‘Visions of Your Other’ and ‘Open the Gates’ Reviews: Jazz Today, Two Ways

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A record from trumpeter and composer Adam O’Farrill and his quartet Stranger Days is refined and discreet; an album from quintet Irreversible Entanglements is bold and flamboyant.

Stranger Days

Photo: Alex Joseph

 

Two recordings out this Friday—“Visions of Your Other” (Biophilia), by trumpeter and composer Adam O’Farrill and his quartet Stranger Days, and “Open the Gates” (International Anthem), by the quintet Irreversible Entanglements—are emblematic of the current trends in jazz. Mr. O’Farrill’s music is refined and discreet; it integrates aspects of art rock and contemporary classical music and boasts a cinematic influence. The Entanglements’ music is bold, uncompromising and flamboyant; it adds elements of spoken word and hip-hop. Both bands have emerged in the past seven years and are among the most engaging in jazz.

During the past decade, Mr. O’Farrill, a Brooklyn native still based there, has established himself as a leading young voice in the genre, and Stranger Days is beginning to cement its status among today’s elite groups. “Visions of Your Other” marks a personnel change—with puckish, probing Xavier Del Castillo replacing the brawny-toned Chad Lefkowitz-Brown on tenor saxophone—but the quartet’s deep rapport and reflexive interplay remain. The interweaving lines between the horns create complex counterpoint and contrasting harmonies, while bassist Walter Stinson and Adam’s older brother, drummer Zack O’Farrill, create enthusiastic, shifting rhythms that drive the band.

Cinematic music underpins the compositions on “Visions.” Sometimes the influence is direct, as in Mr. Stinson’s “Kurosawa at Berghain.” The title of the record was inspired by lines of dialogue from Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2012 film, “The Master,” and it begins with a cover of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s song “straka.”

Other times the soundtrack feel is more abstract. In its momentum and sensibility, “Inner War” feels like the intro to an ensemble-cast drama. “Hopeful Heart” takes its title from the end of D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.” At about 39 minutes, the recording is short but powerful.

Mr. O’Farrill, age 27, is a grandson of the Cuban jazz pioneer Chico O’Farrill and a son of the renowned Arturo O’Farrill, leader of the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra; his mother is esteemed classical pianist Allison Reade. Yet he is building his own brand of innovative music—not only through his two previous excellent albums with Stranger Days but thanks to a rapidly increasing list of stellar sideman gigs with the likes of Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl and his work on recordings like Rudresh Mahanthappa’s “Bird Calls” and Anna Webber’s “Idiom.” 

Irreversible Entanglements

Photo: Bob Sweeney

Irreversible Entanglements grew out of mid-2010s protests over police brutality. The ensemble, which is based in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, features the poet Camae Ayewa, whose work under the moniker Moor Mother has gained acclaim for its Afrofuturist vision; drummer Tcheser Holmes, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, saxophonist Keir Neuringer and bassist Luke Stewart. “Open the Gates” is their third recording. 

On the title track, which opens the 73-minute program, Ms. Awae states and repeats the title, her voice sounding hopeful, while backed by a galloping bassline, catchy percussion and swirling horns that build tension and inspire a sense of resolve that could motivate someone into protest as easily as it could a busy day of work. “Keys to Creation”—a slower, smoldering piece—follows, with Ms. Awae’s poetry and Mr. Navarro’s trumpet intertwining over the rhythm section’s strong and elastic beats. “Six Sounds” rises and recedes as Ms. Awae intones the first names of great performers and then asks, “Was it a dream to be more than healing?” Later in the piece, she asserts that the music is something more than healing. On “Lágrimas Del Mar,” Messrs. Neuringer and Navarro trade pithy, overlapping improvisations that underpin Ms. Awae’s words, creating optimism as she repeats, “I’m so close / To the good news.”

As is the case in much of Irreversible Entanglements’ work, they are offering a clarion call to restorative action. It’s music that doesn’t dwell on the problems of racial inequity; it urges a rush toward solutions. The quintet’s lineage can be found in such varied sources as the New York Art Quartet’s work with Amiri Baraka ; saxophonist David Murray’s collaborations with poet/rapper/actor Saul Williams ; and the politically biting, soulful jazz of recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame entrant Gil Scott-Heron. But this is not poetry with a backing band. Ms. Awae fully integrates her verse into the fabric of the ensemble, creating unique. energetic sound through the collective impact of both words and music. 

In different ways, Stranger Days and Irreversible Entanglements are blending diverse influences to create potent new music. Both take conventional settings and arrive at innovative group sounds. In interviews, Mr. O’Farrill is quick to assert that his music is not a pastiche, and his contention could easily apply to Irreversible Entanglements as well.