The Jazz Journalists Association has announced the 2021 JJA Jazz Awards nominations, including three for Rob Mazurek for the new Exploding Star Orchestra album, Dimensional Stardust; all four members of the RoundAgain quartet, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade; performers on Pat Metheny's album From This Place, including Metheny, Linda May Han Oh, and Grégoire Maret; Jeff Parker for Suite for Max Brown; and Cécile McLorin Salvant, whose Nonesuch debut album is forthcoming.

Composer/multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker and drummer Jamire Williams performed the inaugural concert of With Love From LA, a new monthly online series for which they recently participated in a conversation. You can watch the masked, socially distanced, outdoor concert here.

Composer/multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker spoke with drummer Jamire Williams and host Mark de Clive-Lowe for the inaugural episode of With Love From LA, a new monthly online series spotlighting "some of our favorite independent LA creatives." "They are both some of the best jazz-adjacent creative improvisers I’ve ever heard," de Clive-Lowe told Los Angeles magazine of his first guests. You can watch the conversation here, and catch Parker and Williams in concert for the series next Wednesday.

Sonos launches Sonos Radio, a free, ad-supported streaming radio service, available to Sonos customers today. The new service brings together more than 60,000 stations from multiple streaming partners alongside original programming from Sonos. In addition to genre-based stations, the service includes ad-free artist stations, including one coming soon from David Byrne, and Sonos Sound System, an ad-free station hosted by the Sonos team with guest-hosted radio hours from artists including Vagabon and Jeff Parker to come.

Composer/multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker & The New Breed—Josh Johnson (saxophone, synth, keyboard), Paul Bryan (bass, synth), and Makaya McCraven (drums, sampler)—begin a six-city, seven-date US tour behind Parker's critically acclaimed new album, Suite for Max Brown, at Gold Diggers in Los Angeles on Thursday. The shows continue in Portland, Chicago, Philadelphia, NYC, and Miami, culminating at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 27.

Jeff Parker's new album, Suite for Max Brown, is "a demonstration of how jazz mixes it up with other musics these days," says NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross music critic Kevin Whitehead. "Parker invokes his days as a crate-diving club DJ, a job where you can juxtapose beats from all over as long as they serve or creatively stem the flow." You can hear the review here.
 

Congratulations to Jeff Parker, whose new album, Suite for Max Brown, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Current Contemporary Jazz Chart and at No. 2 on the Contemporary Jazz Chart in the US. The album was released on January 24 via a newly formed partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. "It lives at the vanguard of new jazz music," says Pitchfork. The Los Angeles Times calls it "a transcendent set of pieces that occupy a vague terrain lit by jazz, experimental electronic music, instrumental hip-hop and genre-jumping avant-rock." Jeff Parker will tour the US in March, with shows in Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, Philadelphia, NYC, Miami, and Knoxville's Big Ears Festival.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker's Suite for Max Brown is out now via a newly formed partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. The album, named for and dedicated to Parker's mother, features nine original songs as well as "Gnarciss," an interpretation of Joe Henderson's "Black Narcissus," and John Coltrane's "After the Rain." Parker plays the majority of the instruments on the record. "The veteran guitarist has created an effortlessly detailed album, full of tradition and experimentation that spans generations," says Pitchfork. "It lives at the vanguard of new jazz music."

Jeff Parker has released a new track, "Gnarciss," from his forthcoming album, Suite for Max Brown, out next Friday, January 24, on International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. The song is an interpretation of Joe Henderson's "Black Narcissus" and follows the recent release of another track, "Go Away," one of nine Parker originals on the album. You can hear "Gnarciss" here.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker's Suite for Max Brown will be released on January 24 via a newly formed partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. The album, named for and dedicated to Parker's mother, features nine original songs as well as "Gnarciss," an interpretation of Joe Henderson's "Black Narcissus," and John Coltrane's "After the Rain." Parker plays the majority of the instruments on the record. Pre-order to download the album track "Go Away" now.

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Parker releases a vinyl 7” single featuring parts one and two of his song “Max Brown” today, via a newly formed partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records. A video for the track can be seen here. The song is a sneak peek of Parker’s new album, the first to be released via this partnership. International Anthem and Nonesuch will join forces to release at least six albums over the next three years.