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Brandee Younger 4tet: Live At The Breeding Ground

By Dan Bilawsky
July 16, 2014
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Brandee Younger 4tet: Live At The Breeding Ground

While a list of currently operating notables on nearly any given instrument could fill anywhere from a chapter to a book or two, a rundown of head-turning active jazz harpists might only fill out a very small portion of a leaflet. The most important among them—Latin jazz trailblazer

Edmar Castaneda

harp
b.1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Edmar Castaneda, refined role model

Carol Robbins

harp

" data-original-title="" title="">Carol Robbins, and wide-ranging experimentalist

Zeena Parkins

harp

" data-original-title="" title="">Zeena Parkins, to name just a few—all manage to say something unique with the instrument, pushing it into places where it wasn't always welcome or expected before. Brandee Younger, who manages to do the same here with a post-

Alice Coltrane

piano
1937 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Alice Coltrane/

Dorothy Ashby

harp
1932 - 1996

" data-original-title="" title="">Dorothy Ashby brand of soulful and mystical jazz that's coated with a twenty-first century urban glaze, has earned her place on that short list.

On Live At The Breeding Ground, Younger taps into the spiritual well that fueled the art of both Ashby and Coltrane, yet she remains ever-cognizant of the time in which she lives and plays. Younger goes in a heavy and funky direction with some help from

E.J. Strickland

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">E.J. Strickland's hard-hitting drum work and

Dezron Douglas

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Dezron Douglas' bubbly bass ("Soul Vibrations"), builds easy-to-absorb melodies atop slick foundational grooves ("Essence Of Ruby"), sparkles aside soprano saxophonist

Stacy Dillard

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Stacy Dillard ("Hortense"), and creates music that's simultaneously powerful, sophisticated, hypnotic, and sly (

Stanley Cowell

piano
1941 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Stanley Cowell's "EFFI").

Younger's most direct allusions to the aforementioned female harp pioneers—Coltrane's "Blue Nile"; Ashby's "Wax And Wane" and "Games"—serve as fitting tributes. "Blue Nile" veers close to Coltrane's version, speaking directly of the weighty blues spirit that exists within her legendary husband's music. The Ashby tunes offer more surprises. The free-your-mind aesthetic of the original "Wax and Wane" is washed away by a flow of energy, transforming the very nature of the piece, and the pseudo Afro-Brazilian vibe of Ashby's version of "Games" is replaced by a measured, searching sound that gives way to a more outwardly soulful statement.

While Younger, as mentioned, isn't alone in elevating and broadening her instrument's place in jazz, this album certainly indicates that she's carved out her own niche and done her part. She's as hip as harpists come.

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Track Listing

Soul Vibration; Wax And Wane; Essence Of Ruby; Hortense; REspected Destroyer; Dames; Blue Nile; He Has A Name (Awareness); Effi.

Personnel

Brandee Younger

harp

Brandee Younger: harp; Dezron Douglas: bass; E.J.Strickland: drums; Chelsea Baratz: tenor saxophone; Stacy Dillard: soprano saxophone.

Album information

Title: Live At The Breeding Ground | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Self Produced

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Brandee Younger Concerts

Oct 23 Thu

Brandee Younger Trio

The Freight
Berkeley, CA

Oct 27 Mon

Brandee Younger Trio

Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant
Minneapolis, MN

Oct 28 Tue

Brandee Younger Trio

Dazzle Jazz Club
Denver, CO

Oct 28 Tue

Brandee Younger Trio

Dazzle Jazz Club
Denver, CO

Nov 3 Mon

Brandee Younger

Eiffel M?helyház
Budapest, Hungary

Mar 13 Fri

The Brandee Younger Trio

All Saints' Episcopal Church
Atlanta, GA

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