Alex Skolnick Trio - Prove You Are Not a Robot (2025) [Hi-Res]

Brooklyn-based jazz-rock innovators Alex Skolnick Trio (AST) return this fall with PROVE YOU’RE NOT A ROBOT on Flatiron Recordings, the group’s sixth LP, arriving in November 2025. The album’s first single, a wildly inventive take on Tom Petty’s “Breakdown,” will be released Friday, September 5th.

Blending fearless improvisation, genre-defying arrangements, and the virtuosity of its members, PROVE YOU’RE NOT A ROBOT captures AST at the height of their creative powers. The title reflects both a wry nod to our tech-saturated era and a deeper meditation on humanity, direct interaction, and the irreplaceable spark of live musicianship in an age of artificial intelligence.

Recorded with a range of vintage and custom instruments — from a Roger Sadowsky archtop to a 1935 Gibson L-00 acoustic — the album spans moods from the uplifting “Guiding Ethos” to the mind-bending Chick Corea/Steve Howe mashup “Armando’s Mood.” Alongside Skolnick’s inventive guitar work, bassist Nathan Peck and drummer Matt Zebroski bring rhythmic complexity and emotional depth, with odd-time signatures and genre twists that have become AST hallmarks.

“I feel this album represents my strongest work as a composer,” says Skolnick. “Nathan and Matt really brought their A-game throughout. I think it’s safe to say this is the record we’re all most proud of.”

Since forming in the early 2000s, AST has reimagined the jazz guitar trio, melding influences as far-reaching as Wes Montgomery, Black Sabbath, Prince, tango, calypso, and Western swing. Known for their adventurous covers of rock and metal classics, they’ve earned praise from outlets like Billboard, Downbeat, Jazziz, The Village Voice, and NPR, and have toured internationally, captivating audiences from Norway’s Larvik Guitar Festival to Paris’s The Olympia and New York’s Radio City Music Hall.

PROVE YOU’RE NOT A ROBOT promises to be a bold addition to the AST legacy — as engaging for jazz aficionados as it is for rock fans curious about the inventive, genre-bending journey of Testament original guitarist Alex Skolnick.

ALEX SKOLNICK - guitars
NATHAN PECK - upright bass
MATT ZEBROSKI - drums