(Improvised Music, Modern Jazz) [WEB] Jeff Parker - The New Breed - 2016, FLAC (tracks), lossless

Jeff Parker - electric guitar, Korg MS20, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, loops and samplers, MIDI and drum programming
Josh Johnson - alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron
Paul Bryan - electric bass guitar
Jamire Williams - drums
Jay Bellerose - drums and percussion (“Visions” only)
Ruby Parker - vocals

Best known as a multi-instrumental member of Tortoise and a pillar of the Chicago jazz and experimental music scene, Jeff Parker has been incomparably prolific over the last 20+ years while merely producing 5 albums as a “lead artist” (just 2 since 2005, including 2016’s duo recording with Rob Mazurek on Rogue Art). “Lead artist” is in quotes here, because though his name is seldom seen in marquees, his distinctive guitar sound has been essential to every project he’s been part of. It was in that sense that we at International Anthem came to work with Parker during the production of Makaya McCraven’s In The Moment, an album which ultimately showcased said essentialness (of Parker’s “side man” sound) on 9 of its 19 tracks.
Over the course of the In The Moment sessions in 2013 and 2014, Parker was slowly transitioning his personal belongings from Chicago to a new home in Los Angeles. It was when finally settled that he found opportunity to re-open some home recordings and beat projects that had been dormant on his hard drive for years (early versions of some could have been heard in the late ‘00s on his Myspace page). Parker had long been in silent study of vinyl sampling and beat conduction, but perhaps it’s no coincidence that new residence in a city aflame with experimental R&B, jazz and electronic fusers (i.e. L.A., e.g. Brainfeeder, Leaving Records, Low End Theory) spurred him to dig back in to the practice and produce with more purpose.
By early 2015 Parker had refined several compositional ideas around his samples, and enlisted local friend Paul Bryan (Aimee Mann, Meshell Ndegeocello) to engineer and play bass guitar in sessions with Chicago ex-pat saxophonist, Thelonious Monk Institute protégé Josh Johnson (Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Esperanza Spaulding)and drummer Jamire Williams (Robert Glasper, Carlos Niño. The recordings were conducted to capture composed passages as well as free playing that used Parker’s beats and sample suites as improvisational criterion. After completing 7 songs with the band, the last of which with vocals from his daughter Ruby Parker recorded in Chicago by John McEntire, Parker named the project The New Breed (after a clothing store his late father Ernie owned and operated in the ‘70s)and finished the album by stitching the band tracks together with intermittent pieces of beat memories from his archive.
The final presentation is a retrospective tapestry that explores Parker’s past both musically – as a potent compositional tribute to his influences (J Dilla, Thelonious Monk, Charles Stepney)held together by literal fragments of his life’s work – and patrilineally – as a collaboration with his kin held together by clippings from the family photo album. The New Breed is Jeff Parker’s most vibrant and comprehensively personal work yet, appropriately the first in 11 years with only his name in the “lead artist” column.

Jeff Parker: The New Breed **** 1/2
By JAKOB BAEKGAARD
June 4, 2016
There are certain artists that you know you can always count on. Whenever they are involved in something, at least it is going to be interesting and often it will be great. Guitarist Jeff Parker is one of those artists.
It has been an undivided pleasure following Parker through his many constellations, whether it is Isotope 217, Tricolor, Chicago Underground, Brian Blade Fellowship, Makaya McCraven or Tortoise, just to name a few. However, Parker has also carved a small, but exquisite body of work as a leader of his own groups and The New Breed is yet another winner in his evolving discography.
The album is released by the noteworthy label International Anthem whose people got involved with Parker when he contributed significantly to drummer Makaya McCraven's album In the Moment (2015). As it turned out, Parker had some music in his vaults and eventually he and the label decided it would make sense to release an album.
Parker assembled a group of creative souls, including bassist Paul Bryan, reed-player Joshua J. Johnson and drummer Jamire Williams. Together they make music that is both old and new, part of the past and pointing into the future. It is a kind of organic beat music, not unlike the sounds on McCraven's album. What is remarkable is how seamlessly Parker integrates the electronic and acoustic elements. He doesn't just play on the beat, he stretches it and improvises around it and a track like "Jrifted" is the definition of laidback cool with saxophone lines, catchy guitar riffs and a wondrous beat-epilogue with strings. Elsewhere, the brief "Para Ha Tey" plays with chugging rhythms and Ethiopian scales and the opener, "Executive Life," with its deep bass and hi-hat-rhythm adds a beat that sounds like it is stuck in a tape recorder.
The New Breed is a reference to a clothing store Parker's late father, Ernie, owned and family plays an important role to Parker. His own daughter Ruby contributes with singing on the jazzy beat-lullaby "Cliché" that includes the words: "he told me the end is coming / I responded that is a cliché."
No, the world is thankfully not ending yet and there is still plenty of sounds to discover. Parker's own music stays clear away of clichés or twists them into something new. His approach is contemporary and fresh without losing sight of tradition. If this music is the new breed, there is reason to rejoice.
Track Listing: Executive Life; Para Ha Tay; Here Comes Ezra; Visions; Jrifted; How Fun It Is To Year Whip; Get Dressed; Cliché.
Personnel: Jeff Parker: electric guitar, Korg MS20, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, loops and samplers, MIDI and drum programming; Josh Johnson: alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron; Paul Bryan: electric bass guitar; Jamire Williams: drums; Jay Bellerose: drums and percussion (#4); Ruby Parker: vocals (#8)
Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: International Anthem Recording Company | Style: Modern Jazz