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
For more than four decades, Horace Alexander Young has maintained a career as an accomplished musician, educator, and recording and touring artist. He is equally gifted as a multi-instrumentalist (woodwinds, keyboards, and percussion), vocal musician, composer, arranger, and orchestrator. Having contributed to over 350 significant studio and live recordings, his performing skills have thrilled audiences in 20 countries across five continents and also at major jazz festivals in Montreux, Hamburg, Leipzig, London, Paris, The Hague, British Columbia, Berlin, New York, New Orleans, Detroit, Tokyo, Houston, Seattle, Ghent, Cape Town, Leverkusen, Glasgow, and Victoria, B.C. He also spent 17 years working as a featured soloist with 2019 NEA Jazz Master Abdullah Ibrahim, for whom he served as Musical Director of his touring group EKAYA and wrote numerous arrangements in various instrumental settings, contributed to two studio recordings, several noted television appearances, and two award-winning films. Since returning to Houston in 2022 he has been very active performing, teaching, and recording and was recently involved as an arranger and performer in the recordings of The Voice of Brubeck, Volume 1-2 (Navona Records) as an arranger, woodwind performer, and singer. Horace Alexander Young is a Conn Selmer Performing Artist and uses Vandoren Reeds, Ligatures, and Mouthpieces.
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.