Brandee Younger: Gadabout Season
Impulse!

On Gadabout Season, Brandee Younger not only plays the harp that belonged to Alice Coltrane (and of which, after restoration, she became last year its custodian) but also gravitates towards the style of spiritual jazz associated with the late legend. All of which is good news for fans who see Younger as a natural successor to Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby. Those pioneers laid the groundwork for Younger to build upon, and she honours their legacies with this strong new release, her third for the legendary Impulse! imprint.

Being granted the opportunity to play Coltrane's harp can't help but have been inspirational to Younger, even if doing so at first proved a tad daunting. After all, it's understandable that it would take a while for her to grow comfortable playing an instrument of such historical importance. But the music she crafted for Gadabout Season suggests that her predecessor's spirit was speaking through her as Younger looked inward and midwifed the new material into being. To that end, working a reference to the gadabout, an adventurous wanderer open to uncertainty and seeking light, into the album title made sense.

Earlier album projects have seen Younger weaving R&B and hip-hop into her music; Gadabout Season downplays such tendencies for a set focusing on spiritual jazz, even if rhythmic thrust does animate a few of the ten tunes. For the most part, however, the music exudes a contemplative and reflective character consistent with inner journeying and self-understanding. In sequestering herself at her cousin's cabin in upstate New York to write the material, the process she adopted for the project's development aligned with those qualities. After the groundwork was done, she invited her longtime partners, bassist-producer Rashaan Carter and drummer Allan Mednard, to join her and flesh out the tunes; following that, Carter converted a bedroom in her Harlem apartment into a makeshift studio and formal recording ensued. The result is music of genuine and authentic character, material that presents Younger as she is and is exposing in the best way.

While she, Carter, and Mednard are the core, the album includes guest contributions from Shakaba Hutchings (flute, clarinet), Joel Ross (vibraphone), Josh Johnson (saxophone), Courtney Brian (piano, Fender Rhodes), and Nia (vocals), with Makaya McCraven and Ele Howell also credited with drums on a couple of tracks. Hutchings' flute couples effectively with Younger's harp and McCraven's drums on “End Means,” the feel loose, explorative, and open-ended. One of the album's more spellcasting pieces is the title track for a funky five-note hook it's built around as well as an enticing staccato groove sprinkled with Hutchings' clarinet, Ross's vibraphone, and, of course, Younger's swirls. Inspired by Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, “Surrender” adds a hymnal dimension to the album via Bryan's gospel-tinged piano and a devotional, almost courtly feel. Enrapturing too are “New Pinnacle,” for the beauty of its harmonious tone and seductive lilt, and “Unswept Corners,” for augmenting the trio's dreamlike expression with Nia's sultry vocal textures.

August 2025