GRAMMY-NOMINATED COMPOSER & HARPIST BRANDEE YOUNGER NEW ALBUM BRAND NEW LIFE

PRODUCED BY MAKAYA McCRAVEN

FEAT. PETE ROCK, MESHELL N’DEGEOCELLO,

9TH WONDER, & MORE

WATCH BRANDEE AND PETE ROCK

ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA HERE

April 7, 2023 (New York, NY) — Today, GRAMMY®-nominated harpist and composer Brandee Younger releases her new album Brand New Life via Impulse! Records. At once a stunning testament to Younger’s power as a composer and a remarkable tribute to trailblazing harpist Dorothy Ashby, the album features Pete Rock, 9^th Wonder, Mumu Fresh, and more. Listen to Brand New Life HERE.

On her second album for Impulse!, Younger pays tribute to the enduring legacy of Dorothy Ashby, whose groundbreaking work brought the harp to the forefront of popular genres and has influenced generations of jazz, hip-hop, and R&B musicians. Brand New Life sees Younger lend her inimitable talent to original compositions (including the album’s title track, an evocative collaboration with singer-activist Mumu Fresh), reworks of iconic pieces from Ashby’s catalog, and never-before-recorded works by Ashby.

Younger says of her experience making Brand New Life, “Creating this album has been a longtime dream of mine. I really had a lot of living to do before being able to execute it, genuinely. The finished product is truly representative of where I am now and it is an honor to convey that through the compositions of one of my heroes.”

The first single from the album is the previously unrecorded and evocative Ashby composition, “You’re A Girl For One Man Only.” What may have become a jazz standard of 1960s – had it been recorded at the time of it’s conception – now emerges as timeless as ever and is colored with the vibrance of the 21st Century via drummer and producer Makaya McCraven’s trademark cultural synthesizer. Listen to the track HERE.

Younger is also joined on Brand New Life by icons of hip-hop and R&B, many of whom have been inspired by Ashby themselves. DJ and rapper Pete Rockjoins Younger for a powerful rework of Ashby’s “Livin’ and Lovin’ in My Own Way,” and also accompanied Younger in a discussion of Ashby’s rich musical legacy on Good Morning America (watch the segment HERE). Meanwhile, 9th Wonder adds infectious production to a new interpretation of “The Windmills of Your Mind,” and Meshell N’degeocello contributes dreamy vocals to Younger’s imaginative take on Ashby’s 1969 track “Dust.”

Celebrated as the premier harpist of her generation, Brandee Younger has broken new ground for harpists over the entirety of her career. Younger made history as the first Black female solo artist to be GRAMMY®-nominated for Best Instrumental Composition, for “Beautiful is Black” from her genre-busting 2021 major-label debut album, Somewhere Different. That same year the album also garnered an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Jazz Album – Instrumental. Along with the release of Brand New Life, Younger will be embarking on a series of headlining shows across the U.S. this spring, and will follow her whirlwind 2023 with a residency as SFJazz’s Resident Artistic Director in early 2024.

BRAND NEW LIFE TRACKLIST: