Irreversible Entanglements

 

Irreversible Entanglements

Irreversible Entanglements are a liberation-oriented free jazz collective formed in early 2015 by saxophonist Keir Neuringer, poet Camae Ayewa (a.k.a. Moor Mother) and bassist Luke Stewart, who came together to perform at a Musicians Against Police Brutality event organized after the slaying of Akai Gurley by the NYPD.  Months later the group added trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer Tcheser Holmes for a single day of recording in Brooklyn, and the full quintet’s first time playing together was captured for their self-titled debut on International Anthem.

The four instrumentalists explore and elaborate compositional ideas drawn from their deep individual studies of free jazz improvisation, but the tone of each piece is driven decisively by Ayewa’s searing poetic narrations of Black trauma, survival and power.  The message is the undeniable essence of the music.  Though free jazz with a voice is an uncommon approach in the modern day landscape of the genre, the spirit and subject the band channels represent a return to a central tenet of the sound as it was founded – to be a vehicle for Black liberation.  As creative and adventurous as any recording of contemporary avant-garde jazz but offering listeners no abstractions to hide behind, this is music that both honors and defies tradition, speaking to the present while insisting on the future.

The quintet released their fourth record Protect Your Light in 2023.  Offering a considered combination of righteous rage and resonant hopefulness, it marks their first for the storied jazz label Impulse!.  Musical influences ranging from Ornette Coleman, Amiri Baraka, and Archie Shepp, to social movements of Black Quantum Futurism and Land Back organizations are all central foundations of the group.  Now ten years on from their first collective sound, Irreversible Entanglements’ intensity continues to confront audiences while making Black liberation music available to a wider audience than ever before.

  Bandcamp