„jeff parker and the way out of easy“
Jeff Parker ist kein auffälliger, ausgeflippter Gitarrist. Alles, was er tut, hat einen Hauch von Metheny’scher Virtuosität, aber in der Regel spielt er nach einer rücksichtslosen harmonischen Logik, die sich aus dem genauen Hinhören auf das ergibt, was seine Bandkollegen tun.
In seiner Arbeit geht es oft um den kreativen Einsatz von Wiederholungen, und das ist auch die Art und Weise, wie dieses Ensemble als Einheit auftritt. Die Musiker beginnen jedes Stück mit einem einfachen Riff, das wiederholt, imitiert und verändert wird, bis es die Initialzündung für nachdenkliche Improvisationen liefert.
Was manchmal schwer zu glauben ist, ist, dass es sich um ein reines Live-Album handelt, das von Tontechniker Bryce Gonzales aufgenommen wurde, der vier Mikrofone aufstellte und sie in ein Zwei-Spur-Mischpult einspeiste, um die Band in Echtzeit zu mischen. Alle vier Musiker verwenden Effektgeräte, aber keines wurde in der Nachbearbeitung oder im Mix eingesetzt – alle werden in Echtzeit eingesetzt.
(John Lewis, Uncut)
6 Kommentare
flowworker
The original:
In 2018 Parker started a weekly Monday-night residency at a small venue in LA’s Highland Park suburb called the Enfield Tennis Academy with three like-minded friends – Australian bassist Anna Butterss, drummer Jay Bellerose and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson. Until the venue closed in late 2023, the quartet would play each Monday night in front of around 50-100 people, first playing jazz standards and bebop tunes, and eventually playing lengthy improvisations that could last anything from 10 minutes to an hour in length. This entire album was recorded at one of those sessions in January 2023, in front of an audience.
Only the first track here was pre-written: Parker’s 24-minute opener “Freakadelic” starts with him and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson playing an angular melody in unison, one that dimly resembles the Brecker Brothers’ „Some Skunk Funk”, over a rock-solid funk bassline by Anna Butterss, before spinning out into a piece of psychedelic free improvisation.
The other three tracks are collective improvisations.
Parker is not a flashy, freak-out guitarist. There are touches of Metheny-style In 2018 Parker started a weekly Monday-night residency at a small venue in LA’s Highland Park suburb called the Enfield Tennis Academy with three like-minded friends – Australian bassist Anna Butterss, drummer Jay Bellerose and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson. Until the venue closed in late 2023, the quartet would play each Monday night in front of around 50-100 people, first playing jazz standards and bebop tunes, and eventually playing lengthy improvisations that could last anything from 10 minutes to an hour in length. This entire album was recorded at one of those sessions in January 2023, in front of an audience.
Only the first track here was pre-written: Parker’s 24-minute opener “Freakadelic” starts with him and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson playing an angular melody in unison, one that dimly resembles the Brecker Brothers’ „Some Skunk Funk”, over a rock-solid funk bassline by Anna Butterss, before spinning out into a piece of psychedelic free improvisation. The other three tracks are collective improvisations.
Parker is not a flashy, freak-out guitarist. There are touches of Metheny-style virtuosity in everything he does, but he usually plays to a ruthless harmonic logic, one that comes from listening closely to what his bandmates are doing. A lot of his work has been about using repetition creatively, and this is very much how this ensemble engages as a unit.
Parker, Butterss or Johnson will start each piece with a simple riff which is repeated, imitated and tweaked until it provides the spark for ruminative improvisations, the mood usually dictated by Bellerose, who often starts songs playing in a textural and delicate manner before slowly moving into more insistent beats, like the brushed post-rock drums on “Late Autumn” or the creepy bossa nova beat that pulses through “Easy Way Out”.
What’s sometimes difficult to believe is that this is an entirely live album, recorded by engineer Bryce Gonzales, who set up four microphones and fed them into a two-track mixer, mixing the band in real time. All four musicians use effects units, but none were applied in postproduction or in the mix – all are being deployed in real time.
Saxophonist Josh Johnson often plays through a digital harmoniser, which sometimes makes him play in fourths (on the first e track), in thirds (on “Late Autumn”) and in octaves (on “Easy Way Out”). Often the harmoniser makes his instrument sound like some eerie cyborg, half human musician, half s digital construct. Parker’s guitar is sometimes put through loop pedals, or digital delay: on the opening track his gentle arpeggios start to sound like a Javan gamelan; elsewhere he sounds like an organ drone.
On “Chrome Dome”, what starts as an unaccompanied sax solo soon develops into a full-on piece of dub reggae, with Butterss’s double bass digging deep into sub-bass territory and Jay Bellerose’s drum kit slowly becoming shrouded in reverb, as if recreating Lee “Scratch” Perry’s Black Ark in real time, all flaring snare drums and echo-drenched hi-hats.
It’s possible that this quartet might not play together again for a long time, especially without a regular residency. Anna Butterss recently released an acclaimed solo album and tours with the likes of Jason Isbell and Phoebe Bridgers; Jay Bellerose’s many regular engagements includes being a member of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s touring band, while Jay Johnson works with the likes of Leon Bridges, Meshell Ndegeocello, Harry Styles and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It means that this LP could serve as a document of an improvising four-piece at its best.
Henning Bolte
Ja, die Kraft von OSTINATO!
flowworker
Ostinato war das nicht auch ein Stück von Mwsndishi?
Olaf, ja tut mir leid, erst Anna, dann Jeff mit Anna und 2025 ein Alabaster de Plume das erschüttern wird …
Ich habe gestern durch die Texte von Bolte und Bang übert diese Inderin recherchiert: und dann drei Stücke gehört: extraordinaire! Und da mischt auch mein alter Bekannter Leafcutter John mit.
Olaf Westfeld
Herrn Parkers Quartet habe ich gleich nach Ankündigung bestellt – sehr große Vorfreude! & Danke für den Text.
Dass die beiden Alben von Gevatter John Misty und Herrn Kiwanuka auch vielversprechend sind und am selben Tag erscheinen ist wohlmöglich sehr teuer…
Olaf Westfeld
4/5:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/16/jeff-parker-eta-ivtet-the-way-out-of-easy-review-a-captivating-unhurried-ebb-and-flow
flowworker
Out tomorrow:
The Way Out of Easy is testament to the power of live jazz – a mercurial form that captivates when in the right hands.“ – Observer
„Parker’s recent music represents one of the most sophisticated applications of hiphop language into jazz, whether he’s playing over beats and loops or imitating their feel in real time.“ – Wire Magazine
“A believably brilliant measurement of craft… the ETA IVtet sprawl beautifully through contrasts and collisions.“ – PASTE
„An array of sounds, including big fat grooves, hazy ambience, spooky dub, and exploratory solos. Throughout the band demonstrates how patient, tight, adaptable, and transcendent they can be.“ – Aquarium Drunkard
„There’s no rush, no showing off, just a shared curiosity.“ – The New York Times
„All four of these pieces revolve around a simple idea, with the band wringing every possible nuance from that primary platform… Collectively, the four are the musical equivalent of a fresh shower. The listener emerges renewed.“ – Glide
„It’s a gift that these nights were so well recorded. The Way Out Of Easy is this band in the presence of a small, deeply appreciative crowd with no pressures of a studio.“ – Steve Gunn