. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Everybody's listening in a way where it's not always like ‘I'm going to go with you’,” says Johnson. “But it's always ‘I hear you’. And sometimes it's ‘I hear you and I'm going to stay here and allow the tension of these two things to exist for a while before \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003emaybe\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e joining you.’ But the thing that's cool is that everybody’s hearing it. Because of the time that we've spent together there’s a maturity to the listening—a very special version of deep listening.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“The number of times that we've talked about the music is \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eso few\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e compared to the years and years of playing,” Johnson continues. “I think that's one of the really beautiful things about the band—how organically the way that we play together has come about and evolved over time. Definitely on brand for the music that the band makes too. Slowly evolving, long form development.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I learned how to improvise \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ein this band\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e,” reveals Butterss, astonishingly. “I didn't really play improvised music before. So my whole approach to improvisation has been shaped by playing with Jeff, Jay, and Josh. It\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e a band and it has its own language. I think you could drop the needle on any of the recordings and people would be able to say ‘that's the quartet.’ It's very distinctive and it's developed very organically. We have \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003enever\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e talked about it, I don't think.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat's\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e our band,” says Parker of “Like Swimwear,” almost with an outsider’s sense of fascination at the recording. He seems to feel the same enchantment and surprise that the audience does while listening, despite being a primary part of the process. “\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat's it\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. I mean, that's what the ETA Quartet does.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt’s a blessing for this band to be so expertly documented in its naturally public, live context. The two sidelong improvisations from Lodge Room that make up \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, as with the recordings that made up the IVtet’s first two albums, are beautifully rendered by engineer \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBryce Gonzales\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—recorded and mixed live, direct to a Nagra tape machine utilizing a compact outboard rig that he built himself, specifically to record this band. Much like the thumbprint originality coming from the players themselves, Gonzales’ capture of the music is its own signature, his mixes a form of sound improvisation themselves.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA major addition to this particular presentation is the full album length film by \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCharlie Weinmann\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, documenting the band's performance of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e at Lodge Room, which will be released in tandem with the album. A shadow-laden, almost noirlike capture of the band in its full sprawling glory, Weinmann’s camera makes \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ethe joyful reality of seeing the IVtet at work widely accessible for the first time. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e the reach of Parker’s IVtet extends further than ever before, but the essential formula, if there is one, remains the same. The anchor seems to be in variations on an almost alchemical communication—a feeling of connection between band members, sure, but also between the band and the audience. It’s an ongoing trust exercise, born organically in the corner of a small room in Los Angeles and flowing outward at exactly its own natural pace. It’s social music with a clear ability to move those willing to listen. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy Today\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is an invitation to become part of the exchange and experience the joy of deep listening.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAll compositions by The ETA IVtet:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJay Bellerose - Drums and Percussion\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnna Butterss - Acoustic Bass\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJosh Johnson - Alto Saxophone with Electronics\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJeff Parker -  Electric Guitar with Electronics\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLive recording by Bryce Gonzales.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlbum photography by David Haskell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlbum layout and design by Aaron Lowell Denton.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThanks to Bryce and Highland Dynamics, Scottie, David, Dave, Hippo, Jocelyn and Ashley at IARC, David Bither and staff at Nonesuch Records, Chris, Tina and Ryan at Big Fish, David Haskell, and the wondrous audience and staff at Lodge Room.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eF@#K ICE. Power To The People.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll rights Reserved\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"International Anthem","offers":[{"title":"Limited Edition Color Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920280641877,"sku":"IARC0109LPI","price":30.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"Classic Black Vinyl LP","offer_id":53920279920981,"sku":"IARC0109LP","price":27.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD - Compact Disc","offer_id":53920280510805,"sku":"IARC0109CD","price":12.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1049\/0419\/6437\/files\/a0999850971_10_0fc0c6db-8f29-46e2-b70e-df64a10f5c8d.jpg?v=1780410833"}],"url":"https:\/\/international-anthem.k7store.com\/collections\/jeff-parker.oembed","provider":"International Anthem","version":"1.0","type":"link"}