It’s a killer record — one of our most listened to of the year…
Aquarium Drunkard
Ever wonder what a Dilla-produced jazz album might sound like? The New Breed offers some tantalizing pointers.
Wired
Credits:
Produced by Paul Bryan and Jeff Parker
Jeff Parker - electric guitar, Korg MS20, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, loops and samplers, MIDI and drum programming
Josh Johnson - alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron
Paul Bryan - electric bass guitar
Jamire Williams - drums
Jay Bellerose - drums and percussion (“Visions” only)
Ruby Parker - vocals
Engineered, edited and mixed by Paul Bryan intermittently from February to December, 2015 in Santa Monica CA. Vocals recorded by John McEntire at SOMA E.M.S., Chicago. Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters, Los Angeles.
All songs and lyrics composed and arranged by Jeff Parker (umjabuglafeesh music, BMI), except “Visions” by Bobby Hutcherson
Produced by Paul Bryan and Jeff Parker
Jeff Parker - electric guitar, Korg MS20, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, loops and samplers, MIDI and drum programming
Josh Johnson - alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron
Paul Bryan - electric bass guitar
Jamire Williams - drums
Jay Bellerose - drums and percussion (“Visions” only)
Ruby Parker - vocals
Engineered, edited and mixed by Paul Bryan intermittently from February to December, 2015 in Santa Monica CA. Vocals recorded by John McEntire at SOMA E.M.S., Chicago. Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters, Los Angeles.
All songs and lyrics composed and arranged by Jeff Parker (umjabuglafeesh music, BMI), except “Visions” by Bobby Hutcherson
“Album opener “Executive Life” sets the standard for this head-nodding fare…” -Downbeat Magazine
Album opener “Executive Life” sets the standard for this head-nodding fare, featuring a hypnotic woodwind sample layered splendidly over drummer Jamire Williams’ heavy backbeat and Parker’s searing, feedback-driven guitar. The sound is serene yet disorienting, potent and full of momentum. The group reprises a similar vibe for “Jrifted,” which uses a sample from Aretha Franklin’s “Day Dreaming” to create a background for Josh Johnson’s rippling saxophone and Paul Bryan’s wobbly bass. And while songs like “Par Ha Tay,” with its 808 breakbeat patterns, and “Visions,” with its synth chord clusters and sci-fi sound effects, lean more heavily toward the “produced” end of the electronic spectrum, they are no less human in spirit. The most profound statement on this disc, however, belongs to “Cliché,” which features Parker’s daughter Ruby on vocals. The song, with its winding tendrils of melody, strikes a balance between neo-soul coolness and avant edge, much like the rest of this remarkable album.
The Best jazz Albums of 2016 (So Far) -The Observer.com
…If you’ve been following the solo career of their longtime guitarist Jeff Parker, you will quickly realize that the pastoral nature of his main band is still alive and well in the heart of his own recorded work. The New Breed, his first for the amazing International Anthem label, perhaps cuts closest to the cloth of the classic Tortoise sound many of us love and miss so much more than anything the band themselves has released since Standards.
“Mr. Parker straddles the blurry boundaries between rock and jazz…” -The Wall Street Journal
Mr. Parker’s guitar work is nuanced and complex, and the music spans an impressive amount of musical territory with deep and varied grooves… Messrs. Parker (and Chatham) are both deep into their careers, but they have found interesting new ground in genres of instrumental music that deserve more attention.