(Modern Creative) Jason Adasiewicz's Rolldown - Varmint - 2009, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless, EAC

A major force in Chicago’s jazz and improvisation circles, vibist Jason Adasiewicz’s second group-led release comprises the element of surprise along with familiar persuasions. With cool, and velvety horns choruses, the leader dishes out sustainable themes built on knotty time signatures and buoyant flows. As a vibist, Adasiewicz, works underneath, over-the-top and weaves throughout, while adding texture and keeping the listener on his or her toes sans any bombastic discourses.
The program features polytonal shadings conjured by the three-man frontline including reedman Aram Shelton and cornetist Josh Berman. They fuse off-kilter passages with counterbalancing statements. Yet on the piece titled “Hide,” the quintet aligns old school bop with a modern flair, where they intersperse avant-garde aspects with a 1960s like foundation amid a few wily and vociferous meltdowns. In addition, the band renders a brooding motif on the asymmetrical and self-regenerating type mindset the musicians exercise on “Punchbug,” where Shelton’s lyrical clarinet lines are shrewdly offset by Berman’s forceful cornet phrasings. It’s a study in multihued contrasts, indeed.
Adasiewicz and his band-mates conjure up a seamless blend of progressive-jazz and focused group interaction that attains a thoroughly enjoyable composite outlook. The artists morph the best of various musical notions and stylizations into a distinctive approach via these resonating performances that offer a prismatic exposition of compositional acumen and emotive improvisational movements.
- Glenn Astarita
If you listen closely, you can hear Jason Adasiewicz’s faint mumble mimicking the melody of his vibraphone solo on the title track of the new Varmint. It’s a time-honored technique—revealing that the best improvisers know exactly what they’re doing—and evidence of his rising stature as one of the foremost players on the instrument today.
On his second album leading the quintet Rolldown, the local standby’s mallet work glows over radiant postbop originals like “Green Grass” and “Punchbag,” illuminating a remarkable chemistry with drummer Frank Rosaly. Both percussionists lock in effortlessly with bassist Jason Roebke, and together their fierce swing anchors the flawless front line of cornetist Josh Berman and reedist Aram Shelton.
The 32-year-old Adasiewicz is fond of writing phrases that are catchy, yet rhythmically ambitious. As the combo faithfully carries out his clever compositions, it’s grown into one of the best working groups today.
By Areif Sless-Kitain
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
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=34431