Irreversible Entanglements: Recap of a Live Gig w/ Marshall Allen & New Singles

Corporate-instilled Stockholm syndrome rules my decision making when it comes to work nights and what I can do with them once the clock has been virtually punched. So it was with some level of apprehension that I forced myself to head into South Philly on a Tuesday (7/18 to be exact) to check out Irreversible Entanglements play at Solar Myth, formerly Boot & Saddle. The gig was curated by the Ars Nova Workshop and I was attending the second of a two-night residency.

Marshall Allen played with Irreversible Entanglements that night. I failed to notice that his name was included on the show poster, so the thrill I experienced when I realized that a legendary figure in the avant jazz scene—the man who’s carried on as director of the Sun Ra Arkestra decades after Sun Ra’s passing—would play a set at 99 years of age was significant enough that I couldn’t do anything but smile. Those of us on the floor had to separate enough to allow the band access to the stage, Moor Mother (Camea Ayewa) and company taking up instruments and prepping for about two hours of free-form intensity. Mr. Allen was the last to walk up, the room heavy with applause as he made his way to the reserved chair that sat waiting for him center stage.

The room was warm, many on the floor unaware and uncaring of personal space. Irreversible Entanglements’ outpouring of spirited prose and densely layered improv, musical elements occasionally conforming to rhythm, was magnetic, powerful. The air took on spiritual tone as if theology played into the evening’s program and we were there meant for conversion to something grand and illuminating. But, it was more of a human experience, overwhelming and blissful at times. Captivating always. Mr. Allen, again a man of 99 years, contributed to the group’s sublime aural mutations and intensity.

September 8th, Irreversible Entanglements will be releasing a new album, Protect Your Light, the band’s first release for Impulse! Records. The Impulse! lineage and legacy are of course crucial to jazz’s story, The House That Trade Built as the Ashely Kahn-penned account of the label’s history is titled. An Irreversible Entanglements album with an orange-and-black spine makes perfect sense, their hypnotic, powerful, and socially conscious work speaking with the same enveloping, persistent, and creative tongue as Impulse!’s most celebrated performers, collaborators.

Two singles have release so far: “Free Love” and “Our Land Back.”

Pre-order here.

Bandcamp: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/open-the-gates

Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead