Jeff Parker

Lots of talk about Parker on the various jazz and International Anthem-oriented threads, but the guy needs his own thread, if only because the new Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy is absolutely phenomenal. Even after one listen, I think it's the best thing he's ever done. I can't believe people got to witness this music happening live. I also liked the recent Eastside Romp disc, though that one feels a little more low-key by design and doesn't feel like quite as much of a statement as the Eremite release.

YES.

I’d had the promo files for a while (and immediately ordered the 2xCD, which should arrive soon) but this is my record of the year, hands down.

Yeah I got the shipping notice for the 2xCD set the other day, hoping it arrives this weekend. I've heard great things.

I'm surprised by how often I've gone back to Forfolks, it's really tremendous.

I had no idea Jay Bellerose played drums on the new one. He's one of my faves.

Parker is just on fire these days — though maybe he's always on fire? The recent Psychic Temple Plays Planet Caravan is truly awesome: https://schlarb.bandcamp.com/album/plays-planet-caravan

Just saw him live with Makaya McCraven, totally incredible.

Yeah, the new one is reeeeallly good

Pretty perfect hour of music here

https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/jeff-parker-13th-july-2020

Okay, yeah, this Enfield Tennis Academy release is absolutely phenomenal, exceeded my already sky high expectations.

Has a track on this new Doc Watson comp that looks incredible

https://iamapilgrim.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-a-pilgrim-doc-watson-at-100

Nice, thanks for the heads-up. Also Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, and a Dolly Parton track that's presumably better than anything on her new album.

Thanks indeed---my double gateway of albums, appropriately for one so active and yes probably xpost always on fire, as tylerw speculates above----from Rolling Jazz 2020, with a little more added for annual blog round-up:

The new Jeff Parker,Suite For Max Brown, has instantly taken/held me for more of a first spin than any other album of recent release. No great solos, none needed, when grooves keep forming and flex like this. The most distinctive/least familiar element, to my ears, is the way he uses his Korg (etc.) for a sort of jar-of-lightning-bugs effect at the center, or to the side, or wherever it needs to go. He says he doesn't want to sit down and "fall into writing patterns," but the music is patterned, just enough. Also savor what the drums bring to the mesh, no matter who is playing: McCraven, Jamire Williams, Jay Bellerose, Parker himself. https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/suite-for-max-brown Well I guess I wouldn't mind "great solos" to take it further, but they don't seem nec. here, it ain't about any kind of solos.

*************************************************************************************

Parker and two who played on his album, Josh Johnson and Rob Mazurek, recently teamed with Chad Taylor for the first new Chicago Underground Quartet set since early 00s. Good Days has a good late night deep focus, cheerful and shaded,tone set by the elusive Alan Shorter's '69 "Orgasm" as opener, extended via dorsal fin sky roll of "Strange Wing," by far the longest track, moving right along like all. Mazrurek's cornet provides submarine lights when needed, Taylor's "solo log drum" piece "Lormé" fits right into the canopy----it's really not nec. late night weedio; my maiden voyage was midday, sober as I'll ever be:

https://astralcuq.bandcamp.com/album/good-days

― dow

Looking fwd to spending more time w/ that new Chi Underground Quartet! So far am liking its sustained mood more than Suite For Max Brown as a whole (although for me Parker's newest one's highs are super-high, for instance I am blown away by "Go Away" and to a slightly lesser extent the earlier track that adds, uh, electronic swirl to the same bass ostinato/groove, "Fusion Swirl")― Cysteine Chapo (Craig D.)

"Go Away" rules

― dip to dup (rob),

This happened and I only found out by accident

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/lados-b

Just leaving this here, since YouTube username Daniel has posted some incredible longform ETA IVtet crowd videos over the past year and a half or so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T9yEgppRYo

Great record. He's having a hell of a year, and is also on this:

https://daveeasley.bandcamp.com/album/ballads

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxIZurCfheM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhkvEvUy6qM

This happened and I only found out by accident

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/lados-b

Thanks for sharing!

i wrote the liners for that dave easley record, it is really extraordinary.

Very cool!

This is a recent Wayne Horvitz release that also features Jeff (not sure which track(s) though).

Also this Psychic Temple thing: https://schlarb.bandcamp.com/album/plays-planet-caravan

Finally getting to it---Ennis, anyone? Oh mannnng

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqEFC9I7Slg

that's an Infinite Jest reference, isn't it?

Ya, it's the name of the venue.

here's a bit more (two performances, 44:06 total) from there, 1/2/2023--be ready for some visual detial, mainly audience members on the margin, occasionally wielding phones, but that's prob how we got this, with good sound, good music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T9yEgppRYo

Thanks for that!!!

fro Rolling Jazz"

New Jeff Parker ETA IVtet live album announced by International Anthem was an instant pre-order for me, and I suspect others:

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/the-way-out-of-easy

― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, October 8, 2024 9:19 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I bit a few minutes ago (ie. also pre-ordered new ETA IVtet)--Int'l Anthem's CD shipping to Canada is very cheap on BC, which helped my decision to get the physical for it.

― Where did Boo Berry go (Craig D.)

Link to video of "Late Autumn," 17-minute advance track, several streaming options:
https://jeffparker.lnk.to/TheWayOutOfEasy

I just realized that the new record was taken from the same night as that Youtube video above. The new track from that album starts around 26:15 in the earlier clip.

Forgot we had a proper Parker thread, thanks.

He also plays on a track of Anna Butterss' 'Mighty Vertebrate'.

had no idea Butterss had a new album, a somewhat bad year for new releases imho has suddenly changed

I’m waiting for the full Anna B album to drop to dive into it

I have a promo stream of the forthcoming quartet LP. Will have to spend more time to see if it grabs me.

It rules imo — last track is this amazing dub deconstruction / reconstruction (all done live of course but sounds like it could be a Lee Scratch Perry production at points)

I sampled the available tracks on that Butterss record, but it just wasn't grabbing me yesterday.

Incredibly stoked for the new Parker quartet though, especially reading Tyler's comment!

Yeah, not trying to harsh anyone’s enjoyment! Sometimes it takes a few spins for me to grasp things.

yeah, i mean especially with this band! I've spun the first ETA record endlessly and it still sounds fresh and new every time.

oh man, i just now realized that IVTet should be read as "quartet" (and that Mondays at the Enfied Tennis Academy wasn't in fact some kind of collaboration with Four Tet).

Psyched for this. It's really felt like every jazz record of a certain stripe (hard to describe but easy to recognize, a sense of multi-genre awareness and mood?) has had to include him on at least one track, it's like an Andre 3000 rap (not flute!) cameo.

This happened and I only found out by accident

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/lados-b

― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Monday, October 23, 2023

Yeah, Daniel Villarreal with Jeff P. and Anna B amounts to big fun---here they are with him on a lot of Panama 77 as well:
https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/panam-77

Lados B was a total snooze tho, and Panama 77 was brilliant at moments with a lot of snooze pillowing them. Just my take of course

Table, that’s ultimately how I felt about it. It was pretty but lacked something.

To be honest, I was underwhelmed too despite giving both albums a decent run in the car.

My favourite Jeff has been The New Breed and Suite For Max Brown. I found Mondays At The Enfield Tennis Academy very dry but need to give it a second go.

loooove The New Breed, feel like that one ended up getting lost in the shuffle of his discog

Both the initial ETA IVtet release and the preview track for the new one require more patience but it is rewarded imo

i understand finding it dry, but i almost kind of like that about it— it has a dusty, LA late afternoon quality about it. i listened to it on a bone dry day in NorCal in November 2022 and it was incredible, especially with a few tokes off the vape pen

Been revisiting and enjoying Forfolks recently. Need to listen to some of the recent stuff. He's definitely one of the handful of people who play jazz guitar in a way that genuinely resonates with me.

Love "Late Autumn" -- been playing it a lot in the past week

Y'know, I think I might just leave "Late Autumn" on a loop and be done with music.

absolutely _loving_ this new record

Hasn't quite clicked for me yet, but I was distracted when I listened. Thought the first tune was a bit of a snooze. Josh and Anna sound terrific though, as usual.

Reminding me that I need to check their current albums as well---here's Josh:
https://joshjohnsonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/unusual-object

Oh yeah, forgot about that. Had recently thought of Parker as having a Mississippi John Hurt vibe at times, and one of the things that xp Doc Watson was known for was his way w MJH-associated songs.

Forgot about Jay being w Krauss (and Plant), that is, didn't know he'd worked Cole, but he's surely gotten around, as the best bassists and drummers tend to do. Woldn't be surprised if Rick Mitchell, of the totally un-archived(on Web) Jazz In The New Millennium does a whole show on adventures of Bellerose, as he did on Cecil McBee and many others (check local listings, have boombox and cassette ready).

some xposts— I probably need to listen again, and I am a patient listener, but I actually thought while on my second listen-through, “I might take this off my phone, I cannot imagine ever wanting to hear it ever again.”

harumph

i like the first track, hypnotic to me

i think this music does a great job of rewarding patient listening — there will be moments when I'm like "uhh is anything going to happen here?" and then something shifts and *everything* happens. And then those moments are different every time I listen. it's kind of magical.

I'll admit to finding the first track a little plodding at first but the slow resolve (dissolve?) from the 15-minute mark or so, into 'Late Autumn', is exquisite.

Fun interview with the recording engineer in Tape Op (with a bit from JP):
https://tapeop.com/interviews/165/bryce-gonzales/

Got my vinyl copy of *The Way Out of Easy* today. Sounds magnificent. I want an album of whatever 'Chrome Dome' is.

I've been trying to work out for ages what the slow lope of 'Freakadelic' reminded me of. Just put Lanquidity and yep...

oh damn, spot on

https://andybeta.substack.com/p/jeff-parker-f6d

Good interview, we all love Jay Bellerose but interesting that this is where it started -

But you know, Jay's not a jazz drummer. And there was always a certain awkwardness with us and he was not comfortable playing swing a lot of times.

And in order to kind of like find more common ground for us to play on, we would kind of play like heavier pieces. Some of the ones we used to play, we played this tune, “1974 Blues” by Eddie Harris, which is groovy and in 7/4. We played more vampy kind of stuff: Kenny Burrell’s “Chitlins Con Carne,” boogaloos, late ‘60s soul jazz, rather than playing swing. We'd also play tunes by Ornette Coleman, things with less harmonic structure.

i love the first track (‘freakedelic’) on ‘the way out’. is there anything else that sounds like that?

chinaski mentioned sun ra's lanquidity and i think that's pretty otm, at least for the title track. if you like the middle eastern-tinged bit toward the end, you might wanna check out the new yazz ahmed album

I'd also rec the Bitchin Bajas and Natural Information Society extended universes (new collab album Totality out on Drag City), esp/incl this Rob Frye album on Astral Spirits from 2021: https://astralexoplanet.bandcamp.com/track/xc175020

...and/or Gendel/Wilkes for that hip-hoppy beatbox blend they sprinkle into their duo elec jazz so well (new Johnson/Uhlmann/Wilkes out on Int'l Anthem, too): https://samgendelsamwilkes.bandcamp.com/track/kiefer-no-melody

I would also check out the Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes records, and Pino Palladino's Notes With Attachments if you haven't heard them.

xp lol

thx yall!

Pino Palladino's Notes With Attachments

digging this

The Desk Out of Tiny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsnwgTn3WWc

Loving it.

This rules.

I have his same t-shirt but my daughter tie-dyed it.

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-breed-ia11-edition
FYI

new album is incredible

new album?

Assuming flopson is still referring to The Way Out of Easy, unless I really missed something.

ah right, I shouldn't be so greedy lol

haha, trust me, when I saw that post I quickly hopped over to his website ready to click order on something.

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-breed-ia11-edition
FYI

― Indexed, Wednesday, May 21, 2025 10:43 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

sorry i thought the new breed was new based on this post, didn’t realize it was a reissue from 2016 lol

still might be my favorite Parker album

The New Breed is great! flopson, I can't tell from the thread if this is the case, but if Way Out of Easy was your first-ever Parker, you should definitely check out Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy.

(his other albums for International Anthem are ace too)

The New Breed is so dang funky

would also recommend Anna Butterss' album Activities

you should definitely check out Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy

on it 🫡

...Two pieces composed from improvisations recorded with Jeff Parker and Josh Johnson in 2023 (today's “Side by Side” and upcoming single “Different Rooms,” respectively)

JEREMIAH CHIU & MARTA SOFIA HONER'S NEW ALBUM
DIFFERENT ROOMS
OUT JUNE 20 VIA INTERNATIONAL ANTHEM

IMMERSIVE, INTROSPECTIVE SUITE OF MINIMALIST COMPOSITION BLENDS SYNTHS & STRINGS

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/happy-today!

have been jamming a promo of this for a little while, truly magical. what a band!

On an unrelated note, enjoyed your recent AqDr Thurston/Kramer podcast interview, Tyler.

Bringing things back to JP, am glad that although he's currently unable to tour with Tortoise, James Elkington seems to be holding things down admirably and adding his own great style (and pre-existing chemistry w/ McCombs) to the equation, which doesn't seem to have been covered on a TRTS-proper thread on here yet AFAICT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_gl5lRUq_o

thanks craig! fun to just let those two guys run wild, I barely had to do anything.

yeah it is kind of weird that Parker is not playing w/ Tortoise this year apparently. I guess he's got a lot going on! I did see McCombs catching one of Parker's shows during Big Ears, so I don't think there's any major beef or anything. and Elkington certainly sounds good, he's an excellent player.

No beef, I believe Parker wanted to not tour as heavy as Tortoise is planning to this yr, but I believe he's going out with Flea now so...

when flea comes calling, you can't say no.

#getthefleabag

pretty funny, big ears really was one big game of six degrees of jeff parker

Imagining them currently working on a medley of Flea's cover of "Thinkin Bout You" --> Parker's one of "Super Rich Kids"

"Under the (Suspension) Bridge (at Iguazú Falls)"

the rehabbing of a Red Hot Chili Pepper has been a fascinating thing to behold

Acid IVtet The Children

Love that they made a studio record and scrapped it in favor of the live show that weekend. Also helps that Bryce Gonzales' live recordings are incredible.