With the assistance of student musicians, Mr. Young will present and demonstrate methods that will start, strengthen, and accelerate the growth of beginning instrumentalists in the Art and Practice of Improvisation. Attendees are encouraged to bring their instruments to play group exercises using two, simple, scale-based approaches over standard chord progressions. Attendees without instruments can sing along! Looking for a a stylistic and theoretical foundation in jazz improvisation? These examples will translate basic, scale-based ideas into improvisational motives that are rooted in the tradition, sound and content of modern jazz.
Horace Alexander Young
- Biographical Information
Horace Alexander Young is a 21st Century musician whose combined saxophone, flute and vocal styles revisit the sensitivity and grit of Lester Young and Cannonball Adderley, and the smoothness and grace of Nat King Cole. For more than four decades, he has maintained a career as an accomplished musician (multi-woodwinds, keyboards, percussion, and vocals), educator, composer/arranger and recording and touring artist. While he has spent most of his 40+ years in the music business playing, arranging, composing and recording music, for other artists (including Abdullah Ibrahim, McCoy Tyner, B.B. King, Bill Withers, Regina Belle, Youssou N’Dour, Mark Ledford, et al), he also spent several years serving on the music faculty at such colleges and universities as, Texas Southern, Washington State, Sonoma State, Rutgers, Houston City College and Santa Fe University of Artand Design- where he served as Chair of The Contemporary Music Program. To date, his collective talents have contributed to over 400 significant recordings. Horace Alexander Young is on the artist roster of the Pacific Coast Jazz recording label, and is a clinician, performing artist and/or product consultant for the following companies: CONNSELMER– Performs on Selmer Paris saxophones, exclusively; DANSR, INC. (Vandoren -Saxophone Reeds, Mouthpieces, Ligatures and Reed Products).
Jeff Crylen has served as Band Director at Prairie Grove CSD 46 in Crystal Lake, Illinois, since 2018. His responsibilities include directing the Beginning Band, Cadet Band, Concert Band, Advanced Band, Jazz Band 2, and Jazz Band 1, as well as teaching small group lessons. Under Jeff’s direction, the Prairie Grove Bands have earned state, national, and international recognition. This includes three featured performances at the Illinois Music Education Conference (Advanced Band in 2024; Jazz Band 1 in 2022 and 2026) and two at the Jazz Education Network Conference (Jazz Band 1 in 2024 and 2027). Additionally, Jazz Band 1 is a two-time DownBeat Magazine Student Music Award winner for Junior High Large Jazz Ensemble (2024, 2026), and members were selected as a demonstration ensemble for Horace Alexander Young’s “Jazz Improvisation 101” clinic at the 2026 Midwest Clinic. Jeff also serves as the Jazz Ensemble Director at Prairie Ridge High School. An active clinician and adjudicator in the Chicagoland area, he has directed the Illinois Music Education Association District 2 (2025) and District 8 (2026) Junior Jazz Ensembles. He currently performs on trumpet with the Northshore Concert Band and cornet with the Chicago Brass Band.Jeff earned degrees in Music Education and Trumpet Performance with Honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2017, where he received the Mark H. Hindsley Award. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music Education degree online through Eastern Illinois University. His honors include the February 2021 Star 105.5 Teacher of the Month, 2024 Illinois Grade School Music Association Barbara Buehlman Award, and nomination for the 2025 McHenry County Middle School Educator of the Year Award.