Inspired spiritually by family and by musically by nearly everything else, guitarist Jeff Parker continues to push his craft deeper ahead. 2016’s The New Breed cast a longing eye toward his departed father, using his dad’s guiding light to cobble together so many forms and cutting edge recording techniques that coalesces into a major work. Suite For Max Brown honors Parker’s still-living mother Maxine Brown Parker.
Just as Parker’s got his parents on his mind again, the music of Suite For Max Brown doesn’t advance new musical ideas compared to the prior album. It does, however, consolidate those ideas introduced in The New Breed, which are very worthy ideas, e.g., mashing together old sounds and structures from his parent’s generation in a way that’s fresh … even cutting edge. It isn’t as overtly avant-garde as his associations with Tortoise, Chicago Underground or Fred Anderson would suggest, but the subtlety by which he does it ends up being just as compelling because of how time and space are exploited.
“Max Brown” (video above) is an understated mastery of arranging harmony, rhythm and trance in creating a mood that finds that perfect equilibrium. Using a variety of organic and not-so-organic percussive sources, Parker formulates a beat that’s both lean and insistent. He lays down one of his laid-back lines blending seamlessly with a Korg synth and then ushers in saxophonist Josh Johnson and trumpeter Nate Walcott to take on post-bop roles harmonizing together and improvising individually. For the last three minutes, Parker just lets the groove do all the talking and spools it out gracefully.
“Go Away” is the second advance single, a tough, tight JB beat fronted by Parker’s jazzy lines overdubbed on each other and an inscrutable synth drone layered right in the middle.
A bare majority of tracks are short sketches running less than three minutes a piece. “Build A Nest” — sung by Parker’s daughter Ruby — is a piece of avant hip-hop, “C’mon Now” is less than half minute of sampling that takes a snapshot of sweaty, 60s soul and “Metamorphoses” is bright, electronica, more of a programmed passage than a full song that abruptly pivots to “Gnarciss,” a trumpet-led, technology-fed alteration of Joe Henderson’s delicate waltz “Black Narcissus.” “Lydian” is a minute-long interlude of 70s-styled futuristic bumper music and “Del Rio” at only forty seconds longer is stuffed with complexity.
John Coltrane’s “After the Rain” stands out as the only full-on cover of the album, and Parker’s pulsating guitar tone makes such an impact in illuminating the theme, he rightly feels no need to stray off the pattern, as electric keyboards glisten behind him.
“Fusion Swirl” deftly uses looping and sampling to create the rhythm section, and it stays steadfastly on one chord even when the song morphs from a groove into a willowy denouement. The ballad “3 For L” feels less like the pasted-together, electro-acoustic construction of the other cuts, a nearly unabashed stab at straight jazz, and Parker’s unhurried and tasteful licks really radiate here within this guitar/bass (synth bass?)/drums setup.
Cobbling together something new from things old is not a Jeff Parker invention by any stretch. But his own unique take on this approach makes experimental music that’s so much more accessible. Suite For Max Brown is expected out January 24, 2020 through a partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records.
