Jason Adasiewicz plays Roscoe Mitchell

Jason Adasiewicz plays Roscoe Mitchell

Saturday, March 11, 2023, 2pm

As a closing-day celebration for the Roscoe Mitchell exhibition Keeper of the Code: Paintings 1963-2022, CvsD is very pleased to present a special program of Mitchell's compositions transcribed, arranged, and performed by Jason Adasiewicz. One of the contemporary giants of Chicago's improvised music scene, Adasiewicz had been in discussion with CvsD about a Roscoe Mitchell project for years, inspired in part by the presence of tuned keys and other metallic percussion in Mitchell's oeuvre. The exhibition gave renewed impetus to its realization, with a secret commission: for the afterparty following Mitchell's opening in January, as a surprise, Adasiewicz performed four of Mitchell's historical compositions—"Toro," "Jo Jar," "The Waltz," and "Walking in the Moonlight"—to the master composer, who responded enthusiastically with multiple standing ovations. Since that time, Adasiewicz has worked nonstop on the development of a full program of Mitchell works, drawing from the songbooks of his classic pieces, including those composed for the Art Ensemble of Chicago and pieces with prior lives as vehicles for Mitchell's Sound and Space Ensembles and other groups.  Arranging these works for solo vibraphone, Adasiewicz has boldly reworked them but remained unshakably true to the original compositions, exploring different ways to account for multiple voicings on his four-malleted instrument and submerging himself in Mitchell's resounding melodic imagination. What Adasiewicz presents in this concert will be the working blueprint of a future CvsD release tentatively titled Roscoe Village. Homage to one of the great visionaries of creative music, re-envisioned with love and affection by a true detective of Mitchell's muse.