Best of Jazz

Dreamily creative, Happy Today is the third album by American guitarist and bandleader Jeff Parker, recorded with his ETA IVtet featuring Josh Johnson on alto saxophone and electronics, Anna Butterss on acoustic bass, and Jay Bellerose on drums and percussion. Released May 15, 2026, as a joint release by International Anthem and Nonesuch Records, the album was recorded live in the round on August 20, 2025, at Lodge Room in Los Angeles, California, direct to a Nagra stereo tape recorder by engineer Bryce Gonzales.

To understand how Jeff Parker and the ETA IVtet shatter genre boundaries, we first have to look at how they demolish the rigid constraints that musicians so often place on themselves. Second, we need to explore their artistic choice to root the album in live performances rather than a box studio somewhere in Los Angeles.

Guitarist and composer Jeff Parker is well-known for his work as a solo performer, with his band The New Breed, and with the venerable band Tortoise. His work over the past ten years has included everything from the exquisite improvised solo guitar of Forfolks to the jazz-inspired, psychedelic beat-music song cycle Suite For Max Brown. He has collaborated on songs with Flea, Tom Zé, and Jaimie Branch, among others.

Parker is here the leader of the improvisational ensemble ETA IVtet. The group, which includes saxophone Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose, developed from a weekly residency that Parker began in 2016 at the now-closed Highland Park, Los Angeles venue ETA. By the time the venue closed its doors in 2023, the IVtet had transformed from a band that performed standards primarily into a group renowned for its transcendent, long-form (sometimes lasting 45 minutes or longer) journeys into inventive, frequently unexplored territories of groove-oriented, painterly, polyrhythmic, minimalist, and mantric improvised music.

The sound of Parker, Johnson, Butterss, and Bellerose was initially captured on two critically acclaimed records, recorded live in the club’s humble corner: 2022’s Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy and 2024’s The Way Out of Easy.

Happy Today is teeming with adventure, creativity, generosity, and openness. Its sound holds the group’s distinct voices, revolving around their quintessential minimalist improvisation, yet boldly expands into something more spacious, giving birth to the same mesmerizing soundscapes. An air of magic on “Happy Today,” since every member owns their part in achieving and holding an equilibrium which contributes to a Michelangeloesque sculpted mosaic of muted bliss and cool-browed funk.

As surprising as it may sound, compared to the two previous releases, Happy Today is way shorter. The album contains two sidelong pieces recorded as the band performed in the round at Lodge Room, surrounded by an audience of 400 or so deep listeners.

However, this album is also far more approachable and accessible to anyone, as the band matches and supports each other’s immersive, ethereal space jazz with expressive playing. The music never misses the groove and suspense, infallibly delivering a joyous and triumphant feeling. On both sidelong tracks, they take their time establishing a vibe, each member finding the right moment to add another layer.

Despite containing only two tracks, “Like Swimwear” and the title track “Happy Today,” each of which unfolds over more than twenty minutes, the album progresses with logical and natural processes. It vehemently resists any urge, but it never feels stale or stagnant because the music is constantly changing and evolving, though it often happens so smoothly and gradually that a listener is barely thrown off balance and notices the transformation only in retrospect.

They take their time creating a mood on both sidelong tracks, with each member figuring out when to add a new layer. Parker begins “Like Swimwear” by plucking a delicate figure before sustaining some notes to create a beautiful, droning chord. Butterss and Bellerose systematically add more accents to the rhythmic backbone, while Johnson plays a dueling role.

After a while, the two completely lock together, giving Parker and Johnson room to maneuver, occasionally locating the motorik churn’s fissures and crevices and other times surrounding it in clouds of pure tone. Johnson creates the illusion of his saxophone fading in and out of view by experimenting with chorus and reverb effects.

For the greater part of ten minutes, the title tune builds at an even slower pace, circling around itself like a deep cut by Alice Coltrane or Lonnie Liston Smith before exploding into a canter. Butterss and Johnson solo against one another as Parker’s guitar virtually vanishes into a galaxy of soft and delicate waves.

You can see all four of them playing mindlessly, eyes closed, as Bellerose adds a breathy layer of percussive textures. It is difficult to recall that it all began with a tiny wisp by the time Bellerose and Butterss are back in the pocket and Johnson and Parker are exchanging ratcheting, twisted sentences.

Happy Today is an amazing record. In many ways, it is a reminder of what live improvisational music is capable of. Not for its own sake nor virtuosity, but for it leaves an emotion that is simple to identify by the time the last notes fade: this precious feeling that, for a brief moment, everything was precisely where it needed to be.

---

Happy Today

Tracklisting
1. Like Swimwear (23:37); 2. Happy Today (20:49)

Jeff Parker: electric guitar with electronics; Jay Bellerose: drums and percussion; Anna Butterss: acoustic bass; Josh Johnson: alto saxophone with electronics

Happy Today was released May 2026 // International Anthem & Nonesuch Records // IARC0109