A Revolving Alliance
MSLO4041 2026-06-19
Track List
A Revolving Alliance - 6:52
Yerazel - 6:25
A Disappearing Path - 6:57
New Dream - 5:13
Two Dragons - 5:35
Solstice - 5:08
A Dissolving Alliance - 4:58
Musicians
Matt Slocum - drums
Emmanuel Michael - guitar
Larry Grenadier - bass
As a follow-up to his critically-acclaimed recording, Lion Dance (Sunnyside, 2024), Matt Slocum presents a new, telepathic trio on A Revolving Alliance. Featuring legendary bassist Larry Grenadier and rising star guitarist Emmanuel Michael, the multigenerational ensemble explores a distinctive set of original music with empathy and verve. This is Grenadier’s fourth appearance on a Slocum-led recording (“I feel that our connection has deepened with each project, and it has been inspiring to record with Larry in settings ranging from piano trio, to quartet, sax trio, and now in this current format with Emmanuel,” said Slocum). It marks the first time that Slocum or Grenadier has recorded with Emmanuel Michael (Ambrose Akinmusire, Gerald Clayton, Marcus Gilmore, etc.), whom Slocum views as “an artist who can reimagine the possibilities of the art form and their instrument”.
The musical interplay throughout the proceedings is deeply rewarding, and six of the seven tracks are first takes. Slocum described the trio, “Somehow, this specific combination of musical personalities yielded a very organic and, in many ways, unexpected collective energy. While a recording studio can feel like a more sterile environment compared to playing live, I felt the opposite during this session. The combination of a new setting with these talented individuals – combined with very little idea of what might be coming next, seemed to draw out ideas from deep within my musical unconscious, many of which I didn’t realize were there or think were even possible.”
After recording a mix of jazz standards and original compositions on Lion Dance, Slocum decided to focus entirely on his own compositions for this project. The trio rehearsed and performed together leading up to the recording date, but were still coming into the studio fresh, with many unknowns leading into the session.
A Revolving Alliance has multiple meanings, of course. It revisits some of the broader themes of hope and despair (as they relate to American society) that were part of Slocum’s recording With Love and Sadness (Sunnyside, 2021). But that record, commissioned by Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works program and composed as a single suite with multiple movements, was focused more specifically on systemic racism in America. A Revolving Alliance “deals more broadly with my seemingly delusional hope that everything we are witnessing currently in the US (i.e., the unraveling of the fabric of a democratic society) might still somehow be cyclical, that we may find our way back towards becoming a more compassionate society,” commented Slocum.
The recording is designed, shaped, and programmed around a narrative arc. Unlike the “melody first” approach that the drummer/composer takes with many compositions, the title track here developed from a bass line that follows a winding path through a dance in a mix of meters. “Yerazel” is an Armenian word that means “to dream.” Compositionally, Slocum created a floating, somewhat mysterious, mood of innocence and beauty. By the third track, “A Disappearing Path,” many of the main themes of the recording have emerged. “I envision ‘Solstice,’ and its placement in the sequence of the recording, as a kind of flashback to and reflection on a brighter time in the past before many precious things became lost and broken. The closing piece, ‘A Dissolving Alliance,’ speaks for itself,” said Slocum.
Slocum once again enlisted the producing acumen of Jerome Sabbagh who possesses, “a rare gift of being able to hear and articulate many of the sonic nuances that can deeply enhance a listener’s experience,” said Slocum. This is an all-analog project, recorded live to two-track analog tape, with the trio in the same room and no edits, punches, or “fixes.” Slocum elaborated, “More and more I find myself drawn to the magic, mystery, innocence, and interplay that can often be found in first takes. Of course, in this ‘live-to-two’ setting, our legendary recording/mixing engineer, James Farber, effectively becomes the fourth member of our ensemble. Everyone is given equal weight – James is a master who records musicians the way we would like to be heard. We also experimented with various panning possibilities in the studio – ultimately all agreeing that having the guitar in the left channel, drums in the right channel, and the bass in the middle, brought the most depth, emotion, and clarity to the music. The sound that James Farber captured in the studio was so impressive that, during mastering, Bernie Grundman used no EQ, bypassing the board entirely to get the cleanest signal.”
Slocum’s first inspirations were Max Roach (on Clifford Brown’s Study In Brown, and with Buddy Rich on Rich Vs Roach), Philly Joe Jones (on Cookin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet), and Roy Haynes (on the albums Thelonious In Action, Chick Corea’s Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, and Haynes’ We Three). Through prolific sideman work over many years, and leading his own band with eight must-hear albums (visit www.MattSlocumJazz.com to explore his discography), Slocum has distilled these, and many other, influences, into what made these artists legends to begin with; vivid individuality. Slocum has been on his own path for many years, unconcerned with anything outside of cultivating, composing and performing music which represents his own artistic aesthetic and vision; music which resonates with and stimulates his fellow musicians; and music that finds music lovers yearning to hear master musicians in their prime. He has accomplished all of this and more with his new recording, A Revolving Alliance.
