Sometimes, all it takes is a little push in the right direction, something minimal and simple and elementally powerful. In this case, it’s a pulsing, throbbing, three-note bass groove that kicks off Freakadelic and runs throughout the first half of the near-24 minute run time of the improvisation, the first of four lengthy pieces on prolific guitarist Jeff Parker’s new album The Way Out of Easy. It’s a simple thing, that little rhythmic prompt. You could think about it in terms of a heartbeat, but at times, it feels more like the peristaltic movement of the deeper parts of our viscera. And when it shifts, later in the track, to a more complex rhythm, it doesn’t feel like a death so much as a continuation of a journey through different, wilder, deeper and more visceral terrain. Parker and his band, ETA IVtet, understand jazz as journey and exploration; why else would they have given this track a name that so readily recalls the great psychic and psychedelic funk journeys of George Clinton and his crew?
It’s a compelling odyssey. The quartet format seems to imply something more forceful, more determined than a trio. Bassist Anna Butterss (Phoebe Bridgers, Jason Isbell) and drummer Jay Bellerose (Allen Toussaint, Robert Plant) lock in, then break away, aware that in keeping it simple at first, they are leaving more possible routes open as the piece progresses. Parker’s guitar lines are fluid and chiming, an anchor in melody when things get skittish before moving towards a kind of minimal pointillism, while Josh Johnson’s alto sax, while rooted firmly in experimental contemporary improvisation, calls back to greats of hard and post-bop, sometimes ascending in unexpected melodic flights.
The second piece, Late Autumn, is more restrained and more atmospheric. The lithe guitar proves just as effective a tool for hypnosis as the pulse of the rhythm section: here, Parker seems to draw as much from post-rock and American primitive folk as from jazz and funk. The cyclical motif builds into a towering but nebulous structure and the sax soars around its fringes. Subtle electronic manipulation undermines the sense of reverie, introducing a more uncanny or haunting mood, while the percussion is pillowy rather than propulsive. It is the perfect foil for the previous track.
The album’s second side is no less impressive. Laying down an intrepid but careful bassline, Butterss takes the lead on Easy Way Out, where the psychedelia is of a gentler kind than on the opening track. It’s still cosmic in all the best ways, but the route to transcendence here is more meditative, with Johnson’s sax sounding particularly rich, teasing strands of melody out of the rhythmic weft. The final track, Chrome Dome, is something different again. Johnson’s picturesque solo sax vignettes give way to a dub reggae groove, moody and crepuscular. Again, the raw ingredients are disarmingly simple, but the end product is unlike anything you are likely to have heard at any jazz night. It contains an awesome but subtle power and a real contemporary relevance.
Perhaps most impressive of all is the fact that the whole thing was recorded live at LA’s fabled and now-defunct ETA in one night in January 2023. The quartet had held down a regular residency there, and it shows in the closeness and apparent ease of these improvisations. Engineer Bryce Gonzales has quite the reputation in the LA scene, and he captures the sound of the ETA IVtet using a mixer that was custom-made especially for the group and the venue. The attention to detail is evident – the sound is extraordinary: warm and clear and precise, which is exactly what you need when you’ve got four of America’s most potent musicians all performing at the top of their game. Another win for the ever-reliable Chicago label International Anthem, The Way Out of Easy might just be the best jazz album of 2024.
The Way Out of Easy (22nd November 2024) Intermational Anthem