The first blog post of the year finally comes down the pike, more than halfway into the month. In the past, this month has been a time of renewed excitement, with the look back at the previous year all being done in the first couple days of the new year.
There are a wealth of new releases coming out too but there are also too many things that I didn't get to expound upon before 2023 wrapped up. I couldn't get it together then, but I can now. So I'll try to be quick and concise and tell you what I liked that you might have missed.
Jason Adasiewicz
Roy's World
(Corbett vs. Dempsey) corbettvsdempsey.bandcamp.com/album/roys-world
Jason Adasiewicz
Roscoe Village - The Music of Roscoe Mitchell
(Corbett vs. Dempsey) corbettvsdempsey.bandcamp.com/album/roscoe-village-the-music-of-roscoe-mitchell
Jason Adasiewicz's approach to the vibraphone has always possessed a magical quality, taking an instrument with a very distinct personality and using it in ways that blow any pre-determined ideas about it out of the window. There are precedents for what he does, like Bobby Hutcherson's performance on Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch. But it's hard to imagine Hutcherson blending with the late Peter Brötzmann, and nurturing a more delicate performance with the burly saxophonist. Adasiewicz did that one year at Winter Jazz Fest. On top of that, and a role as one-third or Rob Mazurek's Starlicker trio, there were three albums by Adasiewicz's Sun Rooms trio, where his sustain pedal stayed in constant use, and he created flowing lines, accompanied by bass and drums.
Then he disappeared. Or at least, he fell off my radar. No new sessions, no side gigs, nothing. Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places but I worried a little. Maybe he dropped out of music, frustrated that only bloggers were talking about him all the time. Maybe family stuff took precedence. Or maybe COVID knocked him down. (Hence the worry.) I tried asking around to people who seemed like they would know but the only responses were the equivalent of shoulder shrugs.
Then last fall, somehow I stumbled across an Instagram post by the Corbett Vs. Dempsey label, talking about the second (!) Adasiewicz album they released in 2023. Suddenly my prayers have been answered. Or I was finally looking in the right place. (Those few months with no real writing gig took its toll.) The Bandcamp listing for Roscoe Village even explains his absence. He took a five-year sabbatical, became a carpenter and built himself a recording studio/practice space.
Which brings us to my favorite album of 2023....
The tracks on Roy's World were composed as a soundtrack for the film Roy's World: Barry Gifford's Chicago, based on a Gifford's collection of short stories. However, the music was made before there was film on which to set it. With Josh Berman (cornet), Jonathan Doyle (saxophones), Joshua Abrams (bass) and Hamid Drake (drums), Adasiewicz composed eight pieces that all evoke some cinematic moods, working strongly as a soundtrack but ultimately stand solidly on their own as an album of concise music.
The instrumentation recalls the late '60s Blue Note era when players like Andrew Hill or Grachan Moncur III were pushing against staid musical structures without completely sacrificing them. "River Blindness (Full)" opens the album with a slinky blues structure, with cornet and tenor playing in unison with the vibes. It has edge and it has a solid bottom. Like in many tracks, solos are limited to just a few choruses. Sometimes one of the horns only plays on the theme.
On "Do More," things flow freely with cymbals crashes and rolls, while Doyle, this time on alto, plays pointed spare notes that would leave room for narration in the final cut. By contrast he switches to baritone in "Sand" and doubles Abrams part, while Adasiewicz gets a chance to play some lines, utilizing the sustain pedal. Berman lights up the scene anytime he blows and his bent, conversational work in "Walking to Clinton" presents some of the highlights. The leader switches to balafon on "Blue People" adding to the already rhythmical groove of the song, with horns lines that evoke an African melody.
With an A-list group like this and a sound that brings together the ideal blend of adventure and structure, it's puzzling why this album didn't get more love upon its release last summer. Now's the time to catch up.
A solo vibraphone album can be a bit of a challenge, regardless of who's holding the mallets. Combine that setting with the compositions of Roscoe Mitchell, where space, atmosphere and extended technique can all factor into a piece, and the level of intrigue increases tenfold.
Adasiewicz transcribed eight Mitchell pieces for the album, along with a one written by Roscoe Mitchell, Sr. and one by R&B singer Otis Blackwell. While his approach to his instrument has been a bit aggressive at times (on some of his other records, it sounds like he's hitting so hard that the vibes bleed through one of the other studio microphones), he plays with a delicate attack on many of these tracks, slowly teasing melodies up through the vibrato of the instrument. It might be the first time a set of Mitchell's work could be considered lyrical, and that doesn't mean the music has been simplified by any means.
Album opener "The Waltz" (an early Art Ensemble of Chicago piece) creates an aural version of entering a dimly light room: the setting might be hard to make out initially but as time passes, it starts to make sense. From there, it's easy to get caught up in the sound of instrument. "Toro," another AEC piece from the Paris days, maintains the groove of the original, even with just one instrument playing it.
Throughout Roscoe Village, the selection of music and the pacing assures that the tracks never start to sound the same or run together. The elder Mitchell's "Walking In the Moonlight" is built on a bluesy foundation, which Adasiewicz toys with as he goes. At the same time, the groove of Blackwell's "Daddy Rollin' Stone" (one of Mitchell's favorite songs) can be felt throughout his playing. Both those tracks present some contrast, as does "The Cartoon March," which has never been recorded before. True to its name (and perhaps, some thoughts of Carl Stalling) the mood changes shape frequently, with stops, starts and dynamic drops, but it never meanders.
Like any good Roscoe Mitchell album, repeated listens will yield more understanding of what's happening in the music. A whole recital on vibes feel like the gateway to deeper exploration anyway.
Jason, if you're reading this - glad to hear you playing again.
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