Revolving Alliance

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. 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.'