Biography

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Jeff Parker Trio – Bright Light In Winter
Delmark DE 2015
Compact Disc (2012)

Bright Light In Winter is the long-awaited third album by Chicago guitarist Jeff Parker. With his associates Chris Lopes (bass) and Chad Taylor (drums), this trio continues their examination of our post-modern musical universe via tuneful compositions by all three members, and an elastic, dynamic approach to improvisation and group interplay – rooted in our familiar musical traditions, but also searching for the new ones. Recorded and mixed by Bundy K. Brown. Also available: Jeff Parker – Like-Coping (Delmark 543) with Chris Lopes and Chad Taylor. “Jeff Parker is arguably the most exciting and thoughtful jazz guitarist of the past two decades, a masterful free improviser who’s also fluent in everything from postbop to postrock.” -Chicago Reader.

1. Mainz
2. Swept Out to Sea
3. Change
4. Freakadelic
5. The Morning of the 5th
6. Occidental Tourist
7. Bright Light Black Site
8. Istvan
9. Good Days (for Lee Anne)

Jeff Parker: electric guitar and effects, Korg MS-20 monophonic synthesizer
Chris Lopes: acoustic bass, flute, Korg MS-20 monophonic synthesizer
Chad Taylor: drums & cymbals


1. Mainz (C. Taylor, Ctorb ASCAP)
2. Swept Out to Sea (C. Lopes, Zumbato ASCAP)
3. Change (J. Parker, umjabuglafeesh music BMI)
4. Freakadelic (J. Parker, umjabuglafeesh music BMI)
5. The Morning of the 5th (C. Lopes, Zumbato ASCAP)
6. Occidental Tourist (C. Lopes, Zumbato ASCAP)
7. Bright Light Black Site (J. Parker, umjabuglafeesh music BMI)
8. Istvan (C. Taylor, Ctorb ASCAP)
9. Good Days (for Lee Anne) (J. Parker, umjabuglafeesh music BMI)


Produced by Jeff Parker
Album Production and Supervision: Robert G. Koester
Recorded and mixed by Bundy K. Brown at Riverside Studio, Chicago; November 14-16, 2011


At the 2010 Banff International Workshop In Jazz And Creative Music, guitarist Jeff Parker conducted a master class and a segment of his discussion revolved around the compositional device known as the "arc." According to this school of thought, the apex of an improvised solo is an emotional highpoint that follows a series of themes and variations. It's a nice tool for those who possess a flair for the dramatic.

Parker, who is at his core a melodic player, feels that inherent to the arc is a deterministic quality. What is the point of listening to a solo after it reaches its emotional high point? Will the narrative always reach the same conclusion? Do you know what the emotional highpoint of your day will be? Would you even notice if there was one?

Parker’s answer to the arc is the line. When musicians get together, they don’t say, “Check out Charlie Parker’s arcs." Musically, an arc implies some vertical movement. But the line first and foremost represents forward momentum. Arcs and shapes are subsets, but the line must move forward.

For Parker, the line is about connectivity. Not merely connecting chord tones while navigating the harmony of a piece, but also ideas, textures. Intersection, layering, countering, and even clashing are all a part of this process, so long as the line moves logically forward. Accents push and pull the ideas through the time; tension and release come through elongation.

After Parker's Banff lecture, artistic director Dave Douglas commented that this view could be the result of living in the midwest; perhaps the line was the sound of wide open spaces. While Chicago is not exactly the Great Plains, Douglas may have been on to something.

Jazz is a philosophy. The way a person improvises gives the listener some insight into how that person views and organizes the world around them.

Parker’s discussion of the line gives us a glimpse into the worldview of a musician known for blurring lines. Perhaps best known as a member of Tortoise, he also has forged musical associations with Fred Anderson, Joshua Redman, Nicole Mitchell, Nels Cline, the Brian Blade Fellowship, Ken Vandermark, George Lewis, Ernest Dawkins and Matana Roberts. A member of the AACM, he also claims membership in the Chicago Jazz Ensemble.

“Being a professional musician has encouraged me to become more flexible," he says. "That's always been a goal of mine as an improviser, to develop a command of the language that allows one to be able to bend with various musical situations. This attitude helps me to achieve a creative life in the midst of it all.”

Parker’s ever-expanding perspective is indeed one of wide open spaces. Searching for commonalities over differences, he has based an entire career on the questioning of absolutes. Technologies change, context shifts, demographics wax and wane, but underneath the facade that some identify as “other” is a connective thread, and this is what drives Parker’s line.

Hyland Harris
December 2011