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<\/p>\nOne of the most creative and prolific artists in today\u2019s music, composer-musician-arranger Adrian Younge has recently completed and released Something About April III. <\/i>The concluding entry in a trilogy of soundtrack albums for movies that don\u2019t exist, the record seamlessly combines hip hop textures, psychedelic soul and jazz instrumentation, all with a Brazilian feel. And he created it mostly on his own.<\/p>\n
The \u201cone artist does it all\u201d era arguably began with Paul McCartney\u2019s 1970 solo debut. Others followed; Emitt Rhodes, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Wonder and Prince upended ideas about what the term solo album<\/i> meant. Today \u2013 with the widespread availability of low-cost recording tools \u2013 true solo projects are commonplace.<\/p>\n
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Yet even against that backdrop, Adrian Young is remarkable. A wholly self-trained musician, Younge started out as a hip hop beatmaker. Los Angeles-based Younge was fascinated by Italian horror film soundtracks, and he drew upon those records for sampling. But he soon found that approach wanting; he demanded the real thing. Still working solo, he taught himself a myriad of instruments, studied composition and honed his production skills. And in the course of a quarter century, he pushed the boundaries even further. \u201cI went from the sampler to the symphony,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n
His early records leveraged his creativity and well-defined musical vision. Younge\u2019s 2009 score for Michael Jai White\u2019s blaxploitation homage Black Dynamite<\/i> demonstrated his facility for creating evocative music that enhanced on-screen visuals. But Younge wanted to focus on music that got the vibe across even without a big screen. His 2011 release Adrian Younge Presents Venice Dawn: Something About April<\/i> did just that, and it served as a notice that Younge had truly arrived as an artist.<\/p>\n
Today \u2013 nearly 60 albums later \u2013 Adrian Younge is as groundbreaking as ever. He has continued pushing forward, expanding the horizons of his artistry. His 2018 project The Midnight Hour<\/a> was a jazz excursion with A Tribe Called Quest\u2019s Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A synthesis of post-bop and soul jazz, The Midnight Hour was \u2013 like Younge\u2019s music for Ghostface Killah\u2019s 2013 horror-concept album Twelve Reasons to Die<\/i><\/a> \u2013 completely organic, wholly void of sampling.<\/p>\n Younge\u2019s onstage use of primarily acoustic instrumentation drew a direct line back to classic jazz of the \u201850s, \u201860s and 1970s, with a deft balance of through-composed and improvisational work. Live shows \u2013 like one at Asheville Music Hall in August 2019 \u2013 were breathtaking, a fact underscored by the quick release of a live set (The Midnight Hour: Live at Linear Labs<\/i>) mere months after the project\u2019s studio debut.<\/p>\n In 2020 Younge again teamed up with Ali Shaheed Muhammad to launch the Jazz is Dead album series. The ironically-named project draws upon icons of jazz (and iconic jazz textures) as it breathes new life into the form, serving up hard bop and other substyles for a new audience, one that often knows jazz only for its use as sampling fodder.<\/p>\n As of 2023, the Jazz is Dead series comprised some 20 titles, featuring new work and collaborations with important artists including Gary Bartz, Lonnie Liston Smith, Brazilian funk fusioneers Azymuth, vibraphone legend Roy Ayers and many more.<\/p>\n Both projects continue, after a fashion. \u201cIn many ways, The Midnight Hour turned into Jazz is Dead,\u201d Younge explains. \u201cWe have a whole album\u2019s worth of The Midnight Hour stuff that we\u2019ve finished but haven\u2019t even released,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Yo, Ali, we need to release this shit!\u2019\u201d Younge says that he has a great deal of completed work featuring full orchestra, plus a number of soundtrack projects.<\/p>\n And though he\u2019s always moving forward, for his latest project Younge picked up where a previous endeavor left off. 2016\u2019s Something About April II<\/i> continued with the \u201cmind movie\u201d aesthetic of its predecessor, but the project still left Younge feeling he had unfinished business. The newest entry in the series takes some turns that are unexpected, even from an artist such as Younge.<\/p>\n To begin with, the vocals on Something About April III<\/i> are all in Portuguese. After a series of visits to Brazil, Younge fell in love with the people, their culture and their musical heritage. And he wanted to apply that focus to this new album. But rather than hire a Brazilian lyricist, Younge taught himself Portuguese and composed the music and lyrics for his album. With vocals recorded in S\u00e3o Paulo, Something About April III<\/i> evokes the \u201860s bossa nova craze, crossed with \u201870s film soundtracks, all delivered with a modern sensibility.<\/p>\n And the album balances Younge\u2019s one-man-band proclivities with deft use of his band Venice Dawn, and those Brazilian singers. He views his work in the larger context. \u201cI\u2019m continuing those [musical] conversations of yesterday for tomorrow,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not the type of person that wants to rehash. I extract those classic elements and try to create something for today.\u201d<\/p>\n With all of his studio projects, Younge hasn\u2019t always prioritized live dates. \u201cI haven’t toured as just Adrian Younge in over 10 years,\u201d he notes. But that\u2019s changing now, with a series of concerts, some featuring a 35-piece orchestra. And even for scaled-down shows in smaller venues like The Grey Eagle, Younge \u2013 on upright bass, the latest instrument he\u2019s taught himself \u2013 dazzles. \u201cI\u2019m playing bass and I\u2019m conducting the orchestra at the same time,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cAnd this stuff makes me super happy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the most creative and prolific artists in today\u2019s music, composer-musician-arranger Adrian Younge has recently completed and released Something About April III. 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