David Young, jazz musician.

What inspires him: "Writers, poets, artists, nature and all the different ways that people choose to live their lives, which is what we, as creative people, explore."It has been a long time since a Chicago musician of David Young's musical gifts, intelligence, erudition and commitment has made a debut akin to his. For starters, Young released an unusually strong, critically applauded first CD, "Appassionata" (Big Chicago Records), which documented the signature beauty of his tone and the cohesiveness of the band he leads. A composer of already considerable accomplishment and even greater promise, Young proved on this recording that he can write indelible melodies and beguiling chord changes on a par with anyone his age (22) and better than many of his elders. But the fuller measure of Young's work as composer came last month, when he unveiled "Beneath the Bronze Belt" during the Chicago Humanities Festival, which commissioned it. An epic suite exploring the musical and cultural roots of black life in Chicago and across urban America, the piece contained passages of exceptionally controlled, beautifully conceived ensemble writing. Traces of Duke Ellington and Wynton Marsalis coursed through this work, which included a concertolike movement for Chicago tenor saxophone legend Von Freeman (loosely modeled on Ellington's "Concerto for Cootie"). "That suite definitely was a big turning point for me," says Young. "It was the first time I really got to dig into making a piece about blackness, but also about community. `Beneath the Bronze Belt' was about more than just this one city -- it was about Bronzeville as a microcosm of the whole country."Only an artist of considerable experience could have pulled off such a work, but Young is no neophyte, having been recruited to play in some of the city's best ensembles. In the past few months alone, he has finessed the classical score of Wendell Logan and Paul Carter Harrison's "Doxology Opera," riffed freely in the Bebop Brass band, swung the trumpet part in Ernest Khabeer Dawkins' Englewood Community Jazz Band, and elegantly dispatched Daniel Tucker's sleek new fanfare for the Chicago Humanities Festival. In so doing, Young has taken full advantage of the city's stylistically rich musical scene while becoming an important part of it. "Talk about growing pains -- this has been one of the more turbulent years of my life, but also one of the most exciting," says Young, who's writing the music for his next CD and looking for a venue to perform once again "Beneath the Bronze Belt" (the Museum of Contemporary Art would be an ideal setting). "All of sudden, the music I had been playing in private became very public, and that took some
getting used to. It has been an incredible turning point."

- Howard Reich