Irreversible Entanglements is an American

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

collective formed in 2015. The improvising quintet consists of vocalist Camae Ayewa (also known as

Moor Mother Camae Ayewa, (born November 19, 1981) better known by her stage name Moor Mother, is an American poet, musician, and activist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is one half of the collective Black Quantum Futurism, along with Rasheedah Phillip ...

), drummer Tcheser Holmes, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, saxophonist Keir Neuringer, and bassist Luke Stewart. Their albums have been celebrated as among the best in new music by ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...

'', ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

'', ''

Magnet A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, steel, nickel, ...

'',

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

, and ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

''.

History and career

The members of Irreversible Entanglements met through music and activism: bassist Luke Stewart shared bills with Camae Ayewa's band the Mighty Paradocs; saxophonist Keir Neuringer worked with

Books Through Bars Books Through Bars is an American organization that works to provide quality reading material to prisoners in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Members of New Society Publishers of Philadelphia founded Books Through Bars in 1990.

, whose events Ayewa has emceed; and the trio of Ayewa, Stewart, and Neuringer was followed by the duo of Aquiles Navarro and Tcheser Holmes at a 2015 Musicians Against Brutality event following the shooting of Akai Gurley. Their 2017 debut, ''Irreversible Entanglements'', was included in best-of-year lists in ''

'', ''

'',

, and in '' Stereogum's'' Best Jazz of the Decade for the 2010s. Their second album, '' Who Sent You?'', was celebrated as among 2020's best in ''The Wire'', ''

'', ''Stereogum'',

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, and NPR Music's 2020 Jazz Critics Poll. Their third studio album, 2021's ''

Open the Gates ''Open the Gates'' is the fourth album by the American heavy metal band Manilla Road. It was released in 1985 on the Black Dragon record label, rather than the band's own label, Roadster Records, which they had used on their previous releases. ...

'', was recognized for its expansion of the group's sound, with their range and innovation drawing comparisons to the

New York Art Quartet The New York Art Quartet was a free jazz ensemble, originally made up of saxophonist John Tchicai, trombonist Roswell Rudd, drummer Milford Graves and bassist Lewis Worrell, that came into existence in 1964 in New York City. Worrell was later repla ...

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

, and the

Art Ensemble of Chicago The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz group that grew out of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, AACM) in the late 1960s. The ensemble integrates many jaz ...

. The album was included among the year's best in NPR Music and ''Treble''. Irreversible Entanglements performed in the inaugural season of the Kennedy Center's "Direct Current" contemporary culture showcase. The group's instrumentalists also performed on Ayewa's debut theatrical work, ''

Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...

''.

Discography

;Studio albums * ''Irreversible Entanglements'' (2017, International Anthem /

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

) * '' Who Sent You?'' (2020, International Anthem / Don Giovanni) * ''

'' (2021, International Anthem / Don Giovanni) * ''Protect Your Light'' (2023,

Impulse! Records Impulse! Records (occasionally styled as "¡mpulse! Records" and "¡!") is an American jazz record label established by Creed Taylor in 1960. John Coltrane was among Impulse!'s earliest signings. Thanks to consistent sales and positive critiques ...

) ;Live albums * ''Live in Italy'' (2020) * ''Live in Berlin'' (2020)

References

{{Reflist American experimental musical groups Avant-garde music groups American experimental rock groups American art rock groups American noise musical groups International Anthem Recording Company artists