[Dixielandjazz] Lee Young Obit

[Stephen G Barbone]

He was not as well known as his brother, BUT . . . .(e.g. he began his  
professional career playing with Mutt Carey and made his first  
recordings with Fats Waller etc., etc.)

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

www.barbonestreet.com
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband



NY TIMES - August 10, 2008 - By Douglas Martin
Lee Young Dies at 94; Jazz Man and Producer

Lee Young, who emerged from a family with musical roots deep in New  
Orleans jazz, drummed for greats like Ellington and Basie, became a  
pioneering black man in music’s executive suites — and survived his  
musician brother, Lester, by a half century — died on July 31 at his  
home in Los Angeles. He was 94.

The death was confirmed by his grandson Wren Brown.

In contrast to his brother, whose debilitating battle with alcohol and  
personal demons is almost as well known to jazz fans as his saxophone  
solos, Lee Young, a teetotaler, lived a long life of accomplishment in  
both performance and the music business.

His recollections, from touring in a carnival act as a child with  
Lester and their sister, Irma, in the 1920s; to playing drums and  
cutting his first records with Fats Waller in the 1930s; to helping  
forge a vibrant jazz scene in Los Angeles in the 1940s, were recorded  
by the oral history program of the University of California, Los  
Angeles.

His experiences included teaching Mickey Rooney to play drums for a  
movie and becoming the first black — and for several years the only  
one — to be a regular studio musician in Hollywood. He played drums  
and conducted for Nat King Cole.

Mr. Young played on literally thousands of records, said Phil Schaap,  
the jazz historian.

As a record producer, Mr. Young developed a reputation for knowing in  
advance what would sell, and discovered Steely Dan, the jazz fusion- 
rock band.

Mr. Schaap called Mr. Young “a most significant figure in jazz who  
directly connected us to the music’s early glories: the birth of jazz  
in New Orleans, the jazz age, the swing era and bebop.” Mr. Schaap  
also said that Mr. Young, who led an integrated band when that was  
unusual, was “a hero in the fight for integration.”

Leonidas Raymond Young was born in New Orleans on March 7, 1914, to  
parents who were both musicians and teachers. His father had learned  
to play instruments including the violin, trombone and bass as he  
traveled the deep South at the time jazz was sprouting in New Orleans.

Mr. Young’s father was a stern taskmaster, drilling music into his  
children by putting notes on a blackboard before they even started  
school. He made them into a novelty dancing act for traveling  
carnivals until they learned to play instruments. Lee, the youngest,  
had visited more than 30 states by the time he was 8.

Lee was different from Lester as a youth. Lester would practice his  
saxophone for hours; Lee would rather sneak off to play ball. Lester  
begged off some of the vaudeville gigs, particularly longer stays in  
cities like Minneapolis and Phoenix.

The family finally settled in Los Angeles, where Lee and his sister  
entertained at the dance marathons that were the rage during the  
Depression. By this time, Lee was performing most often as a drummer,  
having switched from the trombone; Lester had decided to specialize in  
saxophone instead of drums.

Lee attended high schools in Los Angeles. He began playing with Mutt  
Carey, a trumpeter and bandleader who had gotten his start in New  
Orleans, and also toured withEthel Waters. He made his first records  
at 23 as Fats Waller’s drummer. He played with Lionel Hampton and  
others, and started his own orchestra, actually a smaller combo. His  
brother joined the band in 1941, and its stature grew exponentially.  
They toured for the U.S.O., broadcast with Billie Holiday and were a  
hit in New York.

LA Weekly said in 2004 that Mr. Young for years was the only black  
staff musician at a major studio. Mr. Schaap wrote that Mr. Young got  
his job by turning down a chance to be Stan Kenton’s drummer at a time  
when Kenton led the nation’s hottest band.

In 1953 Mr. Young became Nat King Cole’s drummer and conductor, Mr.  
Schaap said. From this pinnacle of the music world, he had new  
insights into the business side of music, and decided to join it. He  
produced for Vee-Jay, Motown and ABC/Dunhill Records.

Around 1937, Mr. Young met a teenager named Norman Granz on a tennis  
court and began playing against him regularly. Granz was enthralled  
when Mr. Young introduced him to jazz and went on to create Jazz at  
the Philharmonic, the all-star touring group that took the music out  
of smoky bars to jam in the concert halls; Mr. Young and his brother  
can be heard on some of the recorded jam sessions.

Lester Young died in 1959; Irma died in 1993. Lee Young is survived by  
his wife of 55 years, the former Louise Franklin Young; his daughter,  
Rosalind Brown of Los Angeles; his son, Lee Jr., of Los Angeles; his  
half-sister, Vivian Johnson of Louisiana; six grandchildren; and nine  
great-grandchildren.

Mr. Young was interviewed for a book, “Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in  
Los Angeles” (1999) and said that when the music industry was  
segregated, white musicians were paid for seven nights of work, even  
though they were given one day off, while blacks had to work all seven  
days for their pay.

“I just loved to play so much, I went to different clubs and told the  
guys that if they wanted a night off, I would play in their place,”  
Mr. Young said. “So I got a chance to play all kinds of music, because  
I used to let these guys off.”