Spectreview: Jeff Parker – Suite for Max Brown

Released: January 24, 2019

Jazz
Experimental
Avant-Garde

-WITCH HAZE-

For a guide to the review color rating system, click here.

Simply splendid. Jeff Parker’s surely building a reputation as a vital piece of the vanguard making fresh connections between jazz and rock, and Suite for Max Brown is yet another graceful merging of ideas in the same vein of his previous work, The New Breed. There are certainly academic components that draw the eye: the experimental process, the cross between solo composition and ensemble participation, the poignant familial ties. But there are qualities of this record that transcend easy placement, most of which revolve around the textures and atmospheres that Parker summon across his arrangements. “After The Rain” is as dewy and warm as a tropical climate;  more traditional jazz workouts like “3 For L” and “Gnarciss” twist and grow in unconventional ways, especially when sandwiched between the likes of the hypnotic “Metamorphoses” and the brilliantly bisected “Fusion Swirl”. The experimental tag comes from its adventurousness, pitting moments of silence against moments of chaos and cleverly modifying samples while interjecting with unconventional ones, all in service of a record that is, like many great works of the last five years, in a category of its own.

Highly recommended for parting clouds and green days.

Rob Moura

Lives in Seattle, terrible diet, loves music, has hope for people