American musician Brandee Younger’s third Impulse! release acknowledges the ripples and swirls of spiritual jazz harp on the opening track, “Reckoning”. But thereafter, the album unfolds through soft R&B and hip-hop flavours, understated modal vignettes and contemplative tableaux. Core jazz harp techniques, laid down by Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane over half a century ago, remain the foundation — Younger, now the custodian, recorded the album on Coltrane’s restored harp. But a broad palette of influences and wide range of guests, coupled with Younger’s electronics and advanced instrumental technique, move a niche jazz tradition into a contemporary mainstream path.
Younger recorded Gadabout Season’s…
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