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Tenor saxophonist David Young, who was an integral part of the David-Baker-led Indianapolis hardbop group absorbed by George Russell at the beginning of the 1960s, passed away early this Friday morning. Born in Indianapolis in 1933, he was a part of the amazing 1950s Indiana Avenue generation that included Baker, Freddie Hubbard, and Wes Montgomery. He appears on the Russell albums Jazz in the Space Age, Kansas City, At the Five Spot, and Stratusphunk; he also recorded a very good album (his only one as a leader) for the Mainstream label in the 1970s, with a lineup that included fellow Indy trumpeter Virgil Jones, saxophonist Sonny Fortune, pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Idris Muhammad (whew!).
A fellow student, along with Baker, at the now-legendary Lenox School of Jazz, Young in his early period was sometimes influenced by John Coltrane (a hard thing for any young tenor circa 1961 to avoid), but he always had a distinctive sound that evolved throughout the 1960s and 70s into a fluid, inside/outside attack of quiet strength (with a biting, soulful edge on the Mainstream album–perhaps a result of his time with Brother Jack McDuff). Unknown to the general jazz public, he retained a great deal of respect among his fellow artists; in addition to George Russell and David Baker, he worked with Frank Foster’s big band, Sam Rivers’ Harlem Ensemble, Lionel Hampton’s Inner Circle, and McDuff. Musician and jazz writer Allen Lowe saw Young years ago with the Ellington orchestra, in its post-Duke, Mercer-led incarnation:
He was brilliant – he sorta served as the Paul Gonsalves tenor when I saw the band – it was probably 1980 or so and I remember thinking, who is this guy and where has he been hiding?
David Baker, Young’s long-running musical colleague, cites his friend’s shyness and deliberate low profile as one reason why he never became better known:
He always said he’d rather practice than play…but when he played, he played, man! His playing always revealed him in a good light.
Although I haven’t yet learned the cause of death, Young’s health seemed to be rather fragile; last year he was unable to attend Mark Sheldon’s Great Day in Indy photo shoot. Nevertheless a couple of people close to him expressed surprise and shock upon receiving the news. I was very fortunate to hear him several times, including a quasi-revived version of the Russell-Baker group in 2004 (in which he took a solo on Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” that just about brought my wife and me to tears), and a performance with organist and former Wes Montgomery bandmate Melvin Rhyne just last year. You can hear David in the Night Lights program When Russell Met Baker. (In his liner notes to the At the Five Spot reissue, Kirk Silsbee says that Young was “by all accounts the spark plug of the Russell-Baker band.”) Night Lights will also air a tribute program to David in mid-April that will include remarks from David Baker, as well as some previously-unreleased performances of Baker and Young.
UPDATE: the Indianapolis Star now has an obituary online.
UPDATE: check out the full hour-long Night Lights program about David Young:
(Photo of David Young by Mark Sheldon)
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