The second recording for
Jason Adasiewicz with his quintet Rolldown takes the band into a distinct modern jazz arena, sporting equal parts of straight-ahead mainstream pacings alongside the bold, inventive, improvisational music of latter and current day Chicago. As a vibraphonist, he is deferring to his bandmates in the best spirit of teamwork, and admittedly would rather be a cog in the works than the driving force. This democracy has worked in his favor, not merely to divert attention away from his agile and lithe vibraphone playing. There's a group sound being developed, due to the sharp pitched alto saxophone of
Aram Shelton, and
Josh Berman, who is making strides and progressive statements on the more traditionally identified cornet. And there's a connection to the advanced jazz players from the '60s who made equally brash statements for the Blue Note label, folks like
Jackie McLean,
Andrew Hill,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Charles Tolliver, and
Sam Rivers. Rolldown is most adept at turning a title like "Dagger" into a bluesy dirge via
Shelton's ribald clarinet and the stoic cornet of
Berman, or morphing "Hide" from
Thelonious Monk-style angularities into a dredged-up, mucky consistency. "Varmint" is the perfect representation of a sneaky, snide, dangerous critter, rendered in a precise, prickly, yet loose melody not all that unlike something you might have heard from the
Art Ensemble of Chicago in their mid-period ECM stage. As ironic as the other titles are representative, "Green Grass" is a churning post-bop swinger with some deft rhythm changes, effervescent in the energy and penetrating tone
Adasiewicz exudes, while you hear the full, piquant, strained alto sound of
Shelton quite similar to
McLean or
Arthur Blythe. In a driving-sideways, elusive, slippery, post-bop idea, "The Griots" punctuates and acknowledges the aforementioned Blue Note pioneers -- it's written by
Andrew Hill. Where
Adasiewicz himself shines and takes the lead is during "Punchbug," a macabre waltz contrasted by the silly clarinet of
Shelton. Special mention should be made of bassist
Jason Roebke and drummer
Frank Rosaly, who are not mere timekeepers, but have innate knowledge as to the flexible rhythms, organic ins/outs, and smart-set soul of how this combo operates, lives, and breathes. Considering his relatively young age (32 at the time of this recording) and rapid progress as a maturing musician, it's safe to say
Jason Adasiewicz has a tiger by the tail, though it also seems like he's wrestling with alligators, two varmints he apparently has tamed. ~ Michael G. Nastos