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
![Pharoah [Expanded Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0680899800815_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Pharoah [Expanded Edition]")
