Brandee Younger: Soul Awakening
Brandee Younger

An immensely satisfying portrait of harpist Brandee Younger, Soul Awakening sounds as fresh as if it were recorded yesterday, even if it was completed six years ago. This formal follow-up to 2016's Wax & Wane is somewhat of a summative portrait, too, as Soul Awakening checks many of the critical boxes associated with the NY-based artist: it was recorded under the direction of producer and bassist Dezron Douglas, who continues to be a vital presence in her life; it features contributions from two of Younger's mentors, saxophonists Antoine Roney and Ravi Coltrane; and in addition to originals and a Marvin Gaye cover, the set-list includes compositions by harpists Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane, muses of Younger who've had a profound impact on her life and music. Stylistically, Soul Awakening defies easy categorization, though describing it as a particularly soulful brand of spiritual jazz wouldn't be far wrong.

Of late Younger's been touring and recording with Makaya McCraven, and she also recently contributed a track to the Impulse Records' tribute to The Beatles, A Day In The Life: Impressions of Pepper. Along with performances at jazz festivals and venues, Younger sometimes performs in classical settings and has also taken part in a number of university residencies, at DePaul University in Chicago and Michigan State University in East Lansing, to cite two examples. Her current focus, however, is on Soul Awakening and spreading its gospel. In addition to the aforementioned Douglas, Roney, and Coltrane, drummers E.J. Strickland and Chris Beck, saxophonists Stacy Dillard and Chelsea Baratz, trumpeters Freddie Hendrix and Sean Jones, trombonist Corey Wilcox, flutist Nicole Camacho, and vocalist Niia appear on the album in various combinations.

Younger's playing is all over the recording, of course, her reverberant strums and picking embroidering the performances magnificently and filling the air with their brilliant presence. In tandem with the leader, Douglas, and Beck, Coltrane, his full-bodied tone in this performance strongly reminiscent of his father's, lifts the opening “Soulris” to an aggressively intense height; the fiery tune, written by Douglas and featured on his 2018 EP Black Lion, provides a dynamic way into the recording. Titled after Younger's mother, “Linda Lee” weds a funky bottom end by Douglas and Strickland to a gorgeous, singing theme voiced in unison by Baratz and Hendricks, the saxist and muted trumpeter weaving around each other like boxers in the ring. A similarly rousing head, delivered in this case by Jones, Baratz, and Wilcox, elevates “Respected Destroyer,” though the tenor sax and trumpet solos that arise thereafter do much to make a case for the tune's earthy, R&B-inflected swing.

The album's loveliest track is Younger's “Love's Prayer,” a lilting ballad whose melody Coltrane caresses with deep feeling and which makes the album's greatest argument for the harp's candidacy as a lead instrument. Young delivers a solo so beautiful it could bring a tear to your eye, and the rhythm section is smart enough to support her without getting in the way of the magic unfolding. With Younger shadowing her every utterance, Niia's soulful vocal helps make the Gaye cover “Save the Children” one of the album's more memorable tracks; included as a tribute to Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, a victim of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the song takes on additional resonance and relevance when heard in light of that horrific incident. The title track likewise parts company from the others, in this instance by featuring a drum-less sextet and a front-line of flute and three saxes.

June 2019