Over the past few years, harpist Brandee Younger has introduced herself to Bay Area audiences as an eloquent and charismatic champion of the music of Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby, the two most significant artists responsible for turning the harp into a credible vehicle for jazz. But in her second season as an SFJAZZ resident artistic director, Younger isn’t focusing on her sheroes. The New York native is taking the harp deep into her own sonic realm.
On Friday, March 7, the second concert in a four-night run in SFJAZZ’s Miner Auditorium, Younger performed a concise set of original pieces written for her jazz quartet or quintet and arranged here for chamber orchestra. The ensemble was the well-deployed 19-piece New Century Chamber Orchestra, conducted by bassist and producer Derrick Hodge (who, like Younger, has also worked widely with artists in R&B, hip-hop, and pop). The music was beatifically enveloping, an experience enhanced by New York designer Marrisa Wilson’s often arresting visuals projected behind the stage.
While Younger is a compelling soloist, she was at her most interesting locked in with her trio. Exquisite musicianship and textural acuity flowed from the supple rhythm section tandem of drummer Allan Mednard, a brush-work poet, and Rashaan Carter on electric and double bass. For much of the concert, they were joined by Anne Drummond, a brilliant improviser and leading creative force on the flute since the late 1990s, and gospel-steeped New Orleans pianist and keyboardist Courtney Bryan, who’s best known as a composer (and 2023 MacArthur “genius” grant recipient).
On Younger’s two-movement suite Unrest, a pandemic-era Jazz Coalition commission, the harpist effectively evoked a brooding mood of stasis and uncertainty without relying on repetition. New Century wasn’t called upon to play anything particularly challenging rhythmically, and Younger’s writing for the orchestra, while often luscious, lapsed into mere prettiness on one piece (the slow jam “Unswept Corners”).
It seemed the more friction New Century provided, the more the quintet had to work with. The expanded setting for “Respected Destroyer,” a piece from Younger’s 2019 album Soul Awakening that was recorded with trumpeter Sean Jones, took on a whole different vibe with the melody moving through each section of the orchestra. And on the set closer, “Gadabout,” a tune Younger introduced as the title track to her upcoming album, she said she encouraged everyone to get “quirky,” a strategy the bore captivating fruit. From the opening bass drum pulse, the piece took a series of melodic left turns as the quintet and New Century pivoted away from expected directions. It was a performance that revealed promising new terrain for both Younger and a chamber orchestra eager for adventure.
Younger herself is exploring a very different direction on April 3, when Stanford Live presents her and Gambian griot and kora master Sona Jobarteh at Bing Concert Hall in “Strings of Hope: A Song for Tomorrow.” The harpist is back in California at the end of the month with her trio for performances March 26 at The Sun Rose in Los Angeles, March 27 at San Jose Jazz’s Break Room, and March 28 at Santa Cruz’s Kuumbwa Jazz Center.
