Although the harp has struggled to make itself known as a mainstream jazz instrument, it has had a number of inspirational, mostly female, advocates over the years. Perhaps the main reasons for this lack of uptake are that on the one hand, it produces such a delicate, hypnotic sound that it can be easily overpowered by the sheer volume of the horns and rhythm section, so it has mainly been used to add textures to big band orchestrations by arrangers (in much the same way it has in classical music). On the other hand the sheer size of the instrument makes it something of a beast to transport between gigs, meaning only the most dedicated musicians have successfully built careers with it. In recent years there has been renewed interest in jazz harp though, thanks to artists such as Alina Bzhezhinska and Nala Sinephro, and perhaps most prominently Brandee Younger, whose new album Brand New Life brilliantly mixes R&B and hip-hop influences into the mix. 

Although the first acknowledged early jazz harpist was male, Casper Reardon, it has largely been women who faced the challenge of bringing the instrument out of the philharmonic and into the jazz clubs. Adele Girard was an early practitioner in the 1930s and 1940s, who approximated the boogie-woogie piano style of the day, but it was Dorothy Ashby who truly put the harp centre stage. Applying the bebop innovations of Parker and Gillespie to the instrument, Ashby successfully led her own band for many years, which at times included Roy Haynes and Jimmy Cobb. On Brand New Life Younger pays tribute to the pioneering work of Ashby, reinterpreting many of her compositions to bring them into the 21st century.

Like Ashby (who worked with Stevie Wonder, Minnie Riperton and Bill Withers), Younger has forged a dual career as a leader and a harpist for hire, having guested for none other than Beyoncé, Lauryn Hill and John Legend. Where Ashby was involved at the inception of the soul and funk movement in the sixties, Younger grew up in the hip-hop age, and the spirit of the breakbeat is fully present. Working with her on the project as executive producer is Makaya McCraven, an artist who similarly explores the boundaries of jazz and contemporary urban sounds. He also contributes his talents as a drummer, adding some deliciously fleet percussion on You’re a Girl for One Man Only, the first-ever recording of a piece Ashby composed for a theatre production in 1967. Younger’s gorgeous arpeggios set the scene, floating above McCraven’s sparse mid-tempo rhythms, allowing Joel Ross to introduce the haunting melody on vibes before it is picked up and developed by Younger.

Younger has such an incredible command of the instrument, that whilst she’s fully able to draw on the inherently impressionistic, glistening textures, she can play crisply articulated rhythms that leap out in the mix. ‘The Windmills of Your Mind’ is a good example of her combining the two, with plenty of dreamy arpeggios enveloping that famous melody but never drowning it out, aided here by the no-nonsense beats of DJ/producer 9th Wonder. Another standout is vocalist Mumu Fresh’s contribution to the R&B-flavoured title track, and there’s even a touch of reggae to ‘Dust’, featuring Meshell Ndegeocello.

The fusion of sampledelica and jazz on Brand New Life frequently sends shivers down the spine - check out the unlikely (on paper) mix of scratching (contributed by DJ Peter Rock) with Younger’s near drowsy strings on ‘Livin’ and Lovin’ My Own Way’, all glued together by slow breakbeats. And whilst it’s an album that will happily sit in the background as super-cool soul-jazz (aided by sumptuous production), it’s really deserving of close attention to fully appreciate how detailed and fully realised Younger’s vision is.

from www.prestomusic.com