JEFF PARKER
The Relatives (Thrill Jockey)
Reviewed by Sherman Wick

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Jeff Parker showcases his immense talents as a guitarist and writer of music on The Relatives. He has, without a doubt, received the most acclaim for his playing with Tortoise, beginning on 1998's TNT. However, he also has performed extensively with Chicago's jazz scene as well as recorded with numerous side-projects and as a session musician.

Parker demonstrates his jazz chops and then slightly extends his playing beyond easy categorization, inter-mixing various subgenres. The quartet features Chris Lopes on bass, who wrote three of the compositions and also plays flute and guitars, plus Chad Taylor on drums and Sam Barsheshet on piano and organ. "Mannerism" and "Sea Change" are relatively straightforward jazz-fusion distinguished by Parker's skills on the guitar. The sound deviates on Parker's percussion heavy title track. It would fit in well with Miles Davis' late 60s jazz-fusion (especially In A Silent Way) - or Tortoise - but with considerably more soloing in the best sense of the word. His lilting and flowing guitar playing carries the song. It fluidly segues into the next track, "Toy Boat." Up until this point, the record is relatively mellow and subdued, then on this tune, the guitarist and organist, Barsheshet, turn it up a bit. And the band uses dissonance on the closing track "Rang." The title describes the repetitive and discordant riff that it is structured around. After the initial synchronized clangor of the first few minutes, it evolves into something entirely different: a lovely and melodic finale derived from the riff.

© 2005 - Sherman Wick