Eastside Romp

In May 2016, guitarist Jeff Parker, double bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Nasheet Waits spent a single day recording in a Pasadena studio. The seven tunes they cut appear on Eastside Romp. Mixed in 2018, it sat on a shelf for four more years. This collaboration juxtaposes Parker, an adaptable and mercurial player, with the incendiary, wildly inventive rhythm section of the ever-evolving Tarbaby. All members of the trio got in on the composing. There are two tunes each by Parker and Revis, one by Waits and one group improv. Opener "Similar Limits" is the sets only cover. Composed by the late alto saxophonist Marion Brown, it originally appeared on 1967s Porto Novo. The trio keep the iconic, Monk-esque intro after a brief roll from Waits. Parker and Revis play the staggered melodic intro as Waits rolls, fills, and accents all over the kit. As the bassist expands the tunes harmonic reach, Parker explores the underside with great sensitivity and swing. "Wait," the albums longest cut, was composed by the guitarist. It commences as a dirge led by Revis playing vamped chords. He establishes a circular vamp as Parker points at his changes and Waits dances limpidly on his tom-toms in 4/4. The languid lyric line crisscrosses post-bop, Spanish-tinged modalism, and blues. Parker moves between melody and angular improv as his bandmates respond with empathy, highlighting and expanding the reach of his labyrinthine harmonic lines. As a perfect complement, Waits offers a studio version of his oft-performed nugget "Between Nothingness and Infinity." Paraphrasing the title of 1973s live Mahavishnu Orchestra album Between Nothingness & Eternity, he frames a musical narrative that emerges directly out of Parkers deeply moving ballad-esque playing, adding textural airiness, rhythmic spaciousness, and harmonic depth to its melody. "Drunkards Lullaby" is a group improvisation, laden with guitar effects, knotty bass vamps, and dialogic conversation between snare, hi-hat, and kick drum. Parkers abstracted soloing is saturated in distortion, and it short-circuits, staggering his already jagged lines, creating a barely restrained sense of power. The rhythm section intersects and interlocks in detailed, propulsive conversation as the guitar travels afield, adding more frenetic yet glitchy notes and layers of feedback. Waits "A Room for VG" employs an economy of scale as sparse notes, somber basslines, and reluctantly deployed drumbeats interact with silence and space to create ethereal shapes and colors. Parkers chord voicings are elegant, graceful, and eerie. Closer "Watusi" was composed by Parker. Led by Revis walking post-bop bassline, Parker alternately traverses the melodic inventions of Jimmy Giuffre, Sonny Rollins, and Pat Metheny in his elongated lyric statement. He adds blues to post-bop swing, even as its repetitive three-chord vamp quotes from the heart of the Champs "Tequila" progression, resulting in a finger-popping groove caressed by funk. No one except the creators know why it took six long years for this relaxed yet canny set to arrive, but its appearance adds immeasurably to the mystique and inventive creativity of these three musicians. ~ Thom Jurek