|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Grammy Nominated Harpist Brandee Younger Announces Third Album On Impulse!, Gadabout Season It all started with a word-of-the-day email. Harpist Brandee Younger, bassist-producer Rashaan Carter and drummer Allan Mednard were on the road when they learned about the gadabout — a carefree pleasure-seeker who is always in motion, seeking out fun no matter the circumstances. The word of the day turned into the word of the tour, and seemed to describe their mission. These three simpatico travelers, whose shared history as trusted collaborators reaches back two decades, were always chasing and finding joy both onstage and off — through music, art, food and new experiences. For Younger especially that joy was a healing force. Over the past year she's faced personal challenges, so the gadabout concept acted as a helpful reminder that life happens to everyone — and that pursuing radiance in the midst of struggle is essential. "When it came time to write a piece to represent happiness, 'Gadabout Season' felt like the perfect title, " says the harpist, a Grammy nominee and NAACP Image Award winner who has garnered widespread acclaim for her soulful, spiritual meld of jazz, R&B and hip-hop's essence. Gadabout Season, Younger's third for the legendary Impulse! label, releasing June 13, 2025, is her most personal and exploratory album to date – a reflective, imaginative body of work on which she has written or co-written nearly every composition. "The album reflects the journey — the search for meaning and beauty amid life's most complex moments, ultimately emerging with a deeper sense of self, " says Younger. "Musically Gadabout Season is more creative and slightly more cerebral than my other works." Listen to the title track, "Gadabout Season", out now. Known for her revelatory interpretations of harp legends Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby, Younger now steps boldly into her own compositional voice, crafting music that carries her forebears' language forward without paying direct tribute. "This writing process forced me to be completely honest, " she says. "I'm not hiding behind someone else's work." Self-taught as a composer, Younger draws instinctively from a hybrid of influences — jazz, classical, old-school R&B, and hip-hop. Younger wrote most of this new music at her cousin's cabin in bucolic upstate New York — a place where she could focus and where "you get a lot of peace and quiet and birds chirping and you can see the stars at night, " she says. Eventually, Carter and, later, Mednard joined her to workshop the new tunes, and the game plan coalesced: Carter would produce and engineer the entire album himself at Younger's Harlem apartment. The bassist turned Younger's second bedroom into a makeshift studio, and Gadabout Season was tracked over several months in the second half of 2024. "I'm used to doing one and done in the studio, " Younger says. "This recording process was slow and intentional, allowing the sound of the album to reveal itself over time and mirroring a journey of discovery." The trio dedicated time at the end of each session to sketching out ideas and improvising, which led to the tracks "Reckoning, " "Discernment, " and "End Means." Along the way, Younger found transcendence in an instrument she calls "life-changing": the harp that belonged to Alice Coltrane. Younger became its custodian last year, after it'd been restored in honor of "The Year of Alice, " a series of high-profile releases, events, and exhibits co-sponsored by Impulse! Reflecting on how the harp's energy guided her performances, Younger explains that it took time before her comfort matched the instrument's majesty and power. "It had to become my own, " she says. "This was not my first time playing the harp, but as this new music was unique to me, I had to become one with it at home." Gadabout Season also showcases Younger's evolving use of electronic textures and extended harp techniques, culminating in what producer Carter describes as an "Afrofuturist sonic palette." Additional sonic brilliance arrives courtesy of some extraordinary guests. The alternately dreamlike and inquisitive title track — an expression of Younger's fun, quirky "external personality" — features vibraphonist Joel Ross and Makaya McCraven on percussion, as well as Shabaka drawing clarinet lines atop the staccato groove. "Surrender" was written for and features pianist-composer and MacArthur Fellow Courtney Bryan, a frequent Younger collaborator who shares the harpist's rich church background, as well as her willingness to bring a church spirit to any musical context. Inspired by Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, "Surrender" summons up that moment of "going to the altar and giving all, " says Younger. "To me, this is the most revealing piece on the album. It's about seeking solace in quiet surrender." Another highlight, "BBL, " is both airy and laced with a smoldering tension. "I think of it as a musical confrontation, " Younger says. "If it had lyrics, it would have an advisory warning. I left no room for a civil conversation." At the recommendation of Younger's friend and collaborator Meshell Ndegeocello, saxophonist Josh Johnson contributed to "Discernment, " where his dubby harmonies imagine classic soul in a psychedelic haze. Shabaka also lends his flute to the ether of "End Means, " and his presence here comes on the heels of his own recent Impulse! release, Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace, on which Younger appears. "I think of us as being part of the Impulse! continuum, " the harpist says. Gadabout Season is a welcome new development in the Impulse! story, bolstering the label's reputation for fearless original music from generation-defining voices. "When you take a step back and look at what was and what is now, " Younger reflects, "it's really kind of beautiful." write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |