Bassist and composer Adam Chilenski returns to his roots with long-awaited debut release over-dues

Adhyâropa Records is thrilled to announce over-dues (ÂR00213), the new album by the rising star bassist and composer Adam Chilenski. Teaming with an all-star team of like minded musicians including Duane Eubanks (trumpet), Billy Drewes (saxophone), Dov Manski (piano), RJ Miller (drums) and Frank LoCrasto (keys), over-dues heralds the impactful arrival of a talent that took its time to cook slowly but is immensely satisfying once served. 

Chilenski took a circuitous route in his path to musical acclaim. After beginning his musical studies at the University of Maine before even graduating from high school, Chilenski cut his teeth touring with blues, country, and jazz bands for several years before landing in the band of Robert Stillman, now a member of the Radiohead/Sons of Kemet offshoot band The Smile. "Rob is also from Maine, though we met living in New York. I worked on his album Horses, and we also played together in another band, The End of the World. It was through the connections I made thanks to Rob, by way of making records with Luke Temple, that I wound up in the band, The Red Romance. That band quickly got a few lucrative sync placements and toured opening for The Killers; things were looking optimistic. But, as the record industry changed around us in the early 2000's, it didn't pan out commercially, and then eventually, creatively."

It was at this time that another detour presented itself to Chilenski. "I had always been interested in cooking and did a lot of study on my own. By chance, I befriended an amazing high-end professional chef. What started as social meetups to cook and drink wine together evolved into an apprenticeship, and eventually employment. My interest in cooking took on a life of its own and I embarked on a parallel career as a private chef."

For a decade, Chilenski maintained time and space for both cooking and music, in addition to raising a family. But entering his 40s, Chilenski made a conscious choice to refocus on his first passion – music. "After the passing of my parents, I became acutely aware of how fleeting life is. I realized I was spread thin creatively and spiritually; it was time to choose a lane."

The musical focus which now came to Chilenski, and which resulted in this album, was given an additional impetus by the drummer RJ Miller, who does double duty here as co-producer. "He's a dear friend and inspiring musician. He can see the bigger picture of a project like this with clarity. He helped me sharpen my vision not only as a bandleader, but as a bass player and composer as well.”

That vision which led to this release is immediately evident from the album’s opener and first single, a precise yet jaunty slalom through the Cedar Walton chestnut ‘Martha’s Prize.’ Miller offers wry commentary to the snaky, segmented phrases which make up the tune’s head, a workout for bass and piano left hand. Gorgeously structured solos from Dov Manski’s piano, Duane Eubanks’ trumpet, and Billy Drewes’ tenor sax bring us back to Walton’s melody. "Cedar Walton's writing is near perfect," Chilenski gushes. "His melodies, and often harmonies too, have a timeless familiarity, but always with a twist. That mix of familiarity and surprise are like a catapult for improvisation." The arrangement is lean, focused, and virtuosically stated by the extraordinarily tight ensemble; fans of the Teo Macero era at Columbia Jazz will be delighted at a new entry into the hard bop standard catalog.

The album’s third track and second single ‘Ronald’s Rhumba,’ a Chilenski original, gives Chilenski himself space to establish his bassist bona fides. Here, a ruminative, slightly melancholy cadenza opens the proceedings, and the composition reveals itself slowly, blossoming over its full duration via statements from Eubanks and Drewes, but in particular via the extraordinary interplay between Manski and Chilenski which recalls no less than the great piano-bass combinations of Jarrett and Peacock, or Evans and LaFaro. The result is a deeply satisfying yet sneakily subversive take on the small ensemble performance, and the perfect soundtrack to reflection or remembrance. 

Chilenski’s own playing stands up next to those masters, and has rich shades of Charlie Haden’s gift for a melody delivered with simplicity and confidence; it’s no accident that a Haden original, ‘Silence,’ finds its way into the program as the album’s centerpiece fifth track. The ensemble’s take on Haden’s classic composition is reverent without being dogmatic; Miller’s skittering drums establish a mood of wonderment and experimentation befitting Chilenski’s meaningful return to the music that formed him in his youth and which he now returns to, older, wiser, and with the fresh perspective of adulthood.

“I’m 44, I know this is later than usual for a debut album,” Chilenski grins. “But I’ve been building to this for my entire adult life, with a whole lot of twists and turns along the way,” Chilenski says with a slight wink. “But it’s deeply meaningful to me to not only return to this music, but to do it with these incredible musicians and collaborators.”

The surname Chilenski derives from the Polish phraseology for “traveling musician” or “troubadour.” Chilenski is a traveller, but over-dues is the story of the long voyage home.

Artist: Adam Chilenski

Album Title: over-dues

Label: Adhyâropa Records

Release Date: October 27th, 2026 (single: ‘Martha's Prize’); November 9th, 2026 (single: ‘Ronald's Rhumba’); November 27th, 2026 (album: over-dues)

Purchase: PURCHASE LINK 

Performers: Duane Eubanks (trumpet); Billy Drewes (tenor saxophone); Dov Manski (piano); Adam Chilenski (bass); RJ Miller (drums, percussion); Frank LoCrasto (synth)