Adventures in Listening, May 1, 2023: Jazz Party!
Three new albums demonstrate the deep connections between jazz, R&B, hip-hop, even EDM.
Brandee Younger - Brand New Life
You’ve probably heard the music of jazz harp icon Dorothy Ashby, even if you didn’t realize it at the time. Perhaps you’ve spent some time with one of her seminal records from the 50s and 60s— Afro-Harping is generally considered her masterpiece, but don’t sleep on Hip Harp. More likely, you’ve heard her music filtered through the prism of hip-hop, where Ashby has provided source material for Jay Z, J Dilla, and Drake, among countless others. Her legacy sits somewhere at the intersection of rap, jazz, and R&B, something that’s teased out on Brand New Life, a rich and inventive tribute album from Brandee Younger. Of course, there is no one more qualified to explore Dorothy Ashby’s enduring influence: Younger is indisputably the most high-profile harpist of her generation, a musician of incredible technical skill who is perhaps best known for her affiliation with the hip-hop conversant drummer and bandleader Makaya McCraven.
McCraven not only drums on Brand New Life but also serves as album producer, and the single best thing he does is to make sure that everything on the album is ultimately in support of Younger’s limitless virtuosity. She is incredible, and what’s more, she’ll make you appreciate that the harp itself is incredible— an instrument that’s nearly as expressive as the piano or guitar. Younger lets loose amazing runs that would fit on a hard bop album, she creates glistening mood music with a wonderfully tactile feel, and she showcases the percussive elements of the harp with some well-timed physicality. Not for nothing, McCraven is great, too: On a ravishing ballad called “You’re a Girl for One Man Only,” his cymbal work is a model of understatement and grace. At the other end of the spectrum, his drums rumble and storm across “Dust,” thunderously loud and viscerally thrilling.
The songs on the album are all written by or associated with Ashby, but Brand New Life is neither an overly-reverential homage nor a carefree deconstruction. Instead, it feels like Younger is continuing some of the genre conversations that Ashby started. In doing so, Younger stakes her own place in the ongoing dialogue while also honoring Ashby’s status as a trailblazer. “Dust,” a song drawn from The Rubáiyát of Dorothy Ashby, originally pulsed with a vaguely exotic rhythm, but here Younger blows it out into a full-on dub groove, all hard-edged beats and dank atmosphere. Hip-hop is included via collaborations with Pete Rock and 9th Wonder; listen to how Younger’s harp seamlessly navigates the thumpin’ beats and old-school turntabalism on the Rock-featuring “Livin’ and Lovin’ in My Own Way.” On “Running Game” and “Moving Target,” Younger creates rich, expansive music with cinematic scope, while “The Windmills of Your Mind” conveys an easeful way with pure pop melody. Each song suggest an undiscovered universe, another rabbit hole through which Younger could follow Ashby’s lead. For now we have this tight 10-song set— arresting, inviting, and utterly confident in its command of history.
Dinner Party - Enigmatic Society
Over the past 20 years, few musicians have presided over the jazz/R&B/hip-hop intersection quite as authoritatively as Robert Glasper, the pianist whose Black Radio series exemplifies a particular strain of genre porousness. His Dinner Party band— a genuine supergroup featuring sax man Kamasi Washington, bassist Terrence Martin, and producer 9th Wonder— amounts to a kind of busman’s holiday for Glasper, allowing him to do what he does best with considerably lower stakes than his other projects. At just 25 minutes in length, Enigmatic Society certainly feels minor, yet I’m also ready to call it the group’s most satisfying work to date— an appealingly casual, low-key celebration of textures, grooves, and voices. The voices are supplied mostly by Phoelix, Arin Ray, and Ant Clemons, gifted R&B singers all. As for the textures, where to begin? I love how 9th Wonder supplies the sound of dripping water on “For Granted,” only to have Glapser mimic it with his twinkling piano. “Watts Renaissance” is low-key funk, all jittery percussion and moaning reeds. And “The Lower East Side” is an appealing instrumental miniature, complete with bleeping sound effects and brassy fanfare. A couple of complaints: I wish the lyrics— all very standard romantic tropes— had a little more personality. And I’d love to hear these instrumentalists, Glasper in particular, have a little more room to roam. But as a fun-sized party album, Enigmatic Society has plenty of whimsy, invention, and mood to offer.
GoGo Penguin - Everything is Going to Be OK
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Even if you don’t like jazz— or don’t think you like jazz— you might still find some appeal in GoGo Penguin, a piano-bass-drums trio from Manchester. Seldom swinging in the conventional sense, the band instead conjures the glassy tones and euphoric rush of EDM, along with delicate flourishes that recall classical music. Their latest, born out of a season of disruption and grief, strikes a tone of optimism and tranquility, at times putting me in the headspace of therapeutic ambient music. I’ll be honest: I like this band best when they foreground big drum beats, which they do on a couple of thunderous album highlights. The quieter moments don’t always command attention, but work great as background music for reading or writing.
Ahmad Jamal - At the Pershing: But Not For Me
I mentioned this album last week as part of my brief Jamal send-off; this is his undisputed classic, and I’ve been listening to it almost every day since his death. I bring it up again mostly to call your attention to this track-by-track appreciation from Ethan Iverson, which helped me to appreciate how Jamal’s resourceful trio wrought such technical and stylistic invention from standards as well as then-current trends in exotica and easy listening. Cue up the album, listen along with Iverson’s analysis, and just see how your admiration of this music grows.