Zach Adleman - We Make: Stories For A New Day

Zach’s writing on this recording captures the narrative of his life choices and experiences. In Between Places reflects the blues of living, working, and commuting between New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Dig the playful interaction with the horns and rhythm section and shades of hipness on the blues. It was written on the painted pianos in Virginia’s urban bus stops, far removed from the joyful waterfalls and hiking trails that influence the next song All Around Us. We Make was written during the pandemic and is heavily influenced by the music of Billy Childs. The different sections of the song are meant to represent the terror and unease the pandemic introduced, while also highlighting the beauty that humanity can create when under pressure.

It Always Rains in Michigan is the first song that Zach ever composed, using the minor blues form to interpret the gloom of a 6-day Michigan rainstorm. The listener gets to hear about special moments along Zach’s life path, such as his late night walks through NYC’s Riverside Park (Ballad for the Night) and his coming-of-age years residing in East Lansing, Michigan’s Wedgewood Apartments (Song For Wedgewood). The soundtrack of early adulthood is expressed through the wistful innocence of Steve Wilson’s enchanting flute tone. Lookin’ Up owes its title to a gig Zach played in the Flatiron District in Manhattan shortly after the lockdown was lifted. After playing several hours of an outdoor gig, he looked up and was astonished by the calm beauty of the buildings that contrasted the ever-quirky, hustling vibe on the NYC streets.

Zach shows his gratitude to veteran Jazz masters through his Kenny Garrett-inspired rendition of Cole Porter’s Night and Day and his Lewis Nash/Steve Wilson-inspired arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s Evidence. You can hear plenty of emotion being wrung out of the melodies and arrangements, such as weariness, frustration and dark humor in (At the Canadian) Border Patrol. As Zach explains, “While on my way to visit my cousin in Canada I was hit by a nighttime snow storm. At the Canadian border, I was curiously asked “Why do you have so many shirts?” I had six shirts. While on my way back home at the border crossing, buried in wait time, I composed this song.”