Jazz Articles

Matt Slocum: Black Elk's Dream

by Dan Bilawsky
March 15, 2014

Musicians always aim to tell a story with their music, but drummer Matt Slocum goes one better on Black Elk Speaks: Slocum uses a story--an entire individual's history, in fact--to shape his own telling of musical tales. On his third release, following Portraits (Chandra Records, 2009) and After The Storm (Chandra Records, 2011), Slocum digs deep into the history of Black Elk, the famed Oglala Lakota medicine man who was immortalized on paper when John G. Neihardt ...

Oscar Perez / Nuevo Comienzo: Afropean Affair

by Dave Wayne
December 20, 2011

On Afropean Affair , pianist/composer Óscar Pérez treads an appealing line between Afro-Latin jazz and modern jazz reminiscent of the Cuban band Irakere--or, perhaps, the first couple of Chick Corea Return to Forever discs, with saxophonist/flautist Joe Farrell and drummer Airto). A native of New York City, Pérez's early immersion in both Afro-Cuban and European classical music came courtesy of his parents, who hail from Cuba and Colombia. After studying violin, piano, and guitar as a youth, ...

Matt Slocum: Portraits

by Mark F. Turner
February 22, 2010

Matt Slocum's multicolored traps--at times forceful or delicate, creatively painting varied tempos with the essence of swing--define the drummer's debut, Portraits. Hailing from St. Paul, Minnesota, Slocum's introduction carries forward the torch of patriarchs Max Roach and Elvin Jones amongst others, but he also carves out his own rhythmic patterns with young contemporaries such as Eric Harland and Johnathan Blake.

Slocum is joined by equally distinguished peers: award-winning pianist Gerald Clayton, whose own debut, Two-Shade (ArtistShare, 2009), was ...

Matt Slocum: Portraits

by Terrell Kent Holmes
January 12, 2010

Drummer Matt Slocum makes a memorable debut with Portraits, an eloquent and sophisticated collection of mostly original compositions, interpreted smartly by the leader, pianist Gerald Clayton and bassist Massimo Biolcati. The trio tunes here define crispness and diversity, whether it's Clayton's nimble piano on “Cambria," Slocum's quicksilver drumming on the workout “Shadows" or Clayton's lush styling, Biolcati's murmuring pizzicato and Slocum's shimmering cymbals meshing perfectly on the impressionistic “For Alin." They also play light-hearted tunes, like the ...