Norwegian guitarist
Jacob Young is a lyrical, nuanced improviser whose albums showcase his deeply poetic, harmonically expansive approach to modern creative jazz. Influenced by
Jim Hall and
John Abercrombie,
Young first gained attention in the mid-'90s playing with vocalist
Karin Krog. He issued a handful of highly regarded albums including 2004's
Evening Falls, 2008's Sideways, and 2018's Last Things with vocalist
Siril M. Hauge.
Born in 1970 in Lillehammer, Norway,
Young first began studying guitar on his own at the age of 12 after being introduced to jazz by his father, an American. He studied music at the University of Oslo and received a scholarship to the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City. While in New York, he studied the jazz repertoire as a gateway to harmonic improvisation. His primary instructor was the legendary guitarist
Jim Hall, who influenced his tone.
Young studied with
Hall privately as well as in ensemble settings. He also took private instruction from guitarist
John Abercrombie, one of the mainstays of
ECM Records. In addition to studying his chosen instrument,
Young studied jazz composition as well with pianist
Richie Beierach and
Kenny Werner. He graduated in 1993 and spent time freelancing and apprenticing in the city with notables
Rashied Ali, Marc Copeland,
Junior Mance,
Larry Goldings, and
Arnie Lawrence.
Young eventually returned to Norway and recorded three titles for local labels with musicians such as
Nils Petter Molvaer,
Trygve Seim,
Arve Henricksen, and
Jarle Vespestad. While gigging in Norway with
Seim's band,
Young garnered the attention of Norwegian vocalist
Karin Krog. The pair recorded a duet album,
Where Flamingoes Fly, on the Grappa label, produced by
John Surman. The duo did a world tour behind the album.
ECM Records' impresario
Manfred Eicher heard
Young playing with
Seim's band and eventually signed him.
Jacob Young's debut for
ECM,
Evening Falls, features his own compositions and a two-year-old band containing three generations of Norwegian musicians including veteran drummer
Jon Christensen, who has been part of the
ECM roster since the '70s; maverick trumpeter
Mathias Eick, bass clarinetist and saxophonist
Vidar Johansen, and bassist
Mats Eilertsen.
He was the guitarist in the experimental jazz-rock-electronics outfit
Interstatic and played on their self-titled debut in 2007. His own effort, Sideways, followed in 2008; recorded with the same band that cut his first album, it appeared in 2008. In 2009,
Young was the guitarist in drummer
Manu Katché's band for Third Round, which was issued in 2010. He spent the next three years playing live in Europe on his own and backing others. He re-entered an Oslo studio as a bandleader in 2013 with saxophonist
Trygve Seim and pianist
Marcin Wasilewski's trio on
Forever Young, issued in the early summer of 2014. In 2017, he collaborated with pianist
Lars Jansson and vocalist
Siril M. Hauge on the
Nordic Circles jazz project Under the Clouds. The following year, he again joined
Hauge for the album Last Things. The trio album,
Rathkes Gate 12:21:58, arrived in 2019 and featured
Young with saxophonist
Bendik Hofseth and drummer
Paolo Vinaccia. ~ Thom Jurek