Last summer I had the pleasure to record, on video, a performance by harpist Brandee Younger with her quartet at an outdoor jazz festival in Hartford, CT. As a musician, Brandee is known to defy genres giving a new view to the perception and use of the harp in modern music. Having worked in the field of jazz with the likes of Ravi Coltrane and Charlie Haden and on the other spectrum in the realm of Hip-Hop with Common and producer Ryan Leslie, is enough to show the diversity.
With the debut EP entitled simply “Prelude”, the melding of genres and blurring of musical boundaries continues in the four track opus. From her take on the Wayne Shorter composition “Oriental Folk Song” which features the soothing vocals of Niia, to the reggae inspired “Hortense”. Makes you ponder the questions asked by the late Gil Scott-Heron in his song Is That Jazz?
The album is available on iTunes and features Dezron Douglas on bass, E.J. Strickland on drums, guest vocals by Niia and of course Brandee Younger on harp. The link to download on iTunes is below.
So Alive
