Jeff Parker ETAIVtet "Happy Today"

Periodically across the two tracks that comprise the latest release from the Jeff Parker ETAIVtet, Happy Today, drummer Jay Bellerose gets some in a manner that would absolutely make James Brown proud. He lays down a funk breakbeat that would have made the breakers go insane if Herc, Bam or Flash dropped it at a park jam back in the day. It’s this kind of joy that is captured on this record that makes the album title so fitting.

As a band, and as individual players, this group has been on a tear for some time now. As I started working on this piece I kept thinking I needed to dig into the back story but everytime it just led to me stalling out. The words have been shed, the story is out there. The jist is that upon relocating to the Los Angeles area Jeff Parker wanted to continue what has been a consistent practice of his forever - regular improv sessions open to other players to drop through with their instrument in low stakes spaces, perhaps not even intentional venues.

He found the now defunct LA bar ETA and over the course of years of Monday nights the ETAIVtet found its shape and groove. Josh Johnson connected with Parker while still in High School, reaching out for lessons and the story goes that after one sitting Parker told Johnson to just come play with him. This relationship led to Anna Butterss being introduced to the guitar maestro and Jay Bellerose was so thrilled at the opportunity to groove with Parker that he reportedly started dipping out of studio sessions early on Monday nights. Bellerose's vanishing act caught the eye of engineer Bryce Gonzales who, after attending the jam session, felt it had to be captured and built his own portable recording rig and started documenting the unfolding.

That documentation has yielded two albums and only built the reputation of all involved. It also created a demand for the group to emerge in a more formal way. Given each of their other endeavors this has proven difficult and with the shuttering of their home their performances as a band have been sparse. The show that Happy Today emerges from was meant to be a celebration post recording session weekend and after listening back to the tapes Parker was certain that the show recording was what needed to be their next album. As a listener and fan I sure hope we get to hear those shelved studio sessions, but I’m equally grateful that we have been blessed with this fantastic document.

International Anthem has been a source of much musical joy for me and played a significant role in life since the pandemic. Coming to the label via Makaya’s beat science experiments, the name Jeff Parker started percolating and thanks to the stimulus checks I was able to acquire his first two releases for the label. Impressed but overwhelmed by the plethora of dope music crossing my path, it took me a while to fully grasp the depth and sonic joy contained within this man’s playing. As someone who openly states that guitar focused music is not my forte, here was a guitarist I was not only deeply moved by but also finding myself able to identify by tone. There is something about his playing that is just unmistakable.

When IA announced that they would be screening a film of the concert that is Happy Today and Portland was on the list I knew I had to attend. Tickets acquired, DJ Snax & I were off to the city I’m still learning to accept in a different light.

Traveling to a place one found themselves at rock bottom in is an interesting experience. So many emotions come flooding back. Fortunately I’ve been able to slowly rewrite my story with Portland and the trip a couple weeks ago only furthered that story. With only the screening on the agenda we let the day unfold, finding some delicious food trucks before hitting up Music History and Everyday Music for some digging - so many amazing finds I can’t wait to share on the show in the future! Powells, Doc Martens, Salt & Straw and a few other stops filled out the rest of our time before arriving at Mono Space.

I hadn’t looked into the venue hosting the film screening and I’m glad I didn’t. It made for a wonderful surprise to be greeted by a beautiful space featuring a sound system I never in my life imagined I’d listen to anything on, let alone such a beautiful piece of music like Happy Today.

Only recently have I begun to really pay attention to, and consider, what it means when a musician speaks about improvising. Appalling, I know, especially for someone who has been excavating the Jazz realms for a little while now. There is alot to unpack within this far reaching sonic spectrum and this is one facet that I hadn’t really thought a lot about one way or another until diving into the Pat Thomas & XT album released via We Jazz towards the end of last year.

Conversations with John Lennard, Yakoob!, digging into the catalog of Ra Kalam Bob Moses and recently sitting with the unearthed recordings of the Anthony Braxton Quartet live in England in 1985 have all begun to open me up to the depth, power and excitement found in this spontaneous act of capturing an of the moment vibe with a group of individuals all focused on sharing in the joy of playing together, exploring what alchemy through sound can be forged and gifted into the universe. To have Happy Today cross my path in the midst of this new awakening is no coincidence.

The first thing that strikes me is how clean the quartet is. I’m unsure anyone would know this was improvised if it wasn’t stated. Perhaps a product of such a long history of grooving together, or maybe just a testament to the skills of all involved, this does not feel rushed, forced or at any point in time hint that they are just flowing together. The sound here is cohesive, compelling and joyous. They give each other space, they know when to shift, when to lay back and when to turn it up. I suspect all of this is fairly rudimentary in terms of the act of improvising and I’m sure there are different schools of thought as to how one integrates with their bandmates in this kind of setting. The ETAIVtet has found its rhythm and they are practicing at a level unlike few others.

As is typical for twenty plus minute tunes, there are shifts, ebbs, twists and turns. The A side “Like Swimwear” builds and melts, builds and melts, gestates and transitions. I’d love to know more about the inspiration behind the song title, at one point Johnson’s sax brings to mind the waves of joy I experienced playing in the public pool last summer. Is this due to the song title or something actually channeled by the saxophonist? Part of the joy that I get out of listening to more spontaneous music is the mystery, the unknown. Wild to think that just like us as listeners not knowing where the tune will go next, neither did those creating it. Or do they get so deep in the zone that they are in fact hearing into the future?

One of Bellerose's funky drum breaks just broke my trance once again. That’s magic. This record is full of moments like this. This band is hypnotic. Until they aren’t and before you know it they are bringing you back into a deep meditation. Energy. Feeling. Presence. Peace. While some of what I have dug into feels intentionally vibrant and chaotic there is a subdued mysticism being pulled forth by this band. 

Parker earns his name being front and center here. His ability to come and go, the way he bends his strings, capturing swaths of emotion with just a couple notes is compelling and inspiring. I’m no expert on guitar playing but when I’m listening to him play I’m pulled in a way only Hendrix and Szabo have ever done.

The film footage only adds to the overall gift that is this music to our ears. It shows the excitement on the players faces, the gift of camaraderie, and awareness of their place within the whole. No one here is trying to outdo one another, they are coming together with a purpose, an intention. It’s much discussed that as a band they rarely talk about the music. They are so intimately connected, muspiritally aligned that they don’t need to theorize or hypothesize, they can just begin and trust. Trust in each other, trust that the auditory blessing will emerge as it is suppose to. Bellerose just hit another break, a smile comes to my face. Happy Today indeed.