Drummer and Composer Matt Slocum is joined by rising star Emmanuel Michael on guitar, and the legendary bassist Larry Grenadier on a empathetic and telepathic collection, A Revolving Alliance. Slocum is a highly regarded American jazz drummer and composer based in New York City. He has earned a reputation as an inventive and lyrical composer, as well as for being a tastefully polyrhythmic drummer with a penchant for melodicism on the kit. He has released several acclaimed albums as a bandleader and frequently collaborates with major artists across the modern jazz landscape.
On guitar, born and raised in South Dakota as a first-generation Ugandan and Southern Sudanese, Emmanuel Michael is a New York City based artist who believes that without self-reflection and empathy towards himself and others, the foundation of what makes a truthful artist/human would crumble. The world-traveling guitarist and composer began playing guitar in 8th grade and soon began to gain attention while attending public school at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he was invited to be a member of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Peer-To-Peer All-Star Sextet as a sophomore, leading masterclasses and performing with the ensemble.
Larry Grenadier is an acclaimed American jazz double bassist, widely celebrated for his fluid, melodic playing and warm tone. He is best known for his long-standing collaboration with the Brad Mehldau Trio and his work with legendary guitarist Pat Metheny. Born in 1966 in San Francisco, he grew up in a musical family, initially playing trumpet and electric bass before switching to the acoustic upright bass. He has an intuitive, conversational style, renowned for leaving space and always providing harmonic and rhythmic options for his fellow musicians.
The recording is designed, shaped, and programmed around a narrative arc. The title track here developed from a bass line that follows a winding path through a dance in a mix of meters, “A Revolving Alliance” (6:51). From the moment the guitar steel slide touches down at the beginning through to the drum solo and the bass solo, history is made.
“Yerazel” (6:24) is an Armenian word that means “to dream,” this track opens with an easy flow, brushes sizzle while the noodles bubble and tumble. The guitar voice seems to guide the overall experience of all the album, the bass solos and the brushes, touches of tom toms and snares certainly complete the story.
“A Disappearing Path” (6:56) starts off as a guitar solo, rapidly flowing little notes, busy and complicated. The drums focus the sound perfectly. The sizzle brushes on snares with cymbals tissing and tapping open “New Dream” (5:13), and there is a bass solo to die for.
“Two Dragons” (5:35) breaks speeding laws on the guitar and the drum somehow keeps up, plenty of speedy show off stuff and twisty twirly guitar acrobatics.
“Solstice” (5:08) has a reflective start, guitar with brushes, cymbals and snare, perhaps a reflection on a brighter time in the past before many precious things became lost and broken. There is a bit more electronica making interesting and strange percussive and atmospheric appearances.
This sets the stage for the closing track, “A Dissolving Alliance” (4:57) which goes off into some moments of space jazz madness. We get more busy, at times there is no cumbersome gravitational flow, new strange little creatures come and go, and then more come and go. This is my kind of party.
The ending goes off into new territory leaving a wonderfully strange afterglow with depth, emotion, and clarity. The words A Revolving Alliance have multiple meanings, of course, such as rotating personalities as well as revisiting some of the broader themes of hope and despair. 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,” reflects Slocum.
He describes the trio, saying, “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.”
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, whom Slocum views as “an artist who can reimagine the possibilities of the art form and their instrument.” I would add that he has transcendent and unbounded magical skills, as evidenced in the tips of his fingers.
Slocum 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.”
A Revolving Alliance is a poignant cultural reflection. This live in the studio approach captures an organic, unexpected collective energy that forced the musicians to play at the very edge of their musical unconscious. Through its shifting meters and thematic evolution, a masterful, deeply moving project that leaves a wonderfully strange, lasting afterglow of clarity and generous emotion.
To read more about music like A Revolving Alliance, check out Contemporary Fusion Reviews.
