THE MARQUEE
There is a specific kind of alchemy that happens in the dim, amber glow of ETA on a Monday night, a transmutation of cocktail clinks and low-frequency chatter into something approaching the divine. Since the Jeff Parker ETA IVtet took up residence in that Highland Park corner pocket, the room hasn’t just been a venue—it’s been a laboratory for the soul of the New Los Angeles jazz scene, where the fourth wall doesn't just crumble; it evaporates. Today, April 22, 2026, Jeff Parker has managed to trap that lightning in a jar with the release of “Like Swimwear (Part Two),” the second transmission from the quartet’s upcoming live-recorded opus, Happy Today. Recorded at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles on August 20, 2025, the project is the band's first recording made outside of ETA, which permanently closed at the end of 2023.
Arriving via the high-pedigree alliance of International Anthem and Nonesuch Records, the track serves as a low-slung, hypnotic sequel to last month’s “Part One.” If the first installment felt like the slow-burn haze of a California afternoon, “Part Two” is where the Santa Ana winds kick in and the heat starts to shimmer visibly off the asphalt. This is Jeff Parker at his most telepathic, weaving crystalline guitar motifs through a rhythmic tapestry that feels impossibly loose yet structurally bulletproof. For those who have tracked Parker’s evolution from the post-rock architecture of Tortoise to the soulful collage-work of The New Breed, this release represents the apex of his “organic-electronic” philosophy.
The ETA IVtet isn’t your standard backing band; it is a four-way conversation between some of the most vital architects currently working in the L.A. underground. Parker acts as the moderator for a dialogue that features saxophonist Josh Johnson—the melodic powerhouse whose resume spans from Leon Bridges to his own avant-garde masterworks—serving as the perfect tonal foil. Below them, the rhythm section of bassist Anna Butterss and drummer Jay Bellerose breathes like a single organism. Butterss, fresh off her own lauded solo outings and high-profile runs with Phoebe Bridgers, provides a low-end foundation that is less about keeping time and more about carving out a deep, soulful canyon for the improvisation to inhabit.
August Heat and the Art of the Present Tense
The forthcoming album, Happy Today, slated for a global arrival on May 15, 2026, is a far cry from a sterile studio session. The entire project was cut during a high-intensity set at the Lodge Room on August 20, 2025. Recording live in a room as intimate and sonically honest as the Lodge Room is a high-wire act without a net. There is no “fixing it in the mix” when you are capturing the raw electricity of a room packed to the rafters. Every stray whisper from the crowd and the physical thrum of the instruments is baked into the DNA of the recording, giving the music a tactile, lived-in grit.
“There’s a specific frequency you hit when you play with the same people in the same room for years,” one fan noted on social media as the single began to trend this morning. “You can hear the trust in ‘Like Swimwear.’ They aren't guessing where the beat is; they are living inside of it.” That sentiment is the gospel truth for the International Anthem faithful, who have long treated the ETA residency as the secret heartbeat of the West Coast jazz resurgence. The decision to partner with Nonesuch Records for this release only solidifies the gravity of the project, taking Parker’s experimental edge and projecting it onto a global screen without diluting a drop of his North Side Chicago-bred curiosity.
The “Swimwear” suite highlights the quartet’s uncanny ability to take a minimalist motif and stretch it into something symphonic. On “Part Two,” Bellerose’s percussion is a masterclass in subtlety, using brushes and textures to create a sense of momentum that never feels hurried. Parker’s guitar remains the North Star—clean, understated, and harmonically vast. He is a player who understands that the silence between the notes is just as loud as the melodies themselves.
A Cinematic Ritual for the Summer of '26
The story doesn't end when the needle drops on May 15. For those who want to see the sweat on the brow and the wordless nods of communication that fuel these jams, a full-length concert film documenting the August 20, 2025 session is scheduled for a global release on May 29, 2026, following premiere screenings on April 26 at Vidiots in Los Angeles and May 1 at Public Records in Brooklyn. In a digital landscape dominated by 15-second throwaway clips, the film is a necessary deep dive, capturing the quartet in their natural habitat and transforming a neighborhood bar into a cathedral of sound.
The visual component provides the essential context for the album’s title, Happy Today, which functions as a mission statement for the group. In the world of high-level improvisation, you have to be radically present; you have to be “happy today” with whatever the muse provides in the moment. The film is expected to put a spotlight on the technical wizardry of Josh Johnson, whose alto sax lines on the new single are already being hailed by critics as “liquid gold.” The interplay between Johnson and Parker is the engine of this entire record—a symbiotic relationship forged over hundreds of hours on the ETA stage.
As we count down to May 15, “Like Swimwear (Part Two)” stands as a vibrant, open-ended invitation. It is a request to slow down, to lean in, and to lose yourself in a groove that feels like it could stretch on into eternity. With the album and the film arriving in quick succession, the next few weeks are a celebration of Jeff Parker’s singular vision. He isn’t just releasing a record; he is documenting a movement, one Monday night at a time. If this track is the barometer, Happy Today is poised to be the definitive soundtrack for the summer, a record that finds the sweet spot between intellectual complexity and pure, unadulterated vibe. Mark your calendars for May 15, because the journey is just beginning, and this is a trip you won't want to skip.
