The Way Out of Easy

Between 2016 and 2023, guitarist Jeff Parker and his quartet held down a weekly residency at the tiny Los Angeles bar Enfield Tennis Academy. They worked across standards, jazz-funk covers, and group improvisation. Over time, the quartet -- Parker, guitars; Anna Butterss, bass; Josh Johnson, saxophone; Jay Bellerose, drums and percussion -- eventually abandoned that m.o. in favor of gradually unfolding improvisation that pursued communication and mystery. In 2022, they released Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy. It showcased long, melodic grooves drawn from more than ten hours of live tape recorded by Bryce Gonzalez. He and Parker utilized the same methodology for The Way Out of Easy. Performed on January 2, 2023, Gonzalez used only four mic-level controls, delivering an organic, of-the-moment feel. The 23-minute "Freakadelic" is a radical, extended reimagining of the tune that originally appeared on Parkers Bright Light in Winter for Delmark in 2012. Bellerose and Butterss lay down a midtempo head-nodding hip-hop groove. Parker and Johnson enter playing twinned lines with harmonic variation. The saxophonist solos first, pursuing the blues and post-bop swing for four glorious minutes when Parker claims the fore. The punchy vamp is hypnotic and unchanging as the guitarist references modalism, Grant Green, and Tal Farlow in a drifting, canny solo. They come together at the eight-minute mark, and the rhythm section picks up pace and intensity but never leaves the groove pocket before they break out into group improv at 13 minutes until the end. The single "Late Autumn" commences with intricate fingerpicking from the guitarist, juxtaposing single lines and chords in nearly tender melodic flow. Johnson joins a couple of minutes later playing single notes in harmony as Butterss adds bottom foundation. Johnson is one of the most lyrical alto players since Art Pepper; his sense of economy and textural space is enviable. The rhythm section focuses on illustrative flow as Johnson digitally multiplies his vamp-like melody. It changes tempo a bit, though, as Butterss and Parker become more pronounced in the mix without sacrificing its elliptical atmosphere. Butterss lilting, subdued bassline is the hub for "Easy Way Out," framing a placid expanse of haunted psychedelia as Parker and Johnson play through, with, and around one another purposefully, as if theyre trying to discover the composition while playing it. Bellerose supports them all with investigatory pursuit across his kit. If there is such a thing as "ambient jazz," this is it. Closer "Chrome Dome" is introduced by Johnson gently playing solo; he finds a melody and uses it like a circular lullaby before Belleroses kick drum and percussion add ballast and buoyancy. Then Butterss and Parker delve into deep, dubwise reggae atop a slow, spidery Afro-funk laden with echo and reverb before it joins a rhythmic vamp that stalks the listener like African Head Charge. The Way Out of Easy equals its predecessor, but it also extends the quartets musical vocabulary and sonic identity. While they may not be able to play ETA any longer, their musical signature and group communication prove they can make magic anywhere. ~ Thom Jurek

伝説的ライブハウス:ETAで毎週レジデントで出演しセッションしていたシカゴ音響派/ジャズ・ギタリストのジェフ・パーカー、プロデューサー/サックス奏者のジョシュ・ジョンソン、鬼才ドラマー:マカヤ・マクレイヴンも絶賛ベーシストのアンナ・バターズらに結成された最強ETAカルテット作品。LAを震源に世界へ波紋するアンビエント・ジャズの最前線となる現場の即興性とユーモアな息遣いを堪能できる逸品。各々のリーダー作や別名義の活動でも共演あるメンバー間の音には、リスペクト溢れる対話と親和性が存在。ええやんええやん。
intoxicate (C)黒田"ハイプ"朋規