This past Monday, July 21, drummer/composer Terri Lyne Carrington and harpist/composer Brandee Younger discussed their recently released albums, respectively We Insist 2025! (Candid) and Gadabout Season (Verve) at an event billed as Joy and Resistance, moderated by Dr. Guthrie Ramsey. The Doris Duke Center in New York City hosted the event, with a streaming audio system featuring Treble Clef Audio's TCA-M active floorstanding loudspeakers.
Two of contemporary jazz's most inventive, communicative, and creative voices, Terri Lyne Carrington and Brandee Younger, deliver powerful statements on their new albums, speaking directly to pressing societal concerns. Carrington's We Insist 2025! —a clear favorite this year—revisits Max Roach's revolutionary 1960 protest album We Insist! Freedom Now Suite with novel rhythmic beds and striking vocal interpretations. In contrast, Younger's Gadabout Season , played on Alice Coltrane's very own harp, explores a deeply personal celebratory journey, gracefully blending dreamy soundscapes with infectious funk and expansive jazz.
"I set out to make an album that not only captures the spirit of resistance as did the original recording but also acknowledges joy as a form of protest," Carrington noted in a press release for We Insist 2025! "Maintaining joy can be an important part of being free, and the unapologetic expression of joy is a form of resistance to oppression."
A four-time Grammy-winner and NEA Jazz Master, Carrington's latest album reimagines Roach's groundbreaking 1960 protest album, creating new directions from Roach's original compositions, "Freedom Day (Part 1)," "Driva' Man," and "Tears for Johannesburg." Gadabout Season's broad palette ranges from the delicate co-composed "End Means" with Shabaka Hutchings, to the tipping nu-groove soul of "Breaking Point" and the dreamlike "New Pinnacle."
The playback system included a Bluesound NODE NANO Streamer running files and Qobuz, connected via a Hosa Technology RCA Coax S/PDIF to one of the Treble Clef Audio Signature Model TCA-M Active Loudspeaker ($103,900/pair), with a StageMaster AES/EBU XLR cable with Kirlin connectors joining the two TCA-Ms. Accessories included a TP-Link network switch, an Ultra Clarity Cables Cat6 cable, and Toronce IP65 14-AWG power cables, into a 20A CCCEI power strip.
“The configuration you heard at the event used one of the TCA-M’s built-in DSP profiles, pre-voiced with a Sound Power curve suitable for the room,” wrote Ole Siig, Treble Clef Audio Chief Designer and Founder, over e-mail. “No additional room correction was applied—the speakers were simply placed and directed according to the room layout, stage location, and seating. It’s a testament to how well the system performs with minimal setup when time is limited.”
The Danish-made, baffle-free TCA-M employs a baffle-free shape incorporating a dipole bass system using two opposing woofers, an internal tapered tube with varying insulation to manage back waves from the drivers, built-in Pascal class-D amplifiers, and digital signal processing (DSP) in its 187 lb frame. Claimed frequency response: 16Hz–24kHz.
"The 1" tweeter and 4.5" midrange are both Scanspeak drivers," Siig explained. "Our patented Folded Dipole Air Velocity Transducer Bass system is configured with two 10" Acoustic Elegance Dipole woofers."
Carrington and Younger played mashups from their albums, the juxtaposition resulting in combined gospel, neo-soul, Afro-Latin, West African, blues, and jazz traditions, topped with solos from the principals, joined by Christie Dashiell, Weedie Braimah, Milena Casado, Morgan Guerin, Simon Moullier, and Matthew Stevens. Special guest Julian Priester, the only living musician from the original We Insist! recording, also appears.
Though sitting off-axis to one side of the SRO event space, the sound was punchy, dynamic, and forthright. The TCA-Ms easily switched between the music’s varied sonic menu, remaining true and resolute throughout.
Two of contemporary jazz's most inventive, communicative, and creative voices, Terri Lyne Carrington and Brandee Younger, deliver powerful statements on their new albums, speaking directly to pressing societal concerns. Carrington's We Insist 2025! —a clear favorite this year—revisits Max Roach's revolutionary 1960 protest album We Insist! Freedom Now Suite with novel rhythmic beds and striking vocal interpretations. In contrast, Younger's Gadabout Season , played on Alice Coltrane's very own harp, explores a deeply personal celebratory journey, gracefully blending dreamy soundscapes with infectious funk and expansive jazz.
"I set out to make an album that not only captures the spirit of resistance as did the original recording but also acknowledges joy as a form of protest," Carrington noted in a press release for We Insist 2025! "Maintaining joy can be an important part of being free, and the unapologetic expression of joy is a form of resistance to oppression."
The playback system included a Bluesound NODE NANO Streamer running files and Qobuz, connected via a Hosa Technology RCA Coax S/PDIF to one of the Treble Clef Audio Signature Model TCA-M Active Loudspeaker ($103,900/pair), with a StageMaster AES/EBU XLR cable with Kirlin connectors joining the two TCA-Ms. Accessories included a TP-Link network switch, an Ultra Clarity Cables Cat6 cable, and Toronce IP65 14-AWG power cables, into a 20A CCCEI power strip.
“The configuration you heard at the event used one of the TCA-M’s built-in DSP profiles, pre-voiced with a Sound Power curve suitable for the room,” wrote Ole Siig, Treble Clef Audio Chief Designer and Founder, over e-mail. “No additional room correction was applied—the speakers were simply placed and directed according to the room layout, stage location, and seating. It’s a testament to how well the system performs with minimal setup when time is limited.”
The Danish-made, baffle-free TCA-M employs a baffle-free shape incorporating a dipole bass system using two opposing woofers, an internal tapered tube with varying insulation to manage back waves from the drivers, built-in Pascal class-D amplifiers, and digital signal processing (DSP) in its 187 lb frame. Claimed frequency response: 16Hz–24kHz.
"The 1" tweeter and 4.5" midrange are both Scanspeak drivers," Siig explained. "Our patented Folded Dipole Air Velocity Transducer Bass system is configured with two 10" Acoustic Elegance Dipole woofers."
Carrington and Younger played mashups from their albums, the juxtaposition resulting in combined gospel, neo-soul, Afro-Latin, West African, blues, and jazz traditions, topped with solos from the principals, joined by Christie Dashiell, Weedie Braimah, Milena Casado, Morgan Guerin, Simon Moullier, and Matthew Stevens. Special guest Julian Priester, the only living musician from the original We Insist! recording, also appears.
