On “Be-Bop Tango,” from his 1974 live album Roxy & Elsewhere, Frank Zappa quips, “Jazz is not dead; it just smells funny.” You can hear the audience chortle at this humorous remark. But Zappa’s comment echoed a common sentiment in the 1970’s — that jazz was on its way out. As Zappa described it, jazz was a zombie: undead, lingering, and barely conscious.
Was this the fate of the genre? Was this highly influential genre that spawned in 1920s New Orleans drawing its last breath? Well, no. As we know, jazz still exists in many forms, and is still widely produced in the 21st Century. However, many felt in Zappa’s time that the “Golden Age” of jazz had passed.
Frank Zappa recording Hot Rats (1969) with his band, the Mothers of Invention.
Of course, this wasn’t completely true. In the ‘70s, a new subgenre of jazz was forming. Miles Davis’ 1970 album Bitches Brew (appropriately subtitled “Directions in Music”) forever changed the landscape of jazz. On this album, Davis moved away from traditional jazz instruments like the double bass and the piano, instead focusing on rock instruments like the electric guitar, the electric bass, and the electric piano. Thus, “jazz fusion” was born: the union of jazz and rock.
My vinyl copy of Bitches Brew (remastered), with the cover art on top and the two vinyl discs below.
Critics originally berated fusion. They felt that jazz was moving too far away from its roots in blues and ragtime music. This new form of jazz felt too foreign, too experimental. In 1978, fusion band Weather Report released the album Mr. Gone, which received fairly positive reviews.
However, a particular review highlighted the attitudes at the time surrounding jazz fusion. Writing for jazz magazine Down Beat, David Less heavily criticized the album for taking “…progressive jazz out of the clubs and into the concert halls, exposing millions of people to its brand of music.” Thus, fusion was jazz for the masses: a mainstream ersatz that diluted and distorted traditional jazz.
“We tried to do something a little different. Maybe it didn’t come off yet as well as it did later. But to give somebody one star is just outrageous.”
Joe Zawinul, keyboardist for Weather Report
I do not concur with this critic’s argument. Had it not been for fusion, jazz may have never escaped the 20th Century. And though we may never come across another album like A Love Supreme by John Coltrane or Maiden Voyage by Herbie Hancock, jazz still has a massive impact on modern music, and continues to thrive in its own way.
That being said, one could argue that, on his 2020 solo album Suite for Max Brown, Jeff Parker picks up where Miles Davis left off. Parker’s electric guitar slices through every song, as it did when Parker was a member of the post-rock outfit Tortoise. On “Gnarciss,” the highlight of the album, we hear an interesting blend of traditional jazz, jazz fusion, and, interestingly enough, electronic music. Parker makes good use of the electric piano, as heard in “Del Rio” (Parker, a multi-instrumentalist, plays the electric piano on this track).
On Suite for Max Brown, Jeff Parker plays the Korg MS-20 on several tracks. The Korg is an analog synthesizer that was first released in 1978.
“Go Away” and “Fusion Swirl” have a similar mood, with a repetitive drum line thumping under Parker’s sweeping guitar licks. On the former track, we can hear Paul Bryan calling out the title phrase ‘go away’ in the background. For some reason, this motif scratches a musical itch that I can’t quite describe. It just works. The latter track is much like a post-rock song: minimalist, repetitive, symphonic, sparse. It reminds me of Jeff Parker’s playing on the seminal 1998 album TNT by Tortoise. In addition, Parker pays tribute to jazz titan John Coltrane with his cover of “After the Rain,” recorded by Coltrane in 1963.
TNT by Tortoise was one of the first post-rock albums to incorporate jazz.
However, if I were to point out one issue with the album, it would be the occasional lack of consistency. Though I commend Parker’s bold experimentation, there are, at times, too many musical ideas going on at once. On “3 for L,” Parker experiments with free improvisation, shifting across several different musical modes while the drums (Jay Bellerose) saunter in the background. Though the song is mildly interesting, it feels incomplete. In fairness, there are only two musicians playing. “Metamorphoses” is incredibly unusual and incongruous with the rest of the album. Featuring only Jeff Parker, who plays a sequencer and a glockenspiel, the track sounds like video game loading music. Odd, but still interesting nonetheless.
“If I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, with staff paper and a pencil, I’m eventually going to fall into writing patterns, into things I already know. So, when I make music, that’s what I’m trying to get away from—the things that I know.”
— Jeff Parker on songwriting
The eponymous track, “Max Brown,” closes the album. At 10 minutes long, the song—which borrows its title from his late mother’s nickname—is ominous, dark, and contemplative. The “suite,” as it is referred to by the album’s title, is just that: a musical journey from start to finish. However, listening to the album, I feel as though the Suite isn’t just the closing song, but the album on the whole. Put together, Suite for Max Brown (though almost entirely instrumental) is a concept album. The tracks segue into one another, there is a consistent mood throughout, and there is a distinct structure to the album, with interludes, refrains, and a closing epic that provides a climax and resolution.
Jeff Parker (right) in concert.
Overall, the record is one of my favorites from 2020. Though not perfect, it is a great leap forward for Jeff Parker, and one of the most outstanding records of the year. In the coming years, as Parker continues to develop his sound and style, I predict that the guitarist will eventually produce a masterpiece.
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