Chicago guitarist Jeff Parker brought three members of the New Breed to the University of Chicago’s Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts tonight. With Parker were Josh Johnson on keyboards and alto saxophone; Makaya McCraven on drums; and Paul Bryan on electric bass and Korg synthesizer. Anyone of these four musicians could have been the headliner, which probably explains why the house was filled to capacity.

Parker has released many albums, some under his own name and others in collaboration with a variety of other musicians. One of those releases, Suite for Max Brown (2020) topped the Billboard Jazz Chart and was Included in numerous year-end Best of Lists. Parker has scored documentary films and worked with some of the top players in jazz today, including Fred Anderson, Brian Blade, Joey DeFrancesco, Vijay Iyer, Jason Moran, and Joshua Redman.

Johnson served as the musical director for Leon Bridges, and also is heard on albums by Miley Cyrus, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Harry Styles. His solo debut, Freedom Exercise, was included in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the Best Music of 2020.

McCraven, who refers to himself as a beat scientist, is heard frequently in Chicago clubs and concert halls, but he regularly performs in venues throughout the United States and Europe. He has captured the attention the Guardian, NPR, Rolling Stone, and Vice, among other media outlets. Writing in the the New York Times, Giovanni Russonello proclaimed that “[McCraven] has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz’s vitality.”

Bryan is a mainstay in the Los Angeles music community, winning a Grammy as a producer; playing with Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Ann Peebles, Mavis Staples, Allen Toussaint, Rufus Wainwright, and Lucinda Williams, among others; and releasing a number of albums under his own name.

So, the obvious question: With all that talent on one stage, what did they play? Mostly original compositions, but the group also played Bobby Hutcherson’s Visions, which was anchored by a funky bass riff. To my ears, much of the music was inspired by early Seventies Soft Machine, one of the pioneering purveyors of jazz-rock fusion. After re-listening to Soft Machine’s Soft Weed Factor shortly after arriving home, I concluded that the comparison was an apt one, but there were noticeable differences.

Rather than jamming everyone together on the Logan Center stage, as is often the case, the four musicians were spatially isolated from each other. The setup was indicative of how the music flowed. Each instrument occupied a discrete position in the mix. While the group worked well as a unit, there were many solos, or more aptly, at various points, single instruments dominated the mix. It might have been Bryan’s bass lines, which at times were pulsatingly deep, while at other times were barely audible as Bryan plucked individual strings.

Of the four, McCraven took the fewest solos, instead serving as the propulsive force. His downstrokes were forceful and deliberate. For all practical purposes, he functioned as the “rock” in jazz-rock fusion. Parker, on the other hand, functioned as the “jazz” component, as did Johnson.

Johnson switched effortlessly between his alto sax and a variety of keyboards. His keyboard of choice was a vintage Wurlitzer electric piano used to generate reverb-colored notes. On one unidentified number, he did a duet with himself, using pedals and what must have been pre-recorded samples, thereby mixing his saxophone with his keyboards.

Apart from McCraven, each player employed an array of foot pedals. Some seemed to repeat notes that had already been played in an endless, but somewhat changing progression. One triggered pre-recorded samples, while another introduced colors and textures to the music.

Johnson chose not to wear shoes, which at first struck me as an amusing affectation, but as I thought about what he was doing, his decision made sense. With the absence of shoes, there no longer was anything separating his feet and the pedals (except for his natty socks), thereby providing him a better sense of how much force he was applying when pressing his feet downward.

At one point, Johnson took an extended solo. I had to look closely at the other three musicians before I was convinced that they were not playing. He had so many loops and sounds spiraling out from his space on the stage that with eyes closed, I thought there were four or five musicians interacting with each other.

I have no doubt that Soft Machine was using various electronic pedals back in the Seventies, but this is where the comparison breaks down because the New Breed was collectively creating a sonic mix that went far beyond anything that Soft Machine produced at the time. Of course, Parker and the New Breed are using pedals and synthesizers that take advantage of the advances in digital technology during the ensuring 50 years.

In addition to playing the title track from his Suite for Max Brown album, Parker played Go Away from the same album. Throughout the song, which did include a drum solo, Parker kept repeating the phrase “Go Away.” Afterwards, he revealed that he wrote the song in 2018 or 2019. He then revealingly dedicated it to “the $83 Million Dollar Orange Man,” garnering a laugh from the audience.

After nearly 90 minutes, the group finished what was an outstanding set. They returned for an encore. For the last number, Johnson kept his shoes on.

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