“Jazz has always had to do with freedom,” wrote Siddhartha Mitter in 2017 for the webzine Colorlines. “It’s built into the music’s DNA, its anchoring in Black culture and history. It expressed and sustained community under Jim Crow. In the Civil Rights era, Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln made We Insist! The Freedom Now Suite. John Coltrane recorded ‘Alabama.’” The classically trained harpist Brandee Younger is part of a new jazz generation carrying the torch of social consciousness in 21st century jazz. Her second album as a leader, Wax & Wane (2016), is “soul–jazz with lavish helpings of funk and, in places, a hip-hop sensibility.” (Mitter) She’s played with jazz legends like Pharoah Sanders as well as John Legend, Common, and Drake. This week, this uniquely gifted artist will perform with both electric and acoustic groups featuring such stalwarts of the New York scene as drummer EJ Strickland and trumpeter Keyon Harrold – only at Jazz Standard! “Brandee Younger taps into the spiritual well that fueled the art of both Dorothy Ashby and John Coltrane, yet she remains ever–cognizant of the time in which she lives and plays.” (All About Jazz). Brandee Younger – concert harp Keyon Harrold – trumpet Chelsea Baratz – tenor sax Rashaan Carter – electric bass Marcus Gilmore – drums