#irreversible entanglements

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Irreversible Entanglements, Future Present Past, (Vinyl/LP, CD), Impulse! Records, 2026

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Future Present Past, Irreversible Entanglements (2026)

Cacophonous jazz and the authoritative majesty of Moor Mother continues to combine and concoct musical imagery of things that so few others are capable of. The present’s sense of urgency, the past’s history and ancestry, the future’s spirituality and the beyond. That said, the repetition of the formula does dilute its impact. 

Pick: ‘Hold On’

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Moor Mother - THOMAS STANLEY JAZZCODES OUTRO (feat. Irreversible Entanglements & Thomas Stanley)

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The Wire

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VA - Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War - A Tribute to Sun Ra: Volume 1 - takes on  “Nuclear War” by Georgia Anne Muldrow, Angel Bat Dawid, and Irreversible Entanglements!

01. Georgia Anne Muldrow - Nuke’s Blues (Feat. Josef Leimberg) (written by Georgia Anne Muldrow, Josef Leimberg & Sun Ra) Georgia Anne Muldrow - Vocals / Track / Synth Josef Leimberg - Trumpet / Piano Taso Anastasios - OP1 keyboard / engineer 02.-04. Angel Bat Dawid - Nuclear War: A Cosmic Myth Science Trilogy (Written by Angel Bat Dawid & Sun Ra) The Cosmic Ensemble Angel Bat Dawid - Piano, Clarinet, Vocals, Synths Jaden Berkman (Jaytheziah) - Bass, Guitar, Flute, Saxophone Alejandro Salazar - Percussion The Cosmic Children Rayna Golding, Mahari Ajani Collier The Cosmic Choir Monique Golding, Phillip Armstrong, Camila Isabel, Tramaine Parker, Erica Nwachukwu Arranged & Mixed by Angel Bat Dawid Inspired by Sun Ra’s Nuclear War 05. Malcolm Jiyane Tree-o - We're Not Buying It (Feat. Grandmaster CAP) (written by Fani Malcolm Jiyane, Nhlanhla Masondo & Sun Ra ) Ayanda Zalekile - Electric Bass & Vocals Gontse Makhene - Percussion & Backing Vocals Grandmaster CAP - MC Lungile Kunene - Drums & Backing Vocals Malcolm Jiyane - Piano, Keyboards & Backing Vocals Tubatsi Moloi - Electric Guitar, Flute & Backing Vocals 06. Irreversible Entanglements - Nuclear War (Written by Sun Ra) Keir Neuringer - Saxophone Tcheser Holmes - Drums Aquiles Navarro - Trumpet Luke Stewart - Bass Camae Ayewa - Vocals

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Irreversible Entanglements - Nuclear War from: VA - Red Hot & Ra: Nuclear War (Red Hot Org, 2023)

Recorded Live at National Sawdust June 11, 2022

Keir Neuringer - Saxophone Tcheser Holmes - Drums Aquiles Navarro - Trumpet Luke Stewart - Bass Camae Ayewa - Vocals

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Listen/purchase: Who Sent You? by Irreversible Entanglements

[dustedmagazine]

V/A — Red Hot and Ra: Nuclear War LP (Red Hot)

Since its origins in 1989, the Red Hot Organization has created benefit compilations, enlisting famous performers, usually from the pop ranks, to sing standards from the Great American Songbook. Red Hot and Ra: Nuclear War LP has a different brief. Free jazz and adjacent artists use Sun Ra’s iconic riff on “Nuclear War” (“It’s a m—er f—er, don’t you know, If you push that button your a– gonna go!”) to engage politically and urge de-escalation.

Sun Ra was living near the Three Mile Island disaster site, and this is what spurred him to write “Nuclear War” in 1981. Those of us who came of age during or after the end of the Cold War thought that the fear of mutually assured destruction might be able to be successfully contained; even, eventually, abolished. As the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia demonstrates, the specter of WMD, and concerns for the security of nuclear power plants, have returned to the forefront of our awareness. 

Georgia Anne Muldrow, joined by trumpeter Josef Leimberg, begins the recording with a blues-inflected song that, while referencing the original, provides additional lyrics and loose-limbed riffing. It is a nice touch that the first track isn’t merely a straight cover of the original. In fact, all of the subsequent artists mine the source material for inspiration, but take the music in expansive, often surprising, directions. 

Angel Bat Dawid contributes a three-movement, half-hour long suite that features her group the Cosmic Ensemble, a small instrumental cohort and a group of backing vocalists (“The Cosmic Choir”). While she also sings and plays keyboard, Dawid’s clarinet playing often takes center stage, with bent notes, sustained passages, and fluent soloing all performed with considerable facility. The Cosmic Choir appears in movements one and three, but it is in movement two, “Nuclear War!,” the most referential to the original, that their full-throated cries first rise to the fore. The final movement, “Kiss your a_ Goodbye”, continues to have the chorus chant unison melodies, only to break into harmony with a bright soprano solo. Dawid is at the piano, playing a soulful riff that urges on both vocalists and instrumentalists. Partway through, the texture returns to a cappella chorus, with one-on-a-part overlapping phrases. The ambience is mournful and ominous to the end, which seems altogether appropriate. 

Malcolm Jiyane’s Tree-O, joined by Grandmaster CAP, performs “We’re Not Buying It.” The lyrics include the title as a call and response refrain, with verses about the oppressive nature of warfare and the dangers of WMD. There is strong support from the rhythm section, but plenty of room is left for Jiyane’s funk-tinged piano soloing and flute from Tubatsi Moloi. 

To conclude the LP, Irreversible Entanglements, one of the best free jazz groups around, perform an extended version of the original. Camae Aweya (Moor Mother) provides intense vocals, saxophonist Keir Neuringer and trumpeter Aquiles Navarro play aggressive, angular solos, bassist Luke Stewart uses bow pressure to create scratchy melodies and drummer Tscheser Holmes supplies polyrhythms and muscular fills.  The piece builds to a gale storm of activity, including trippy electronics, one worthy of the Arkestra yet in its own distinctive orbit. The group pulls back near the close, building up from forceful rhythm section playing to modal melodies in saxophone and trumpet. It seems to be a postcard from the maelstrom with which Irreversible Entanglements send off the music. 

Over the next two years, Red Hot plans to release two more LPs related to Sun Ra. The multiverse awaits. 

Christian Carey