Brandee Younger: Somewhere Different
Impulse! Records

Somewhere Different is the sound of harpist Brandee Younger branching out and expanding on 2019's Soul Awakening, one of the year's standout jazz albums and textura's top pick for the year in the jazz category. Yet while Younger's debut outing on the iconic Impulse! Records imprint is admirable for its ambition and scope, it's not quite as successful as the earlier one. Produced by Dezron Douglas (who also plays electric bass on two of the eight tracks) and recorded at the Van Gelder Studios and in New York City, the album in its CD presentation divides neatly into halves, with the first drawing from R&B, hip-hop, and funk and the second featuring jazz trio performances and bassist Ron Carter on two of them. In being so completely satisfying, the jazz half brings the missteps of the first into sharp relief.

Younger's desire to broaden her music's scope is consistent with the sensibility of someone who's shared the stage with Ravi Coltrane, John Legend, Pharoah Sanders, Common, Lauryn Hill, and others; that the harpist aspired to integrate hip-hop and R&B flavours into her music is easy to understand in light of those experiences. Though many a guest joins her on the album, Somewhere Different is very much Younger's project when seven of the eight pieces were written by her, Douglas credited with one and as co-writer of two and vocalist Tarriona “Tank” Ball (from the New Orleans-based R&B group Tank And The Bangas) also receiving a co-credit for the song on which she appears.

The first half starts strongly when Younger embroiders the bass-powered funk groove of “Reclamation” with a front-line of flutist Anne Drummond and tenor saxophonist Chelsea Baratz. Adding to its appeal, the composition alternates between relaxed (dub even emerging during one) and high-intensity episodes, the music luscious at one moment and, with drummer Allan Mednard providing thrust, muscular the next. Douglas's radiant Alice Coltrane ode “Spirit U Will” satisfies too, especially when unison lines by Younger and trumpeter Maurice Brown ring out over the breezy backdrop. Adding to the impact is a typically elevating solo by the harpist and what sounds like an electrified solo by Brown. The album moves into soul ballad territory when Ball contributes a Beyoncé-styled vocal (plus MC interjection) to “Pretend.” That song's appealing enough—no problem on that count—but it's marred by drum accompaniment that's too busy and ultimately distracting. Buoyed by subtle hints of reggae and hip-hop in its sunny lilt, the title track is heightened by the beauty of Younger's harp but diminished by drum programming that undercuts the natural splendour of the performance.

Whereas programmed drumming cheapens “Somewhere Different,” the album rises to a higher level of authenticity when the second half concentrates exclusively on dynamic acoustic trio performances. Mednard and upright bassist Rashaan Carter are superb sparring partners to Younger in the resplendent “Love & Struggle” and “Tickled Pink,” the music in both cases fully alive and teeming with spontaneity. Ron Carter joins Younger and Mednard for “Beautiful Is Black” and “Olivia Benson,” the former a gorgeous melancholy ballad and the energized latter titled after the Law & Order: SVU character played by Mariska Hargitay. With Mednard wielding brushes and Carter his usual tasteful self, “Beautiful Is Black” provides a wonderful forum for the harpist's artistry to fully blossom. At album's end, the gently swinging groove pulsing through “Tickled Pink” provides a splendid foundation for the tune's lyrical melodies and Younger's stirring voicings thereof.

October 2021