Jazz on 3: Jason Adasiewicz’s Sun Rooms Trio at the Cheltenham Festival

The Cheltenham Jazz Festival is an event for me that always seems to mark the beginning of summer, and this year certainly fell nothing short of radiant, both musically and meteorologically. Fittingly, our featured performance this week comes from the aptly titled Sun Rooms Trio, led by US vibes player Jason Adasiewicz – a band that mesmerised festival goers on the closing night, with mirages of shimmering harmonies and a sheer physicality that at times, bordered on creative destruction.

As a former drummer, the Chicagoan is known for approaching the vibes with a similar vigour and force – driving his mallets hard into the metalwork and pushing the instrument to resonate almost to the point of distortion. And as he explains in conversation, it's a curiosity with the instrument's natural capabilities and limitations that define his voice. During the piece 'Rose Garden', Adasiewicz exploits long sustained notes to create a hypnotising palette of pulsating chords and colliding overtones that move in dreamlike scenes. A more percussive side is used in the impressive introduction to 'Warm Valley', where he employs extended techniques and mutes the bars to draw out rattling metallic qualities. Drummer Mike Reed's languid swing feel adds to the band's grinding forward motion, and bassist Devin Hoff has some real stand out moments of his own – particularly his extended solo on 'Life'.

Looking forward to the programme in coming weeks, we'll also be giving you the chance to hear festival sets from master tenor player Ravi Coltrane with his quintet, in addition to Troykestra – the extended 18-piece version of Troyka, featuring Chris Montague, Kit Downes and Joshua Blackmore.

Make sure to tune in on Monday evening from 11pm or listen online for seven days after the broadcast,

Jez

If you have comments about the show, or requests for music you’d like to hear, do get in touch at jazzon3@bbc.co.uk or on twitter at @BBCJazzon3