Trombonist Nick Adema’s Urban Chaos Set To Release October 2024

Canadian-born, Amsterdam-based trombonist/composer Nick Adema explores the turmoil of life and loss in the modern city on his stunning Urban Chaos

Due out October 4, 2024 via ZenneZ Records, the wide-ranging album features tenor saxophonist Noah Preminger joining Adema’s quartet along with a string quartet and a host of guests 

“Each of his compositions contains a myriad of ideas, gradually revealing themselves over time and yet all coming together to form a satisfying whole. Adema’s writing possesses immense beauty while also managing to zig where others would normally zag.”  – Yoshi Wall, The Whole Note

“It is especially evident that Canadian trombonist, composer and arranger Nick Adema deserves worldwide recognition.” – Georges Tola Briquet, Jazz Halo

When life becomes chaotic, a strange city can be simultaneously the best and the worst place to find oneself. If all you want to do is be alone with your thoughts, a crowded, hectic metropolis can seem overwhelming; at the same time, there’s no easier locale in which to be anonymous, even while surrounded by other people.

Those were some of the impressions racing through the mind of trombonist/composer Nick Adema as he put together the music for his ambitious new album Urban Chaos. Adema lost his mother in late 2022, not long after relocating from Ottawa, Canada to Amsterdam. “Urban Chaos captures the feeling of moving back to the city after going through all of this mayhem,” Adema says. The album is a follow-up to its 2021 predecessor, DemiLAN, which was named for his mother (Demetria Langis) and created in parallel with her illness.

“I almost quit music when my mom passed away,” Adema continues. “This album is about the process of moving on and realizing that what’s done is done, while acknowledging all that she’s done to help me continue my music.”

Due out October 4, 2024 via ZenneZ Records, Urban Chaos showcases the scope and breadth of Adema’s compositional imagination with a shifting palette. The album’s core quartet – Adema, pianist Joy Shechter, bassist Azubike Onwuka and drummer Chen Har-Even – are supplemented through much of the album by special guest Noah Preminger on tenor, with the addition at different moments of a string quartet, vocalist Liva Dumpe, guitarist Ante Medic, alto saxophonist Micheal Murray and the leader’s own expansive use of electronic processing for his trombone.

“In terms of the media and novels that I like to consume, I enjoy art that reveals a grand universe,” Adema explains. “Cities bustling with life, where you’re overloaded with too much information, but with a common thread that helps you digest everything. I wanted to emulate that sensation by combining a lot of my influences.”

“Beginnings” opens the album with a brief, propulsive fanfare, before the string quartet makes its first appearance with tenuous, halting lines to usher in “The Fool.” The moving piece gradually coheres from these minimal origins before Even and Onwuka lock into a lurching groove. Adema and Preminger parry one another’s solos over an increasingly turbulent rhythm as the tune nears its climactic moments. Twice named DownBeat Magazine’s top Rising Star Tenor Saxophonist, Preminger is a leading voice of his generation and a favorite of Adema’s who the trombonist was convinced would add a special power and grace to the proceedings.

“Noah is quite possibly my favorite contemporary saxophone player,” Adema says. “I really felt like I needed his sound for this project. He turned out to be really easy to work with, while being incredibly detail oriented and meticulous about finding his sound in the studio.”

“111” and its counterpart “222” find Adema and Preminger going toe to toe in concise, atmospheric improvisations, Adema rendering his trombone nearly unrecognizable through the use of a pedal board to create a heady fog of sound. “Y-Axis,” with its skittering, agitated rhythms, is dedicated to saxophonist Yaniv Nachum, one of the composer’s mentors at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, while the more meditative “The Friendly Ghost” was penned for the Danish guitarist Casper Hejlesen, with incisive six-string contributions from Medic.

Onwuka opens “Doglio” with a breathtaking solo, wielding his electric bass with a classical guitarist’s agility. The song, with its antic, Eastern European brass band feel and jagged beat, recalls a favorite memory shared by Adema and his mother. “Oak,” with a vulnerable vocal by Dumpe, marks Adema’s debut as a lyricist; it and the following track, “The End of a Love Affair,” turn from the chaos of the city to the chaos of the heart. The title of “Fracture” refers not to its off-kilter funk feel but to the stop-start method of its composition, while “Still Moving” begins with evocative, almost bird call-like abstractions leading into the tender tune. “Demetra” concludes the album on a heartfelt note, with Adema and Medic joining for a sparse, wistful farewell.

Urban Chaos reflects not just the noise and bustle of the urban environment, but the unrelenting momentum of life in general. While it seems like time should stop when confronted by a momentous event like the loss of a loved one, Adema found himself dealing with commuting between his home in Canada and his new life in Amsterdam, a turbulent relationship and the pressures of making a life in music all at the same time. The results are stunning – like life in the urban jungle, at once frenetic and uplifting, poignant and immersive.

Nick Adema
Nick Adema is a Canadian trombonist and composer currently based in Amsterdam, interested in exploring the plurality of sonic environments. Using the modest nature of the slide to express his musical vigor, Adema is one of the most versatile trombonists on the modern jazz landscape. He currently has two records under his belt as a band leader: demiLAN (2021) and New Roots (2022, with the Adema Manoukas Octet). Since relocating to the Netherlands, Adema has played with Ben van Gelder, Tineke Postma and Reinier Baas, and has performed at many of the country’s largest jazz venues, including North Sea Jazz, Bimhuis, Lanteren Venster, Den Paard and others. In addition to touring Canada, Urban Chaos will visit Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Zeeland, Berlin and Cologne during the Spring and Summer of 2024 and will be joined by renowned saxophonist Jasper Blom for a Dutch album release tour in the fall. Adema has been the recipient of a number of awards, such as the Keep an Eye International Jazz Competition Best CvA Jazz Soloist honor, the Holland Scholarship and the Albert and Wilhelmine Francis Renewable Scholarship. He is a Rath trombone artist.

Source: Ann Braithwaite