Jeff Parker Releases New ETA IVtet Album 'The Way Out of Easy'

Guitarist Jeff Parker has released The Way Out of Easy, the new album with his long-running ETA IVtet featuring saxophonist Josh Johnson (SML, Meshell Ndegeocello, Leon Bridges), bassist Anna Butterss (SML, Jason Isbell, Phoebe Bridgers), and drummer Jay Bellerose (Robert Plant, Allen Toussaint, Joe Henry), on all digital streaming platforms via International Anthem/Nonesuch Records. Upon the album's physical release last month, it debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Current Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, and Pitchfork named it Best New Music. 

The Way Out of Easy is composed entirely of recordings from Los Angeles creative music outpost ETA — a venue where Parker and this ensemble held a weekly residency from 2016 until it closed in December of 2023. Over seven years of working in that space, the ETA IVtet evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form journeys into innovative, groove-oriented minimalist and mantric improvised music. All four tracks on The Way Out of Easy come from a single night in 2023, providing an unfiltered view of the ensemble, fully in their element, embarking in linear improvisations that unfold across eighty minutes of music recorded and mixed live by engineer Bryce Gonzales.

Gonzales — who is known for the high-end audio gear he builds as Highland Dynamics, and even designed a custom mixer to be able to record this band at ETA — also wrote liner notes for The Way Out of Easy. In his notes he colors his approach: “For this band, the most important thing to consider is: not doing anything to get in the way of what they are saying to each other.” He also describes the simple schematic he created to capture the recordings — “basically only 4 level controls for one microphone per player” — which is evident in the incredibly vivid, clear and transparent sound on The Way Out of Easy.

On Monday December 16 and Tuesday December 17, the band will play at Zebulon in Los Angeles, CA; tickets for for Monday's show are available here and for Tuesday here.

In March 2025, Jeff Parker and ETA IVtet will perform at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN; find more info here.

ABOUT JEFF PARKER & ETA IVtet

Led by guitarist Jeff Parker, featuring saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose, the ETA IVtet is a band that grew out of a weekly residency started by Parker in 2016 at Northeast Los Angeles venue ETA. 

Over seven years of holding down that residency, Parker’s ETA ensemble evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form (sometimes stretching out for 45 minutes or more) journeys into innovative, often uncharted territories of groove-oriented, painterly, polyrhythmic, minimalist and mantric improvised music. 

With that musical growth, the crowds for Parker and his band at ETA grew across the years too. What started as a sparse gathering of weeknight drinkers, friends, family, and Chicago expats (coming to get a shot of nostalgia for the atmospheres Parker used to create at Rodan across the ‘00s and early ‘10s) grew into a Los Angeles nightlife staple with a packed house and a line of down the block for every show. 

It certainly helped that the renown and résumé of every musician in the ensemble grew significantly between 2016 and 2023. Parker and Bellerose were already well-established veterans in 2016 – the former for his work with Tortoise, Chicago Underground, Isotope 217, and myriad recording dates under his own name; the latter for a huge sideman CV including work with Allen Toussaint, Robert Plant, and Joe Henry – but Butterss and Johnson were relative newcomers in the early days. Butterss has since become a high-tier first-call bassist, playing with the likes of Jason Isbell, Phoebe Bridgers, Makaya McCraven, and Madison Cunningham; while Johnson has run the gamut of studio and live work, notably doing an extended stint as Leon Bridges musical director, and producing Meshell Ndegeocello’s Grammy winning 2023 album The Omnichord Real Book. 

Also in that time Butterss released a solo debut and a followup (Activities in 2022 and Mighty Vertebrate in 2024), Johnson a debut and a followup (Freedom Exercise in 2020 and Unusual Object in 2024), and Parker released a run of critically acclaimed albums: The New Breed (2016), Slight Freedom (2016), Suite for Max Brown (2020), Forfolks (2021), and Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy (2022).

Mondays introduced the world to Parker and the ETA IVtet’s signature sound, chronicling their distinct, expansive approach to improvisation with a gathering of unnamed side-length tracks recorded and mixed live at ETA by engineer Bryce Gonzales between 2019 and 2021. The album was named “Best New Music” by Pitchfork, where writer Daniel Felsenthal said: “Mondays amounts to something novel in 2022: It lays out long-form spiritual jazz, knotty melodies, and effortless solos over a slow-moving foundation as consistent as an 808. The results are as mesmerizing as a luxurious, beatific ambient record—yet at the same time, it’s clear that all of this is happening within the inherently messy confines of an improvisatory concert.”

In December 2023, just days before ETA permanently shuttered, Parker and the band played at the venue for the last time. In July 2024, the ETA IVtet gathered to perform together for the first time since then, playing for a sold-out crowd of several hundred listeners at Zebulon in Los Angeles. The space may be gone but its spirit lives and the music moves forward into new vessels.

Photo credit: David Haskell

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