Aquiles Navarro and Tcheser Holmes - Heritage of the Invisible II (2020) [Hi-Res]

The debut album from Aquiles Navarro and Tcheser Holmes, 2020's Heritage of the Invisible II showcases the Brooklyn-based avant-garde duo's phantasmagorically imaginative mix of free jazz, Afro-Caribbean traditions, and electronic production. Toronto-born trumpeter Navarro and Brooklyn-born percussionist Holmes first met in 2008 while they were students at Boston's New England Conservatory. Together, they formed a quick creative partnership, drawing inspiration from their shared Panamanian backgrounds, eclectic musical taste, and progressive social and political ideologies. They toured Panama, released a 2014 album of improvisations, and gained wider attention after joining forces with vocalist Camae Ayewa, saxophonist Kurt Neuringer, and bassist Luke Stewart in the politically charged quintet Irreversible Entanglements. However, where that group combined the Art Ensemble of Chicago-style free jazz with Ayewa's thought-provoking spoken word poetry, Heritage of the Invisible II finds Navarro and Holmes crafting even more far-reaching and textured soundscapes. The core of their approach is centered on the interplay between Holmes' roiling, organic Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Navarro's bold trumpet lines. However, they build upon this sound throughout the album, adding in Moog synths, piano, and, as on the hypnotic "Pueblo," the five-stringed Panamanian guitar the mejoranera. Along the way, they weave in other unexpected elements, including a 2013 recorded interview with Navarro's longtime mentor, Panamanian-born saxophonist Carlos Garnett, whose voice adds warm texture to the dreamlike "$$$ Billete." They also evoke the menacing, '70s acid fusion of Miles Davis on cuts like "A Night in NY" and "NAVARROHOLMES." The album is bookended by two spacy electronic-sounding tracks, the opening "Initial Meditation" and the closing "Remix by Madam Data," both of which feature swinging drum patterns with what sound like eerie noises captured in outer space. As with all of Heritage of the Invisible II, the tracks speak to Navarro and Holmes' ability to tap into their richly shared cultural history and far-reaching, collage-like experimentation. ~ Matt Collar