This story is featured in CityBeat’s Feb. 22 print issue.
Contemporary harpist Brandee Younger’s major-label debut Somewhere Different features her composition “Beautiful is Black,” which earned her a nomination for Best Instrumental Composition at the 2022 Grammys and made her the first Black woman nominated in this category. The album also received a nomination for Outstanding Album at the NAACP Image Awards.
Younger’s sound mixes jazz, funk, R&B and classical, often simultaneously. The exploratory music also has some psychedelic touches, similar to one of her influences, Alice Coltrane. Ravi Coltrane, the son of Alice and legendary jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, is a collaborator and is featured on her 2019 release Soul Awakening. In addition to Coltrane, Younger has worked in different genres with big names such as Pharaoh Sanders, The Roots, John Legend, Common, Charlie Haden and Lauryn Hill, amongst others.
Younger has been written about by the New York Times and Rolling Stone. Her composition “Hortense” was featured in Beyoncé’s Netflix concert documentary Homecoming.
In addition to writing and performing, Younger has served as a curator for concerts and festivals and is on the teaching artist faculty at both New York University and the New School College of Performing Arts. After past performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Apollo Theater and the Museum of Modern Art, the dynamic and rising harpist’s stop at Northern Kentucky University will be free and open to the public.
Brandee Younger plays Greaves Hall at Northern Kentucky University at 7 p.m. March 2. Info: nku.edu/events.
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This article appears in Feb 8-21, 2023.