The Absence of Ruin is jazz pianist and composer Jason Moran’s multidisciplinary meditation on the life and legacy of James Reese Europe, the underrecognized Black American composer and bandleader who landed in France with the Harlem Hellfighters on New Year’s Day 1918. The celebrated all-Black unit helped break the stalemate on the Western Front during the First World War, while composer Europe’s finely honed military music ensemble popularized the new spirit of jazz in a war-torn France fascinated with Black culture. Moran’s layered work explores the idea of memory in Black culture, augmenting his long-standing Bandwagon bandmates––bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits––with a seven-piece horn section and visuals by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young.