The Six Sounds of Blues Ideology Projects Celestial Pathways

 

What led me to this social music I find myself so enraptured by today? I grew up a fiend for hiphop, I found my way into working with rappers as a member of the media and as an aspiring label owner. I found my way to being a fiend for substances and in the process let my love for the art form slip away. Recently a question was posed on a jazz subreddit I lurk on about what was your doorway into the music. I was instantly flooded with a memory of my High School student chemistry teacher Ms. Simmons sharing a burned copy of Kind of Blue with me. The fuse was lit, and I didn’t dislike that record - but it would take some years to get me back to it and to dig deeper.

When I started exploring dollar bins at an assortment of record stores as a Freshman in Seattle and picked the brains of diggers I’d begun to cross paths with my interest in this distinctly American artform started to enlarge. At this point it was all about the samples, although at times I would find things that I enjoyed for the sheer excitement contained in the grooves. I still called myself a hiphop head and was consuming new releases at an inhuman rate. But slowly my crates expanded and as a broke college student whatever was cheap was what was coming home - often older records, rarely the newest rap - I could download that or swipe it from my college radio station.

As I spiraled down the abyss of drug addiction my music listening was sporadic. My record shopping ceased and only in moments of clarity would I find myself exploring new sounds. Often these sounds were filled with the despair and pain I was tortured by. I saw a meme once that talked about how rap began with talking about the perils of drug addiction, shifted to tales of selling the drugs to then tales of being loaded on the drugs - while a bit reductive it’s not wholly wrong. As my journey with drugs darkened I found light in the lyrics of emcees who talked about the same feelings I was trapped in daily.

Occasionally I would pull out a piece of vinyl from the crates and be reminded of a time when I was chasing dreams, not dragons, a time when I was inspired and hopeful, filled with a love for musical discovery. And in these times I would try to break cycles that were beyond my control to break. A spark would come and for a couple of days I’d explore the internet and find new sounds that were being talked about. It was in one of these bursts of passion that I first read about a label out of Chicago called International Anthem. I was fascinated by what the journalist was lavishing them with and I was excited to listen. But instead I hit the foil one more time and nodded away any dreams of new sonic exploration.

This repeated for some years, but upon my exit from rehab I was invigorated by a clear mind and new opportunities. My desire to explore new sounds was returning. I veered away from rap and found excitement in grooves that felt rooted rhythmically in the boom bap but were so much deeper than that. There was so much to dig into. London had something special happening, Chicago had IA and a deep history of experimental improvised music, LA had Brainfeeder and interesting collisions with the beat scene. My sober mind was fascinated.

Yet I still didn’t want to let go of my love for the art of the emcee. I’d found a number of groups, players and labels all producing amazing instrumental music to varied degrees of rhythm, experimentation and flow. Occasionally there was a vocalist featured, when that vocalist was rapping it was like hearing Nas on a Premier beat, Snoop on a Dre track. I loved it and I wanted more. I started to have these crazy ideas of a new school of Jazz music that was merging with hiphop. Of course these things have been happening for decades in varied forms but there was something uplifting in the collaborations I was hearing - sparse as they were. Enter Moor Mother.

As a gifted poet, with incredible presence and intelligence to share with her listeners, Moor Mother (aka Camae Ayewa) walks many paths. Fetish Bones was probably the first exposure I had to her and that was a lot to take in. She speaks with intensity and passion, and while not exactly in step with traditional hiphop flows there is certainly a foundation of the art form present in her work and delivery. More significantly she isn’t talking about some bullshit. A message with depth and weight prevails throughout anything you find her name on.

I started to sift my way through the catalog of International Anthem and stumbled upon Irreversible Entanglements. Perusing the credits of their first self titled record I saw the name Moor Mother on vocals and I thought, oh awesome another opportunity to explore how these new Jazz sounds jive with an emcee. I pressed play and the rest is history.

Keir Neuringer on saxophone, Aquiles Navarro on trumpet, Luke Stewart on bass and Tscher Holmes on drums comprise the instrumental quartet of Irreversible. They came together via a festival in New York City for Musicians Against Police Brutality. At that time they were a trio (Stewart, Neuringer & Moor Mother) and a duo (Navarro & Holmes) who found commonality in their ideas and decided to expand upon these shared sonic frequencies in a single day recording session which yielded their self-titled debut, released by IA in 2017.

At just four tracks this record is a powerful statement. One of the things that is so singular in today’s society about Moor Mother’s poetry is its visceral energy. She doesn’t hold back, she speaks the truth, harkening back to the sentiment Chuck D expressed decades ago of rap being the CNN of the streets, but bigger than this. Ayewa isn’t thinking along general reportage as much as trying to spark a revolution. There is anger, there is rage, there is frustration unleashed here that can’t be ignored. And rightfully so. The depravity and suffering this society has exerted, stood by and abided, is unforgivable. Take these fiery polemics and blast them over deep, punk infused jazz grooves and you start to capture what’s going on with this band.

As I’ve been reengaging with their albums in preparation for this piece Keir Neuringer has really stood out to me. As a band they are a tight unit, playing at a profound level. There is so much going on, some might want to dismiss it as noise, and it is not to be taken in lightly. Just as Moor Mother’s words are rife with passion, so too is the playing. It’s free, it’s spiritual, it’s hypnotic, it’s loud. Neuringer sets the tone with blazing solos hitting your ears with a barrage of notes, at times recalling saxophone greats of yore, but never feeling dated or mimicking.

There is an urgency across all of Irreversible Entanglements work. As they progressed to their current apex of being signed to Impulse they have not lost their fire, nor their guiding light. They have found ways to imbue their tunes with even more profound layers of depth and aggression, but also drifted into spiritual and further out there tones. This I can only assume stems from their all being working musicians who, while coming together consistently as a quartet, have plenty of other credits in an assortment of combinations.

I was fortunate to get to see Luke Stewart and Tscher Holmes join the late jaimie branch at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival just two months before branch’s passing. This trio went by C’est Trios and I will patiently pray that at least some of that set, or some other, was documented and will be available one day for all of us to drop the needle on. Stewart has numerous projects out, some under his name and others as a contributor. Moor Mother has been exploring more deeply her affinity for traditional rap across her last solo albums as well as a phenomenal collaboration with billy woods in BRASS.

This love of collaboration informs all that I hear in Irreversible Entanglements work. Much like why I have fallen in love with this modern social music movement, they clearly love to create, and do so with intent and ambition. This isn’t lackadaisical music. While each of their first three projects were recorded in one session in one day, their dedication to their craft and their channeling of something beyond themselves flows forth out of the speakers as you sit with these records. 

With each release they found themselves refining and elevating further into the cosmos. Their cryptic dispatches announcing each release speaks to their channeling of afro futurists simultaneously of the past, present and future. Ayewa speaks of the discord among humanity, feeling the pain of generations and finding threads of hope to embrace and enlarge, dancing forward to cherish precious moments of love and connection.

While at times it’s hard to digest, their discography is full of alternate realities, grooving with the spirits and receiving a message beamed into their souls from other dimensions. Tscher Holmes holds it all together on the beat that is always on time and yet out of time. He rumbles and tumbles, smashes and dashes across his kit, building the intensity up and letting it go. He sets the tone for a seance and then breaks the spell that holds you locked. Luke Stewart struts his fingers over his bass strings and adds to the low end, flowing with the pace set forth yet keeping it in check and making sure the head is nodding. Neuringer and Navarro lead the duel attack with their horns, delivering competing solos, letting the other take the lead, repeating refrains before breaking the pattern and skittering into a sheet of sound that would make Ornette Coleman smile.

As with all things, no system can stay in place forever and with their fourth album they have advanced once more, not to sell out, although upon a first listen one might think this so. Decamping to the legendary studio of Rudy Van Gelder, home to many a classic social music session, they voided their previous flow and embraced a new methodology. Holed up for three days at RVG plus time spent in a Brooklyn studio, the tunes on Protect Your Light feel lived in, flushed out and calmer. The urgency replaced with a deeper center of being. What once was delivered in a spark is now presented with a considered, calculated essence. This doesn’t mean they lost any of their might. They just channeled it with a fresh flip. Reinventing their process enlarges their creative groove. The tunes are more precise, more movement filled. The love is flowing and it’s free.

In this spirit of new creative pathways Protect Your Light is the first Irreversible Entanglements album to feature guest musicians as well as a producer that isn’t a part of the crew. Janice Lowe is a new name to me but I will certainly be watching for her name in the time to come, as she delivers powerful sermon-like vocals next to Ayewa’s deeper register and adds some piano sparkles to a couple tunes. I’m mostly unfamiliar with Shahzad Ismaily outside of his name being part of the billing on the subdued and haunting Love In Exile release earlier this year. I’d be curious to know what his presence was like in the studio as producer of this album, I can only guess that the ebb and flow of energetic shifts and overarching spiritual sense present in these songs is at least in part attributable to his direction.

While it was hinted at on their first two albums and explored more fully with the 2021 release Open the Gates, their music sways with the spirits and vibes with the ancestors. You can step into a meditation with them through deep listening, you can expand your essence via careful consideration of Ayewa’s words. They bring this personal exploration to our terrestrial plane, and our speakers, to commune with their departed friend jaimie branch on the suburb “root <=> branch” - another offering that is maximized through a stunning cello feature from Lester St. Louis who played in branch’s Fly or Die quartet. This song flows in movements and is inspiring with Moor Mother’s repeating refrain of “Let’s fly/Let’s get free.” As I’ve played this tune in the car I’ve felt a powerful presence and can only imagine their friend is smiling, her soul full of love.

At the end that’s all there really is: Love. Light. Through music we can touch these elements in a pure form. It’s magic. It’s myth. It’s inspiration. Irreversible Entanglements have been tapped in and are open to sharing their secrets. They don’t hold back, they know the secrets. The world may be fucked but between friends and in communities there can be the biggest of joys. Their records capture both. This is music for transportation, for relief of anguish and an opening of more communication and harmony. Don’t resist. Listen. Share.