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PHOTO: BRANDEE YOUNGER (b. July 1, 1983)
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/brandee-younger-mn0000979907/biography
Brandee Younger
(b. July 1, 1983)
Biography by Matt Collar
Harpist Brandee Younger is a virtuoso performer whose genre-crossing style incorporates jazz, classical, soul, and funk traditions. Building upon the influence of artists like Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby, Younger garnered acclaim for albums like 2014's The Brandee Younger 4tet, 2016's Wax & Wane, and 2019's Soul Awakening. Along with tours as a member of drummer Makaya McCraven's band, she has contributed to a mix of projects by artists like Common, Jeremy Pelt, Alessia Cara, Drake, and more. She gained wider attention with her sixth album, 2021's Somewhere Different, which included the Grammy-nominated track "Beautiful Is Black." Brand New Life arrived in 2023, with guest spots by Mumu Fresh and Meshell N'degeocello.
Born in 1982 in Hempstead, New York, Younger studied harp from a young age and eventually earned undergraduate degrees in both Harp Performance and Music Business from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. There, she focused on jazz, working with esteemed alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. She then earned her graduate degree from New York University, during which time she collaborated with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane on a concert series honoring his late mother, pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane. In 2011, she made her debut as leader with Prelude, which featured her group with bassist Dezron Douglas, drummer E.J. Strickland, and vocalist Niia. More albums followed, including 2014's The Brandee Younger 4tet and 2016's Wax & Wane. She also tours as a member of drummer Makaya McCraven's band and has worked on projects with artists like Common, Drake, Jeremy Pelt, Alessia Cara, John Legend, and Ryan Leslie, among others.
Along with performing, Younger is active in education, having taught at New York University, The New School College of Performing Arts, Adelphi University, The Hartt School Community Division at the University of Hartford, and other institutions. In 2019, Younger released Soul Awakening, an ambitious artistic statement that again found her working alongside Douglas, Strickland, and Niia. It also featured guest contributions by saxophonists Stacy Dillard and Chelsea Baratz, Antoine Roney, and Ravi Coltrane, as well as trumpeters Freddie Hendrix and Sean Jones. Younger and Douglas also duetted on 2020's Force Majeure.
In 2021, she released her sixth album, the stylistically expansive Somewhere Different. Once again influenced by fusion jazz, Latin, Classical, and R&B traditions, the album featured appearances by bassist Rashaan Carter, drummer Allan Mednard, trumpeter Maurice Brown, and legendary bassist Ron Carter, among others. Included on the album was the track "Beautiful Is Black," which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Composition. Another genre-bending jazz- and hip-hop-infused production, Brand New Life appeared in 2023 and featured contributions by Mumu Fresh, Meshell N'degeocello, and Pete Rock.
Brandee Younger
Best-known for her limitless drive, Ms. Younger remains in high demand and attracts the attention of today's most well-known artists, producers and groups. As a classical harpist, she has performed with an array of orchestras including the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, Soulful Symphony, Ensemble Du Monde, Camerata New York and the Red Bull Artsehcro, a "non-conformist" orchestra.
She has worked & recorded with a number of jazz luminaries including Nat Reeves, Ravi Coltrane, Charlie Haden, Reggie Workman, Kenny Garrett, Rashied Ali, Jeff "Tain" Watts and Steve Wilson, as well as with a host of New York City's top, young jazz musicians.
In hip-hop, she has worked with several producers, including Ryan Leslie on the album of Bad Boy© recording artist, Cassie and worked with bassist, Derrick Hodge, on 'Finding Forever', the number one album of Hip-Hop recording artist, Common. She effortlessly performs in many diverse genres, due to her proficiency as an artist and all around musician, not just as an instrumentalist.
A native of Long Island, Ms. Younger grew up in Hempstead and Uniondale, where she began her harp studies as a teen. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance and Music Business at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford, and her Master of Arts in Harp Performance from New York University. Her formal instructors on the University level include harpists Rebecca Flannery, Susan Jolles, Emily Mitchell, and bassist, Nat Reeves.
Currently, she resides in Manhattan where she freelances as a soloist, and performs as part of The Workman String Summit, led by bassist, Reggie Workman, and the Laura Kahle Quintet, led by composer and trumpeter, Laura Kahle.
Ms. Younger teaches
privately in New York and is on the harp faculty of the Hartt School
Community Division, at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.
Gear
Lyon & Healy concert harp. Custom Realist pickup from David Gage.
https://downbeat.com/news/detail/brandee-younger-soul-awakening-premiereHarpist and composer Brandee Younger often faces a curiously inexhaustible question: What kind of music do you play?
And she’s given it a lot of thought: “I dislike [genre labels] for a number of reasons. [What I play is] such a combination of different things and styles that are mixed together. It just doesn’t fit all the time.”
Rather than describe the music, on her terms or someone else’s, Younger—who has collaborated with Makaya McCraven, Ravi Coltrane and Lauryn Hill—prefers to play. In 2012 and 2013, performing with friends and mentors led her to record a full-length studio album, one she’s chosen not to release until now. Soul Awakening features eight tracks of new arrangements and original compositions that offer a sonic snapshot of Younger’s in-the-moment artistry, as well as a reflection of her lasting tendencies and forward motion.
“It was a very personal record,” she said. “It’s just a stamp, marked back then, of where I was creatively and where I was musically—and also in terms of writing. In ways, I’m very similar [now] to where I was then, but I can also see how I’ve grown. My direction hasn’t changed, but my playing has changed a bit.”
Expressing a range of aesthetics from one track to the next, and including selections from Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby and Marvin Gaye, Soul Awakening serves Younger’s mission of translating the energy of a live performance into a series of studio sessions. “It was my intention to have [the recording] be like what you get when you go out, just not as loose as a live concert,” she said.
Variations on a life’s pulse resonate throughout the recording, according to Younger, as collateral impact of bassist, composer and album producer Dezron Douglas’ presence in the studio. “Dezron is a huge anchor in terms of the overall ‘heartbeat,’” she said. “Sort of leading each session musically, he has a lot to do with it.”
As Soul Awakening came together, Younger also enjoyed the rare experience of recording with her mentors, Ravi Coltrane and Antoine Roney, who appear on “Soulris” and “Love’s Prayer,” and “Soul Awakening” and “Blue Nile,” respectively. Because of the impact they’d had on her career up to that point, Younger welcomed the opportunity for collaboration.
“They’ve been very hands-on in my development,” she said. “And I say this like I’m 10—but literally, getting out of college and starting a career that is pointing in a different direction than what you studied, it’s a little scary. I’m leaving an orchestral setting and jumping into everything else. So, their patience, and the time they’ve spent with me, I’m really grateful for it.”
For many musicians who compose spontaneously and are comfortable stretching out in live performances, pressing “record” can summon a bit of anxiety. And the notion of releasing music they’ve captured on tape years earlier might only intensify that feeling. But Younger insists intention can make all the difference in surrendering to the moment.
“There were some tunes that I had just written, and I thought, ‘Let’s just try them out.’ I never knew what the outcome would be,” she said. “That helps with the whole anxiety thing; if you don’t have the expectation of something being a certain way, it makes [recording] a little easier, especially with the newer tunes.”
Younger hadn’t planned to sit on Soul Awakening for so many years, but at the same time, she didn’t feel a real push to release it, either. And then, out of nowhere and several records later, that urgency hit—hard. “You put this time into it,” she said. “You put your blood, sweat and tears into it; you put your resources into it. I just couldn’t let it go.”
Despite the surge of emotion, Younger slowed her tempo to poll some friends and peers before issuing the album. Most of them cosigned her decision to release Soul Awakening, though some advised that she rerecord the music, because in 2019, seven years is a lifetime. A self-managed artist for the entirety of her career, Younger is used to relying on her gut when making the final call: “Because it’s just me, I have to really consider my decisions,” she said, laughing.
But the harpist mulled over everyone’s input, and in the end, had to release the music. Intended or not, Younger’s long-game release serves as a message to artists at every point of development: If the expression is honest and the music is meaningful, now always will be the time. DB
Brandee Younger, Unrest I
January 18, 2021Brandee Younger, Lift Every Voice & Sing
February 1, 2020https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandee_Younger
Brandee Younger
Brandee Younger (born in Hempstead, NY) is an American harpist. Younger infuses classical, jazz, soul and funk influences to the harp tradition pioneered by her predecessors and idols Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. Younger leads her own ensemble, performs as a soloist and has worked as a sideman for such musicians as Pharoah Sanders, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Bill Lee and Reggie Workman, and other popular artists including Lauryn Hill, John Legend (Love in the Future), Common (Finding Forever), Ryan Leslie, Drake, Maxwell, The Roots, Moses Sumney and Salaam Remi. Younger is noted for her work with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, who was featured on her latest release, Soul Awakening. Currently, she actively records and tours with drummer and producer Makaya McCraven, following the release of his 2018 recording Universal Beings.
Current features
In April 2019, Younger's original composition "Hortense" was featured in the documentary Homecoming, by Beyoncé.[1] The recording used was from an NPR Music Field recording released in 2013.[2] Also in the spring of 2019, Younger was selected to present a spotlight performance on the second night of Quincy Jones' "Soundtrack of America",[3] the series opening of The Shed in NYC, curated by Steve McQueen and Quincy Jones himself. She was also featured in the series opening concerts, alongside Kelsey Lu and performed a feature with Moses Sumney. Her original work is also heard in the 2018 HBO TV series Random Acts of Flyness, by filmmaker and director, Terence Nance.
Early life
Brandee grew up in Hempstead, NY and Uniondale, NY and began her harp studies as a teen under the tutelage of Karen Strauss. She received further instruction from harpists Rebecca Flannery, Susan Jolles, Emily Mitchell and bassist Nat Reeves. Younger went on to earn undergraduate degrees in Harp Performance and Music Business from The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. While there, she was mentored by the faculty of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz and African American Studies. Nate Chinen of The New York Times noted that "Ms. Younger quickly found a kinship with Hartt's jazz program, run at the time by the august alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. He told her to drop by whenever she wanted. 'So I did,' she said."[4] Entering New York University for graduate school six months later, she had already established an impressive résumé, having joined the harp faculty at the Hartt School Community Division, opened for Slide Hampton as a member of Hartford-based collective The New Jazz Workshop and developed a working relationship with Grammy-nominated producer and artist Ryan Leslie and Grammy Award-winning producer Omen. Building upon that foundation, Younger began working with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane on a series of concerts honoring the music of the late pianist, organist and harpist, Alice Coltrane. Younger is the cousin of urban farmer and MacArthur Fellow Will Allen. She is also the cousin of Jordan Younger, cornerback of the Toronto Argonauts.
Career
Over time, Younger has built her career as an educator, concert curator, performer and bandleader of the Brandee Younger Quartet. Her debut EP Prelude was released in June 2011, having been recorded in an analog studio with Dezron Douglas, E.J. Strickland and vocalist Niia. The original standout track "So Alive" was later featured in the Mercedes Benz Mixed Tape compilation; the track was lauded by Mercedes Benz as "...a compelling soul jazz composition, in which all instruments are melded to a haunting universe centered around Niia's celestial voice. Beguiling musical subtlety in these times of loudness." As a classical musician, Younger has been featured as a soloist with The Harlem Chamber Players, and has performed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Waterbury Symphony, Soulful Symphony, Ensemble Du Monde, Camerata New York and the Red Bull Artsehcro, a "non-conformist" orchestra. Younger was selected to be a 2013 Harlem Arts Festival artist and performed at Marcus Garvey Park at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheater that year. In hip hop and R&B, Younger has worked with Common, Drake and John Legend to name a few. Younger has released three other recordings as a leader, including the EP Prelude, released in 2011, Live At The Breeding Ground, released in 2014, and Wax & Wane from 2016.
Since the 2011 debut of her Prelude EP, Younger released Brandee Younger Live @ The Breeding Ground, a breakthrough performance on Blue Note Records and Revive Music's 2015 Supreme Sonacy Vol. 1 LP, and the more recent release of her critically acclaimed 2016 Wax & Wane LP. An independent artist, Younger has self-managed throughout the entirety of her career. She arranged and performed a track for Impulse Records' 2018 release A Day In The Life: Impressions of Pepper - a tribute to the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,[5] and she has performed on the Tonight Show with The Roots and producer Salaam Remi.
In August 2020, Younger contributed to the live streamed recording of the singer Bilal's EP VOYAGE-19, created remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. It was released the following month with proceeds from its sales going to participating musicians in financial hardship from the pandemic.[6][7]
Work as an educator
Younger is on the teaching artist faculty (harp) at New York University.[8] She has taught at Adelphi University, Nassau Community College, The Hartt School Community Division at the University of Hartford and also maintains a rigorous schedule as a private instructor. She has lectured and conducted masterclasses at The Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), University of Birmingham (UK), Howard University, Drexel University, Princeton University, Trinity College, Berklee College of Music, The Hartt School, Elyrica Summer Music Program, Connecticut Valley Harp Intensive, NOLA Jazz & Pop Festival and she also serves as Symphonic and Jazz Harp Artist in Residence at the Cicely L. Tyson Community School of Performing and Fine Arts. Recent residencies include intensives at Michigan State University, DePaul University, Tulane University.
Awards and titles
In 2020, Younger was awarded "Player of the Year in Instruments Rare in Jazz" by the Jazz Journalists Association.[9] The same year she was named winner of the DownBeat critics poll in the category of "Rising Star" harpist.[10] She also was featured on Downbeat magazine's July 2020 cover along with Dezron Douglas and six other artists.[11]
Younger has received a handful of bylines for Revive Music and Harp Column Magazine and holds several leadership positions as a member of the Apollo Young Patrons Steering Committee, and Vice President of the Metro NYC and Long Island Chapters of the American Harp Society. She also serves as Director At Large of the American Harp Society, Inc. Stepping away from traditional venues to bring live performance to alternative spaces, in 2016 Younger served as curator of the weekly Harp On Park lunchtime concert series "highlighting the diversity of the harp and the contemporary importance of an ancient instrument" and in 2019, curated Her Song, highlighting the works of women composers for Arts Brookfield. In 2017, she curated Divine Ella, a concert dedicated to the legacy of Ella Fitzgerald as part of the historic Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture's annual Women's Jazz Festival.[12] Brandee is among the musicians included in the book The New Face of Jazz[13] by author, Cicily Janus, "Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz", by Chris Becker and was also featured in the Impulse Artist Series' "Alter Ego Series"[5] in November 2010, a young artist series created by classical pianist Jade Simmons.
Soul Awakening
Surfacing six years after its completion in 2013, this eight-track collection was recorded in 2012 under the direction of producer and bassist Dezron Douglas, and embodies the ambition, vigor and aesthetic ideals of The Brandee Younger Quartet, at and since its inception. A benchmark recording that captures the group's collective brilliance in its infancy, Soul Awakening is a synthesis of the people, places and moments that impacted Younger most, ahead of the album's creation. The very first album recorded by the ensemble, Soul Awakening, marks the birth of Younger's artistic signature and the reemergence of the harp as a pillar of modern popular music.
Younger and Douglas, alongside drummer E. J. Strickland and saxophonists Stacy Dillard and Chelsea Baratz, enlist a who's who of featured collaborators to best translate their ethos. In doing so, Soul Awakening becomes a full circle release for Younger that combines her band with two of her greatest mentors: saxophonists Antoine Roney and Ravi Coltrane. Other notable contributors include drummer Chris Beck, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, trumpeter Sean Jones, and vocalist Niia.
Soul Awakening received a positive critical response. Nate Chinen of NPR stated: "In terms of both production value and musical substance, it feels like an artifact of our moment: celestial, groove-forward, unabashed about its alchemies of style." Briana Younger of the New Yorker wrote: "Her radiant playing is as cogent on hip-hop and R&B albums as it is set against classical and jazz backdrops."
"The new album came about after Ms. Younger performed a tribute to Ms. Ashby commissioned by the Revive Music Group. She connected with Casey Benjamin of the Robert Glasper Experiment, who produced 'Wax & Wane' with a contemporary flair. 'Afro-Harping,' which in Ms. Ashby's original 1968 version feels dialed in to hippie frequencies, sounds on the new album like a post-Dilla instrumental, a remix in real time." - Nate Chinen/New York Times[4]
Discography
As leader
- 2011: Prelude, Independent
- 2014: The Brandee Younger 4tet, Live at the Breeding Ground, Independent
- 2015: Supreme Sonacy, Blue Note Records / Revive Music
- 2016: Wax & Wane, Independent/ Revive Music
- 2018: A Day In The Life: Impressions of Pepper, Impulse!
- 2019: Soul Awakening, Independent
As sideman/contributor
- 2006: Cassie, Cassie
- 2007: Finding Forever, Common
- 2008: In This Day, E.J. Strickland
- 2008: Overdose On Life, featuring Drake, Mickey Factz, and Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes, Omen (record producer)
- 2009: Of Song, Marcus Strickland
- 2009: Blending Times, Ravi Coltrane
- 2012: Retox, Lakecia Benjamin
- 2012: Moments, Michael Campagna
- 2013: New York: A Love Story, Mack Wilds
- 2013: Love in the Future, John Legend
- 2014: Face Forward, Jeremy Pelt
- 2016: Everything's Beautiful, Robert Glasper, Miles Davis
- 2016: The Dreaming Room, Laura Mvula
- 2016: Rebel/Find it Hard to Say, Ms Lauryn Hill
- 2016: The Songbook Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald, Jane Monheit
- 2017: Bringin' It, Christian McBride Big Band
- 2017: Residente, Residente
- 2017: Aromanticism, Moses Sumney
- 2018: Universal Beings, Makaya McCraven
- 2018: Old Fashioned Gal, Kat Edmonson
- 2019: Sex High, Salaam Remi & James Fauntleroy
- 2019: Resavoir, Resavoir
- 2019: Dreams, Fairytales, Fantasies, A$AP Ferg ft Brent Faiyaz & Salaam Remi
- 2019: Poetry in Motion, The Soul Rebels
- 2020: Dreamers Do, Kat Edmonson
- 2020: I Think I'm Good, Kassa Overall
- 2020: We're New Again, Gil Scott-Heron, Makaya McCraven
- 2020: Pursuance: The Coltranes, Lakecia Benjamin
- 2020: Græ, Moses Sumney
- 2020: Lagos and Pepper Soup, Michael Olatuja
- 2020: Universal Beings E&F sides, Makaya McCraven
- 2020: Black Love, Salaam Remi ft. Teedra Moses & D-Nice
- 2020: VOYAGE-19, Bilal
References
- Cicily Janus, The New Face of Jazz: An Intimate Look at Today's Living Legends and the Artists of Tomorrow, Billboard Books, 2010.
External links
- Official website
- Brandee Younger on Facebook
- Brandee Younger NPR First Listen
- Bandcamp Daily Feature
- The New Yorker Magazine
- Greenwich House Music School Profile
- Brandee Younger biography, AllMusic
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10147546/soundtrack
- https://www.npr.org/2013/06/06/189069622/brandee-younger-taxidermy-two-headed-skeletons-and-jazz-harp
- Soundtrack of America
- Nate Chinen, "Brandee Younger, a Harpist Finding Her Way to Jazz", The New York Times, February 29, 2016.
- A Day In The Life: Impressions of Pepper
- Schatz, Lake (September 7, 2020). "Stream Bilal's New Album VOYAGE-19". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- Threadcraft, Torry (September 6, 2020). "Check Out Bilal And HighBreedMusic's 'VOYAGE-19' Album". Okayplayer. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
- https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/brandee-younger
- https://www.jjajazzawards.org/p/2020-winners.html
- https://downbeat.com/news/detail/carrington-tops-2020-downbeat-critics-poll
- https://downbeat.com/magazine/2020-07
- Divine Ella