| Jazz |
A Dream Etched in Sound: ‘Gadabout Season’ Offers a Transcendent Take on Afrofuturist Jazz
For those already acquainted with the world-jazz explorations of the 1970s and ’80s, Gadabout Season might not come as a radical surprise. And yet, there is nothing predictable about this record. What elevates it far above the familiar is not just its artistic lineage but the power of its execution, its curatorial vision, its intricate arrangements, and, most notably, the stellar ensemble gathered under the creative leadership of harpist and composer Brandee Younger.
This album avoids every trope that has rendered spiritual jazz a caricature in lesser hands. Instead, it unfolds as a singular work of emotional depth and quiet radiance, my personal standout of the week.
Sure, Gadabout Season evokes African diasporic mysticism and an ethereal quality often associated with jazz’s cosmic wing. But that’s not what makes it memorable. What this record offers, and what makes it linger in the mind long after the final track, is a genuine invitation: to peace, to love, to the far reaches of poetic dreamscape. It’s a narrative album in the truest sense, a story told through melodic arcs and textural finesse, grounded by Younger’s unmistakable compositional voice.
That vision came to life thanks in part to the album’s producer and bassist Rashaan Carter, who played an unusually intimate role in its creation. Carter recorded the entirety of Gadabout Season from within Younger’s own Harlem apartment, converting her second bedroom into a makeshift studio. Over several months in the latter half of 2024, the two embarked on a slow-burning creative process. “I’m used to doing it all at once in a studio,” Younger says. “But this time, it had to unfold. We gave the music time to reveal itself.” After each session, the trio, including drummer Makaya McCraven, would remain in the space, sketching new ideas, jamming loosely, improvising. From these moments emerged some of the album’s most compelling pieces: “Reckoning,” “Discernment,” and “End Means,” each born from spontaneity, but shaped with surgical precision.
The album’s mystique finds perhaps its deepest expression in Younger’s instrument of choice: the harp. Not just any harp, but one with lineage, with myth. The very instrument she plays once belonged to Alice Coltrane, the high priestess of spiritual jazz. Younger became its steward last year following a meticulous restoration, part of The Year of Alice, a series of exhibitions, recordings, and tributes co-sponsored by the legendary Impulse! label. Younger admits it took time before she felt worthy of the instrument’s power. “I had to make it my own,” she says. “It wasn’t my first time playing harp, of course, but this music was new, so I had to learn to live with it, to let it live in my home.”
That reverence is not unwarranted. There is an alchemy to well-aged stringed instruments that defies easy explanation. A new harp can shimmer, yes, but an older one carries something else, call it soul, call it history. The resonance achieved here is not merely a product of Younger’s skill, but the instrument’s own accumulated hours, its varnish and tonewoods, its countless vibrations over the decades. These are not just tools; they are vessels of human craftsmanship, worthy of being considered works of art in themselves.
And yet, Gadabout Season is not mired in the past. It looks forward. Younger’s evolving relationship with electronic textures and extended harp techniques is on full display, yielding what Carter calls an “Afrofuturist sound palette.” The title track exemplifies this approach, by turns dreamy and searching, a study in contrasts that functions as both self-revelation and outward inquiry. The result is immersive but never indulgent, luminous but never lightweight.
This is not an album for passive listening. At first glance, it may seem serene, even simple. But to truly understand it, and to truly appreciate it, requires a deep familiarity with the contemporary jazz idiom. This is music for those willing to lean in, to listen with intent. For those who do, Gadabout Season offers not just sound, but vision. Not just mood, but meaning.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, June 23rd 2025
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Musicians:
Brandee Younger, harp
Rasham Carter, bass
Alain Mednard, drums
Shakaba, Flute, clarinet
Makaya McCraven, drums, percussions
Joel Ross, vibraphone
Ele Howell, drums
Nia, vocals
Courtney Brian, piano, Fender Rhoodes
Josh Johnson, Saxophone
Tracklist:
Reckoning
End Means
Gadabout Season
Breaking Point
Reflection Eternal
New Pinnacle
BBL
Unswept Corners
Discernment
Tour Dates:
July 3, 2025 – Ljubljana Jazz Festival – Krizanke, Ljubljana, Slovenia
July 4, 2025 – Ghent Jazz Festival – De Bijloke, Ghent, Belgium
July 8, 2025 – Montreux Jazz Festival – Montreux, Switzerland
August 10, 2025 – NoMad Jazz Festival – Sofia, Bulgaria
October 5, 2025 – Jazzfest Brno – Cabaret des Péchés, Brno, Czech Republic
October 7, 2025 – Enjoy Jazzfestival – Kulturhaus Karlstorbahnhof, Heidelberg, Germany
October 10, 2025 – Jassmine – Warsaw, Poland
October 18, 2025 – Hopkins Center for the Arts – Hanover, NH
November 3, 2025 – Jazzfest Budapest – Eiffel Art Studios, Budapest, Hungary
November 4, 2025 – Conservatori del Liceu Auditori – Barcelona Jazz Festival, Barcelona, Spain
November 6, 2025 – Teatro Isabel la Católica – Granada, Spain
November 8, 2025 – Rockit! Festival – De Oosterpoort, Groningen, Netherlands
November 13, 2025 – Bowker Auditorium – Amherst, MA
November 14-16, 2025 – SOUTH Jazz Kitchen – Philadelphia, PA