International Anthem US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Is there a more on-point modern jazz label than Chicago's International Anthem? The imprint has a knack of releasing far-sighted music that goes way beyond standard jazz, offering up spiritual and experimental fusions fully in-keeping with the genre's genre-defying roots. This solo set from Tortoise guitarist Jeff Parker - his second for International Anthem following 2016's "The New Breed" - is a superb example. Breathlessly eclectic in the most inspiring of ways, it sees Parker combine virtuoso jazz guitar solos and mangled, guitar-powered aural textures with all manner of live and sampled sounds to create a dizzyingly good album that variously touches on soul-jazz, post-rock, free improvisation, Terry Riley style minimalist soundscapes, ambient, jazz-funk and much more besides. In a word: brilliant.