An Afro-Futurist Performance Collaboration
Brand New Life unfolded as an immersive convergence of sonic innovation and visual poetics, uniquely situated within the technologically sophisticated architecture of Miner Auditorium. Conceived in collaboration with harpist and SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Brandee Younger, the performance honored the enduring legacy of Dorothy Ashby, a visionary who redefined the harp as a vessel of radical expression within the African American musical canon.
“The performance invoked a contemporary ritual where jazz, hip-hop, and classical traditions conversed fluently with speculative imagery.”
As SFJAZZ’s inaugural Visual Artistic Director, I approached the work not as accompaniment, but as an interpretive extension of Ashby’s legacy and Younger’s evolving vision. The visual lexicon drew deeply from the influence of my late mentor, Pheoris West, whose depictions of the divine feminine, fluid, timeless, and spiritually charged, inform the Afro-Futurist aesthetic guiding the production. The harp, both instrument and symbol, anchored the work as an object of diasporic memory, spiritual elevation, and aesthetic futurity.
A custom pixel map of Miner Auditorium enabled the construction of a projection environment that wrapped performers and audience in rhythm-responsive imagery. Supported by a HeArts grant through the University of Texas at Dallas, the production integrated AI-generated animation, parametric design, and real-time video capture. Celestial forms, digital abstractions, and live performance footage by Matt Unkenholz created a seamless interplay of sound and light, resulting in a captivating experience.
“Brandee Younger and collaborators expanded the harp’s sonic possibilities through genre-fluid improvisation and immersive visual design.”
Brandee’s curatorial vision for the ensemble, featuring Makaya McCraven, Rashaan Carter, the SF Conservatory String Ensemble conducted by De’Sean Jones, Meshell Ndegeocello, Mumu Fresh, and DJ Pete Rock, reflected the breadth of Ashby’s cross-genre legacy. The performance unfolded as a contemporary ritual where jazz, hip-hop, and classical traditions conversed fluently with speculative imagery and improvisational energy. Brand New Life became a portal, momentarily suspending time and space to offer a collective act of memory and reimagination, where sound became vision, and the divine feminine was invoked and illuminated.
Andrew F. Scott, Visual Artistic Director, Brandee Younger, Resident Artistic Director: Brand New Life. Brandee Younger, Rashaan Carter, Makaya McCraven, SF Conservatory of Music String Ensemble conducted by De’Sean Jones, Mumu Fresh, Meshell Ndegeocello, Pete Rock, Marc Cary, Matt Unkenholz, remote cameras and technical direction. SFJazz, Miner Auditorium, San Francisco, CA, March 7–8, 2024.