Larry Young (jazz)
Encyclopedia
Larry Young
Larry Young (also known as Khalid Yasin (Abdul Aziz) (October 7, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey
—March 30, 1978 in New York City
) was an American jazz organist and occasional pianist. Young pioneered a modal
approach to the Hammond B-3 (in contrast to Jimmy Smith
's soul-jazz style). However, he did play soul-jazz also, among other styles.
bands in the 1950s before gaining jazz experience with Jimmy Forrest
, Lou Donaldson
, Kenny Dorham
, Hank Mobley
and Tommy Turrentine
. Recording as a leader for Prestige
from 1960, Young made a number of soul-jazz discs, Testifying, Young Blues and Groove Street. When Young went to Blue Note
in 1964, his music began to show the marked influence of John Coltrane
. In this period, he produced his most enduring work. He recorded many times as part of a trio with guitarist Grant Green
and drummer Elvin Jones
, occasionally augmented by additional players; most of this sequence of albums was released under Green's name, though Into Somethin (with Sam Rivers
on saxophone) became Young's Blue Note debut. Unity
, recorded in 1965, remains his best-known album; it features a front line of Joe Henderson
and the young Woody Shaw
. Subsequent albums for Blue Note (Contrasts, Of Love and Peace, Heaven On Earth, Mother Ship) also drew on elements of the '60s avant-garde and utilised local musicians from Young's hometown of Newark. Young then became a part of some of the earliest fusion
experiments: first in Lifetime, Emergency! with Tony Williams and John McLaughlin
and also on Miles Davis
's Bitches Brew. His sound with Lifetime was made distinct by his often very percussive approach and often heavy use of guitar and synthesizer-like effects. He is also known to rock fans for a jam he recorded with Jimi Hendrix
, which was released after Hendrix's death on the album Nine to the Universe
.
His characteristic sound involved management of the stops on the Hammond organ, producing overtone series that caused an ethereal, drifting effect; a sound that is simultaneously lead and background.
Young died from untreated pneumonia at the age of 37.
Blue Note Records
Others
With Grant Green
With Miles Davis
With Joe Chambers
With John McLaughlin
With John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana
Larry Young (also known as Khalid Yasin (Abdul Aziz) (October 7, 1940 in Newark, New Jersey
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
—March 30, 1978 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
) was an American jazz organist and occasional pianist. Young pioneered a modal
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
approach to the Hammond B-3 (in contrast to Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith (musician)
Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
's soul-jazz style). However, he did play soul-jazz also, among other styles.
Biography
Young played with various R&BRhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
bands in the 1950s before gaining jazz experience with Jimmy Forrest
Jimmy Forrest
Jimmy Forrest was an African American jazz musician, who played tenor saxophone throughout his career....
, Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...
, Kenny Dorham
Kenny Dorham
McKinley Howard Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did...
, Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
and Tommy Turrentine
Tommy Turrentine
Thomas Walter Turrentine, Jr. was a swing and hard bop trumpeter of the 1940s to 1960s, the older brother of saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.-Biography:...
. Recording as a leader for Prestige
Prestige Records
Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
from 1960, Young made a number of soul-jazz discs, Testifying, Young Blues and Groove Street. When Young went to Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
in 1964, his music began to show the marked influence of John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
. In this period, he produced his most enduring work. He recorded many times as part of a trio with guitarist Grant Green
Grant Green
Grant Green was a jazz guitarist and composer....
and drummer Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
, occasionally augmented by additional players; most of this sequence of albums was released under Green's name, though Into Somethin (with Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
on saxophone) became Young's Blue Note debut. Unity
Unity (Larry Young)
Unity is an album by jazz organist Larry Young, released on the Blue Note label. While not free jazz, the album features innovative experimentation. The title was chosen by Young because "although everybody on the date was very much an individualist, they were all in the same frame of mood...
, recorded in 1965, remains his best-known album; it features a front line of Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson
Joe Henderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than forty years Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent labels, including Blue Note.-Early life:From a very large family with five sisters and nine...
and the young Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw
Woody Shaw was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and band leader, often referred to as the "last innovator" in the jazz trumpet lineage...
. Subsequent albums for Blue Note (Contrasts, Of Love and Peace, Heaven On Earth, Mother Ship) also drew on elements of the '60s avant-garde and utilised local musicians from Young's hometown of Newark. Young then became a part of some of the earliest fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
experiments: first in Lifetime, Emergency! with Tony Williams and John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
and also on Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
's Bitches Brew. His sound with Lifetime was made distinct by his often very percussive approach and often heavy use of guitar and synthesizer-like effects. He is also known to rock fans for a jam he recorded with Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, which was released after Hendrix's death on the album Nine to the Universe
Nine to the Universe
-Personnel:*Jimi Hendrix – lead and rhythm guitar all tracks, lead vocals on track 1 *Larry Lee – rhythm guitar on track 4 *Jim McCarty – lead & rhythm guitar on track 2*Larry Young – organ on track 3...
.
His characteristic sound involved management of the stops on the Hammond organ, producing overtone series that caused an ethereal, drifting effect; a sound that is simultaneously lead and background.
Young died from untreated pneumonia at the age of 37.
As leader
Prestige RecordsPrestige Records
Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...
- 1960: Testifying
- 1960: Young Blues
- 1962: Groove Street
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
- 1964: Into Somethin'Into Somethin'Into Somethin' is an album by jazz organist Larry Young, released on the Blue Note label.The album is Young's debut for Blue Note records, featuring Grant Green and Elvin Jones, with both of whom he had previously recorded under Green's name...
- 1965: Unity
- 1966: Of Love and PeaceOf Love And PeaceOf Love And Peace is an album by jazz organist Larry Young, released on the Blue Note label. This album shows a firmer move on Young's part into the realms of free jazz.The album is Young's third for Blue Note records, following on from Unity...
- 1967: ContrastsContrasts (Larry Young album)Contrasts is an album by American organist Larry Young recorded in 1967 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars and stated "The adventurous music is sometimes quite intense but also grooves in its own eccentric way, offering...
- 1968: Heaven on EarthHeaven on Earth (Larry Young album)Heaven on Earth is an album by American organist Larry Young recorded in 1968 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 3 stars and stated "Organist Larry Young, who really found his own sound back in 1965 with the classic Unity album, is...
- 1969: Mother ShipMother ShipMother Ship is an album by American organist Larry Young recorded in 1969 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1980.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4 stars and stated "This highly original set does not deserve to be so obscure".-Track listing:# "Mother Ship"...
Others
- 1973: Lawrence of Newark (Perception Records)
- 1975: Fuel (Arista)
- 1975: Spaceball (Arista)
- 1977: The Magician (Acanta/Bellaphon)
As sideman
With Tony Williams- EmergencyEmergency! (album)Emergency! is a double album by The Tony Williams Lifetime. Released in 1969, it was the group's first album and one of the first significant jazz fusion recordings...
(1969, Polydor) - Turn It Over (1970, Polydor)
- Ego (1971, Polydor)
With Grant Green
Grant Green
Grant Green was a jazz guitarist and composer....
- Talkin' About!Talkin' About!Talkin' About! is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(1963, Blue Note) - Street of DreamsStreet of Dreams (Grant Green album)Street of Dreams is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1964 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(1964, Blue Note) - I Want to Hold Your HandI Want to Hold Your Hand (album)I Want to Hold Your Hand is an album by American jazz guitarist Grant Green featuring performances recorded in 1965 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:...
(1965, Blue Note) - His Majesty King FunkHis Majesty King Funk- Personnel :*Grant Green - guitar*Harold Vick - tenor saxophone*Larry Young - organ*Ben Dixon - drums*Candido Camero - bongo and conga-Track listing:#"The Selma March" 08:26#"Willow Weep for Me" 10:02#"The Cantaloupe Woman" 04:56...
(1965, Verve)
With Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
- Bitches BrewBitches BrewBitches Brew is a studio double album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in April 1970 on Columbia Records. The album continued his experimentation with electric instruments previously featured on his critically acclaimed In a Silent Way album...
(1969, Columbia) - Big Fun
With Joe Chambers
Joe Chambers
Joe Chambers is an American jazz drummer, pianist, vibraphonist and composer. He attended the Philadelphia Conservatory for one year. In the 1960s and 70s Chambers gigged with many high-profile artists such as Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Lou Donaldson, Chick Corea, Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Giuffre...
- Double Exposure (1978, Muse)
With John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
- DevotionDevotion (John McLaughlin album)Devotion is the fourth album by the English jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, released in 1970. It was recorded shortly after McLaughlin left the Miles Davis band and prior to forming The Mahavishnu Orchestra.-Tracks:All songs written by John McLaughlin....
(1969, Douglas)
With John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana
- Love Devotion SurrenderLove Devotion SurrenderLove Devotion Surrender is an album released in 1973 by guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, with the backing of their respective bands . The album was inspired by the teachings of Sri Chinmoy and intended as a tribute to John Coltrane...
(1972, Columbia)