{"id":10291,"date":"2025-03-14T20:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T01:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=10291"},"modified":"2025-03-14T20:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T01:33:08","slug":"etaivtet-wayout-jeff-parker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/etaivtet-wayout-jeff-parker\/","title":{"rendered":"Outside the Academy: A Conversation with Jeff Parker on the ETA IVtet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From a tour of Central Park<\/a> to trek through the rainforest<\/a> to a voyage to outer space<\/a>, the power of art to transport its audience to a location is well-documented. Equally important, however, is the role a particular place plays in shaping music itself. Could the rhythmic ingenuity of jazz come about in any way other than through the drum circles of Congo Square<\/a>? Could the legacy of the Downtown scene<\/a> emanate from anywhere besides 1980s New York? In reality, however, a separation between inspiration and the inspired is more a figment of one\u2019s imagination than a substantive divide. Instead, the depicted imagery of a locale and the power such place has in shaping expression both mutually reinforce one another. This can be seen well on Jeff Parker and the ETA IV-tet\u2019s  The Way Out of Easy (International Anthem, 2024). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Way Out finds guitarist Parker with his long-standing West Coast quartet featuring alto saxophonist Josh Johnson<\/a>, bassist Anna Butterss<\/a>, and drummer Jay Bellerose. Based on the lineup alone, it is easy to label this outing as a continuation of their much-acclaimed Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy (Eremite, 2019). And, to some extent, that association is apt. Both records were born from the group\u2019s weekly congregation at the Enfield Tennis Academy in Los Angeles. And, in both cases, the music is built in similar ways – out of free-flowing communications between bandmates guided less by preconceived notions and more by their momentary experience with each other\u2019s statements. But, in a more real sense, Mondays and The Way Out are markedly different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, both albums do not really feature the same band. Oh, the membership remains the same, but an ensemble is more than its parts. The elder recording was captured at the Academy across several dates in 2019, three years after the group started its weekly residence. The younger jumped ahead to a singular performance four years later. The passage of time, including a year lost to a pandemic, is palpable between the two recordings. Where Mondays gave glimmers – however bright- of potential, The Way Out found the communications between bandmates further developed and enriched. The passage of time has brought a deeper understanding of one other and their ideas, even as the artists themselves have evolved. The result is a recording of telepathic communication that stretches beyond a few fleeting moments of magic.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps most importantly is how the artists\u2019 relationships with the Enfield Tennis Academy have morphed over the years. More than a backdrop to their continually budding friendship and collaborative nature, the venue itself can be subtly heard in their sound. It is effectively an additional voice in their dialogues. Until it wasn\u2019t. The Academy closed not long after the quartet recorded The Way Out, changing the group\u2019s dynamic, to some extent. And yet, the essence of the ETA is indelibly etched into their sound.  It sonically leaves an image of the space and time no longer there, of not only the walls and floor of the space but also the spirits of those who have passed through it. In this sense, one can see The Way Out as a stepping stone from the quartet’s comforts of their weekly residency at the space that nurtured the group\u2019s growth in its most nascent stages and into the broader world. This is true whether their free improvisations form hypnotically subdued grooves or push them into – as on  \u201cChrome Dome\u201d – reggae dub. In so doing, the ETA IVtet not only plays homage to the place they once called home but exposes it to the rest of the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This conversation with Jeff Parker from November 19, 2024 digs into the ETA IVtet, his membership in the American Association of Creative Musicians (AACM), his longstanding rock band Tortoise, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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