Tcheser Holmes

An adventurous, New York-based drummer, Tcheser Holmes combines the influence of his Afro-Caribbean roots, avant-garde jazz, and electronic production. Known for his work as a member of the ensemble Irreversible Entanglements, he paired with longtime creative associate trumpeter Aquiles Navarro for 2020's Heritage of the Invisible II. Born in Brooklyn, Holmes was raised in a creative family with deep ties to the Pan-African community. His mother was an art teacher and his uncle was a classically trained pianist who immigrated from Panama. At age four, he was given an African djembe and eventually began playing percussion and drums. During high school, he gained valuable extracurricular training via the Manhattan School of Music's Precollege program and eventually enrolled at the New England Conservatory in Boston. There, he befriended trumpeter Aquiles Navarro. Bonding over their shared Panamanian backgrounds, the pair embarked on fruitful partnership, touring Panama and developing their expansive, genre-bending mix of free jazz, Latin traditions, and electronic music. They both eventually joined poet/singer Camae Ayewa's avant-garde group Irreversible Entanglements, appearing on the band's 2017 eponymous debut and 2020 follow-up, Who Sent You? That same year, Holmes and Navarro also released their debut album as a duo, the genre-bending Heritage of the Invisible II. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi