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Like Matt Slocum's six previous albums, Lion Dance is a work of high distinction. On his first investigation of the tenor saxophone-bass-drumset trio format, in the company of world-class practitioners Walter Smith III and Larry Grenadier, Slocum - less widely known than his bandmates - operates fully as a peer, surefootedly navigating them through five original pieces whose subtle challenges enhance freedom of expression, and three Jazz and American Songbook standards addressed more or less straight-no-chaser. The end result can stand in the same conversation as equilateral triangle oriented recordings by such 21st century avatars of the genre as Fly Trio, a long-standing unit with Grenadier, Mark Turner, and Jeff Ballard; Smith's own "TWIO" outing with bassist Harish Raghavan and Eric Harland; the Bill Stewart Trio with Grenadier and Smith; and the Kendrick Scott Trio with Smith and Reuben Rogers.

One reason, Walter Smith suggests, is Slocum's thematic focus, his ability to shape, sculpt, and refine the beats and drumkit tonalities to ensemble imperatives in the heat of the moment. "It seems to me that Matt usually thinks about how things will build," says Smith, who makes his fourth appearance on a Slocum-led project. They've been friends and musical collaborators since both were young aspirants in Los Angeles during the mid-'00s. At the time, Slocum, who'd earned a scholarship to the jazz program at the University of Southern California, was studying with Peter Erskine, and gigging with luminaries-to-be like Gerald Clayton, Massimo Biolcati, Dayna Stephens, and Taylor Eigsti, all participants on his earlier records.

"Different sections have a different feel, a specific beat, but it's more the song's overall arc, the shape of the music, than the details of what chord or melody note goes here or there," Smith adds. "Matt has the overall picture in view, which is the mark of a good bandleader, because you don't get deeply into the weeds."

"Gerald initially told me about Matt," says Grenadier, who played with Clayton and Slocum on the 2019 release Sanctuary, and on the critically acclaimed With Love and Sadness (2022), in quartet with Smith and Eigsti. "He gets a great sound on the drums, and he knows how to tune them and complement the other instruments. His compositions leave you a lot of space, less complex than the current generation of jazz writing, more like the classic writers of the 20th century - one-page charts, for the most part."

"Matt is melodically driven; he writes stuff that's singable and makes sense and hooks you," adds producer Jerome Sabbagh, who has led six of his own tenor-bass-drum trios as of this writing. "I'd describe his sound as intentional and very balanced. James Farber, the engineer, who places a mic on every single part of the drumkit, told me that Matt's thorough conception made it easy - James didn't have to do much else than capture what Matt was doing."

In Slocum's view, the harmonic possibilities of the sax trio environment "decomplexified" the writing process. In the months leading up to the December 2023 session, he worked out repertoire with Smith and Grenadier, eliciting their input on "what would work, what wouldn't work, and what would work if it had revisions, so we could zero in on what the material would be." That's one reason why the proceedings transpired at such a synchronous level of inspiration after one rehearsal, with all members recording in the same room, direct-to-two-track analog tape, eliminating the safety net provided when punch-ins or solo redos are possible.

"I've always wanted to do a sax trio record," Slocum says. "I feel it's a benchmark for drummers - for saxophonists, too.

-excerpts from the liner notes by Ted Panken.