Pasa Tempos Matt Slocum’s Sanctuary and Melissa Aldana’s Visions

MATT SLOCUM Sanctuary (Sunnyside Records) Jazz composer/ drummer Matt Slocum used guitarist Steve Cardenas and saxophonist Dayna Stephens on his last outing, 2016’s Trio Pacific, Vol. 1, but he comes back to his core piano-trio form for Sanctuary, his fifth album as leader. He works with his longtime pianist, Gerald Clayton, and the esteemed bassist Larry Grenadier, replacing the arguably less emphatic Massimo Biolcati, who played double bass on Slocum’s first three albums. The program begins with the beautiful, sad Sufjan Stevens song “Romulus,” enlivened by Grenadier’s solid, inventive bass lines and Clayton’s fabulous work on the keys. Then the band really takes off, Slocum’s kinetic drum work sets the tone for the heady, loose “Consolation Prize.” Spare, ethereal piano opens “Aspen Islands,” a song based on a Chopin prelude. After the impressionistic interlude of “A Dissolving Alliance” comes the title track, featuring Clayton’s quietly complex piano. The drummer is masterful but restrained until the last, on “Anselmo.” While Grenadier generates some gripping, knotty bass work, Slocum gets a more demonstrative, exciting jungle-vibe going on the tom-toms. “You can practice for hours, months, years before the session,” Slocum said in the liner notes, “but at the end of the day, it depends on what the other musicians do — and if you want to let them be themselves, you have to be open in that moment.” — Paul Weideman

MELISSA ALDANA Visions (Motema Music) For her fifth album, the young Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana pays tributes to the tortured Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The episodic title track displays a loose energy featuring Aldana’s snaky tenor sax and a good dose of unison playing with vibraphonist Joe Ross. The seemingly selfish exuberance of pianist Sam Harris and bassist Pedro Menares gives an impression of true polyphony. The feeling is underlined on “Acceptance,” where the abstracted blending of voices can sound downright unpracticed — or confusingly unanchored to a particular musical character or intention. But this is intentional, meant to echo Kahlo’s pain and sense of exploration. “Experimenting both harmonically and rhythmically with moments of frantic movement interspersed with order and structure is one of the ways I conjure the messiness, struggles, and heartbreaking contradictions present in these visions of identity and self-worth,” Aldana says in the album notes. “La Madrina” is still adventurous, but with a tinge of the dolorous. Here again, we sense a disconnect between the piano and bass before the leader’s horn somehow glues it all together. The result is a rather unique, gentle pandemonium. Aldana, winner of the 2013 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Saxophone Competition, is a hell of a saxophonist. Her playing is big-toned and athletic, and she has great range on the instrument; sometimes you’d swear she’s playing a soprano. This music is not “well-mannered,” but it is a vital statement and musically both challenging and fascinating. — P.W.