Brandee Younger
Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield MA February 2, 11am
In celebration of Black History Month, Springfield Technical Community College, Office of Multicultural Affairs is proud to present genre-defying harpist Brandee Younger as part of the Diversity Series on Thursday, February 2 at 11am. The concert will take place at the Scibelli Hall Theater, located at 1 Armory Square in Springfield, MA. This event is open to the public and free of charge.
Harpist Brandee Younger defies genres and labels as a classically trained musician playing in the avant garde tradition of her sonically forward forebears Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. Ms.Younger delivers a consistently fresh take on the ancient instrument as an educator, curator, performer and leader of the Brandee Younger Jazz Harp Quartet. She has shared the stage with jazz leaders and popular hip hop and R&B titans including Ravi Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Jack Dejohnette, Reggie Workman, Common, John Legend and Lauryn Hill.
Downbeat’s John Murph claims that “If Younger continues to evolve as an improviser, bandleader, and composer, a masterpiece will surely be in her future”.A classically trained harpist, New York native Brandee Younger is a graduate of the prestigious Hartt School of Music as well as New York University’s Steinhardt School. Over the past decade, Younger has shared the stage with a host of jazz luminaries including Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Pharoah Sanders and particularly Ravi Coltrane, whom she began working with in 2007 to honor his late mother Alice Coltrane. Her debut EP “Prelude” was released in June 2011 to critical acclaim. As a classical musician, Younger has been featured as a soloist with The Harlem Chamber Players and has performed with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, Waterbury Symphony, Soulful Symphony, Ensemble Du Monde, Camerata New York and the Red Bull Artsehcro, a “non-conformist” orchestra. In hop hop and R&B, Younger has worked with Common, Drake, John Legend and most recently, Lauryn Hill, to name a few. Younger has released three other recordings as a leader including the EP “Prelude”, released in 2011,“Live At The Breeding Ground”, released in 2014, and “Wax & Wane” from 2016.