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Jason Adasiewicz's Sun Rooms: From the Region

By Mark Corroto
September 11, 2014
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Jason Adasiewicz's Sun Rooms: From the Region

An imagined overheard conversation in heaven between Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi goes something like this: "If only all music could swing this hard, there would be no need for war."

Okay, maybe it wasn't MLK and Gandhi, but it could have been

Horace Silver

piano
1928 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Horace Silver and Joey Ramone.

In a trio format, Vibraphonist

Jason Adasiewicz

vibraphone

" data-original-title="" title="">Jason Adasiewicz picks up his mallets where Sonny Rollins set down his saxophone after recording the classic trio date A Night At The Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1957). Maybe a better comparison would be to the rock trios, Cream, Nirvana, or The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Adasiewicz's From The Region is a power trio recording masquerading as a jazz band.

This, their third recording, follows a self-titled debut (2010) and Spacer (Delmark, 2011). The lineup has changed with Norwegian bassist (now Austin, TX resident)

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten

bass
b.1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Ingebrigt H?ker Flaten replacing

Nate McBride

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Nate McBride. His other bands, The Thing (with

Mats Gustafsson

woodwinds
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Mats Gustafsson and

Paal Nilssen-Love

drums
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Paal Nilssen-Love), The Young Mothers, Atomic, and Raoul Björkenheim's Scorch prepare him for Sun Rooms' audacious attack. Same for drummer

Mike Reed

drums
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Reed, whose morphing ensemble People Places and Things, is a thoroughly modern band that doesn't lack for reverence for tradition.

The impetus is explained by Adasiewicz in the liner notes, "We are all drummers in this band, and we all want to swing."

From the outset the rat-a-tat flavors "Lezza." Adasiewicz's vibes clang more than ring, pound instead of chime, and reverberate instead of resonate. When he plays opposite Haker-Flaten, as he does on "Classic Route," his notes ricochet off a tenacious bass groove. The trio here pushes (and pulls) against each other constantly, like a power trio, except the dialect they speak is jazz. Even though Adasiewicz is comfortable in the free jazz modality and can be found in collaborations with

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann, here the emphasis is placed on swing. But not your fathers-

Milt Jackson

vibraphone
1923 - 1999

" data-original-title="" title="">Milt Jackson-swing. Sun Rooms begins with Bobby Hutcherson's work on

Eric Dolphy

woodwinds
1928 - 1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch (Blue Note, 1964) then upsizes the vibraphone as the force majeure. Credit must also go Mike Reed, a self contained power unit, who sparks his partners adherence to road-mapping a rhythmic pattern throughout.

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Track Listing

Leeza; Classic Route; The Song I Wrote For Tonight; Mar Flowers; Mr. PB; Two Comes One; Old Sporty; I Forgot The Words; Cubane; Just Talkin�� To Myself; Is A Bell A Rose.

Personnel

Jason Adasiewicz

vibraphone

Jason Adasiewicz: vibraphone; Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten: bass; Mike Reed: drums.

Album information

Title: From the Region | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Delmark Records

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