Larry Young (musician)  

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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.

Young played with various R&B 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: he played on Miles Davis's Bitches Brew, then joined The Tony Williams Lifetime with guitarist John McLaughlin. 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.

Young died from untreated pneumonia at the age of 37.

Discography

As leader

• Testifying (New Jazz, 1960)
• Young Blues (New Jazz, 1960)
• Groove Street (Prestige, 1962)
• Into Somethin' (Blue Note, 1965) – recorded in 1964
• Unity (Blue Note, 1966) – recorded in 1965
• Of Love and Peace (Blue Note, 1967) – recorded in 1966
• Contrasts (Blue Note, 1968) – recorded in 1967
• Heaven on Earth (Blue Note, 1969) – recorded in 1968
• Lawrence of Newark (Perception, 1975) – recorded in 1973
• Fuel (Arista, 1975)
• Spaceball (Arista, 1976)
• The Magician (Acanta/Bellaphon, 1977)
• Mother Ship (Blue Note, 1980) – recorded in 1969
• Larry Young in Paris: The ORTF Sessions (Resonance, 2016) - recorded for French radio in 1964 and 1965

As sideman

With Joe Chambers

• Double Exposure (Muse, 1978) – recorded in 1977

With Miles Davis

• Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970) – recorded in 1969
• Big Fun (Columbia, 1974) – 1969 sessions only

With Jimmy Forrest

• Forrest Fire (New Jazz, 1960)

With Grant Green

• Talkin' About! (Blue Note, 1965) – recorded in 1964
• His Majesty King Funk (Verve, 1965)
• I Want to Hold Your Hand (Blue Note, 1966) – recorded in 1965
• Street of Dreams (Blue Note, 1967) – recorded in 1964

With Etta Jones

• Love Shout (Prestige, 1963) – recorded in 1962-63

With Gildo Mahones

• I'm Shooting High (Prestige, 1964) – recorded in 1963
• The Great Gildo (Prestige, 1965) – recorded in 1963-64

With John McLaughlin

• Devotion (Douglas, 1970)
• Love Devotion Surrender with Carlos Santana (Columbia, 1972)

With Pony Poindexter and Booker Ervin

• Gumbo! (Prestige, 1963) - with bonus tracks on CD

With Woody Shaw

• In the Beginning (Muse, 1983) - recorded in 1965. also released as Cassandranite.

With Thornel Schwartz and Bill Leslie

• Soul Cookin' (Argo, 1962) - Young listed as "Lawrence Olds"

With Buddy Terry

• Natural Soul (Prestige, 1968) – recorded in 1967

With The Tony Williams Lifetime

• Emergency (Polydor, 1969)
• Turn It Over (Polydor, 1970)
• Ego (Polydor, 1971)

With Love Cry Want (Nicholas/Gallivan/Young)

• Love Cry Want (Newjazz.com, 1997) - recorded in 1972

Notes

• Sterling, Guy. 'Larry Young's Tragic Genius', in 'Newark Star-Ledger,' March 30, 2003.