*Announcing* Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - HAPPY TODAY /// LP, CD, Digi album out May 15th 2026
Jeff Parker Announces New ETA IVtet Album
Happy Today Out May 15
(Happy Today cover photo by David Haskell, from his series Thirdness)
Today we are very pleased to announce Happy Today, the third album from guitarist / bandleader Jeff Parker and his long-running ETA IVtet, out May 15th via International Anthem / Nonesuch. Recorded at Lodge Room in Los Angeles on August 20, 2025, Happy Today is the sound of Parker and the IVtet — with drummer Jay Bellerose, bassist Anna Butterss, and saxophonist Josh Johnson — engaged in their signature, minimalist, form-bending improvisational syntax across two sprawling, LP side-length pieces. Lead track “Like Swimwear (part one)” is out now on all digital music platforms, and may be heard here.
Pre-order / pre-save Happy Todayhere.
(photo by Sam Lee)
Recorded and mixed in situ at Lodge Room by engineer Bryce Gonzales with a custom-made analog mixer and Nagra stereo tape recorder, Happy Today captures a bright moment during dark times. As Parker shares: “2025 was a very difficult year for me and my family. Dealing with being displaced from the Eaton fires for eight months, and the kind of toll that instability took on my family’s mental health and general outlook, coupled with Donald Trump being back in office and basically making life miserable for everyone… There was a lot of sadness and despair. But feeling the sense of community that we created with our concert, and later hearing the recording, seeing the beautiful footage that had been shot and the photographs of such joy to be back in that space and to be making music again: It was a very happy moment. So I called the record Happy Today. It’s meant to be a statement of joy.”
The past two years have been productive and busy as ever for Parker, who has long been a prominent player within a wide-range of music communities, jazz and beyond. In 2025 alone, he released new music and toured with his long-standing experimental rock band Tortoise, and brought the ETA IVtet in for an NPR Tiny Desk performance. Additionally, Parker and two other members of the IVet — Butterss and Johnson — are featured on Flea's solo debut album released March 27 on Nonesuch Records. The album, Honora, also was produced by Johnson.
Happy Today is the ETA IVtet’s first recording made outside of the now-shuttered, widely-beloved Los Angeles micro-club ETA. Part laboratory, part low-stakes proving ground, ETA was where the band’s collective sound coalesced over the course of a storied seven-year Monday night residency that yielded two critically-acclaimed records — 2022’s Mondays at The Enfield Tennis Academy and 2024’s The Way Out of Easy.
With Happy Today, that sound — honed in such an intimate setting — is scaled up for a much larger audience and space at Lodge Room. But the essential formula remains the same, and has the same hypnotic, deeply-tuned listening effect. The almost alchemical musical communication creates a feeling of connection not only between the band members but also between the band and their audience – an ongoing trust exercise that invites listeners to become part of the exchange, and experience the joy of deep listening.
Happy Today is out May 15, preorder and presave it here.
HAPPY TODAY
RELEASE SHOWS
In August, Parker and the ETA IVtet will do a run of Happy Today album release shows that includes a three-night stand in-the-round at Lodge Room in Los Angeles, almost exactly one year after the album was recorded in the very same place. Tickets and info for all below.
Saturday August 22nd - Berkeley CA @ The Freight - tickets
Sunday August 23rd - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room - tickets
Monday August 24th - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room - tickets
Tuesday August 25th - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room - tickets
Lodge Room has also made a limited number of 3-night bundle tickets available for a discounted price, which can be purchased here.
(still from Happy Today film by Charlie Weinmann)
Jeff Parker - ETA IVtet - Happy Today
film by Charlie Weinmann
An album-length concert film by Charlie Weinmann, capturing the August 2025 Lodge Room performance that became Jeff Parker's new ETA IVtet album Happy Today, will be released on May 29, 2026. Weinmann’s noirish capture offers a rare opportunity to see the elusive ETA IVtet in action. Premiere screenings will take place ahead of the album release date this spring, including Chicago on May 3 at The Land School, Los Angeles on April 26 at Vidiots, Portland on April 30 and May 1 at Mono Space, plus more dates and locations TBA.
Sign up for our email list to be the first to get
access to tickets for these screenings.
DELUXE VINYL PACKAGE
Happy Today comes on 140 gram vinyl inside a heavyweight jacket with brown card inner pockets, IARC obi strip & poly-lined innersleeve. Lacquers cut by Daniel K at SST. US stock pressed at New Orleans Record Press, stock for the rest of the world pressed at Pallas in Germany.
Limited Edition *Cerulean Blue* Color Vinyl - $34
Classic Black Vinyl - $29
also available on
Compact Disc - $15
!!! SPRING '26 BUNDLE IS HERE !!!
Happy Today is the first of two new IARC releases for Spring 2026. And, per our norm, both LPs are available to purchase together, as part of the Spring ‘26 Bundle.
A purchase of the Spring ‘26 Bundle (on either classic black vinyl or color vinyl) comes with a bundle-exclusive discount of 10% off the LP prices + a discounted shipping cost.
The LPs included are:
IARC0109 Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - Happy Today
IARC0111 (TBA)
Bundles will ship from warehouses in the US, EU and UK, but don't sleep.. the quantity available in each warehouse is limited! Early purchase is recommended to ensure the lowest possible shipping and tax costs.
All items will ship around May 15th. Bandcamp download codes will be sent via email for all the releases by, or before, the ship date.
Order Spring '26 Bundle on
COLOR VINYL here
Order Spring '26 Bundle on
BLACK VINYL here
