"I'm always looking for ways to be surprised", says composer and multi instrumentalist Jeff Parker as he explains the process, and the thinking, behind his new album Suite for Max Brown, released via a new partnership between International Anthem and Nonesuch Records

"If I sit down at the piano or with my guitar, with staff paper and a pencil, I'm eventually going to fall into writing patterns, into things I already know. So, when I make music, that's what I'm trying to get away from-things that I know." Despite its musical departures, in presentation Suite for Max Brown is an informal companion piece to The New Breed, Parker's debut release on International Anthem, which was honored as one of the "Best Albums of 2016" by New York Times, Observer, and Los Angeles Times.