Roland P. Young

Roland began studying classical and jazz clarinet at age 9 under the tutelage of his
Grandfather, Lawrence Denton who is a renowned virtuoso clarinetist and conductor. At 14 he formed a vocal group and produced his first vinyl as Roland Young and the Velveteers. The following year he formed an improvising jazz woodwind trio with Roland on bass clarinet and two high school classmates, one on alto saxophone and one on baritone saxophone. He performed with both his vocal and woodwind groups at local Kansas City venues.
After high school Roland joined the U.S. Navy. With his clarinet faithfully by his side he would play on the ships at night as he sailed through out the Pacific on various military assignments.
Upon his discharge from the Navy he settled in San Francisco, California. It was the 1960s and creativity and exploration permeated all aspects of his life as well as the lives of the members of the creative community around him. It was during this period that Roland began playing saxophone and exploring sounds from the infinite source. Africa, Asia, Europe, and Native America became the source material, space and silence became the structure, and composing, improvising and the continued development of instrumental facility became the tasks.
During this period Roland also became a top rated disc jockey on the premier San Francisco underground FM radio station, KSAN. He was one of the originators of the mix of musical genres segued in seamless flows and undulations of sounds. Demonstrating the oneness of music and the fallacy of strict musical categories.
He was fired from KSAN for his radical political commentaries on the hot social issues of the day. After a stint at radio station KMPX, also in San Francisco, Roland then joined the first free speech listener-sponsored radio station in the U.S., Pacifica's KPFA in Berkeley. It was during this period that he perfected his concept of eclectic cross-genre universal acoustic and electronic music mixes. He, simultaneously, incorporated this concept into his own music compositions. This concept has become the integral aspect and defining characteristic of his music to date.
Roland formed the acoustic/electronic ensemble Infinite Sound with Glenn Howell and Aisha Kahlil. They recorded a ground breaking synthesizes of Jazz, Chamber, and Electronic music in 1974 for 1750 Arch Records entitled INFINITE SOUND.
While performing with Infinite Sound and participating in experimental projects with various musicians Roland developed a unique ground breaking jazz based world inspired acoustic/electronic solo concept which helped create the genre now known as Ambient Electronica. This concept was first documented on ISOPHONIC BOOGIE WOOGIE, a solo album he composed, performed, and produced for Flow Chart Records in 1980, and the year he left California and moved to New York.
In New York Roland initially worked on the avant-garde jazz and cultural scene performing with many renowned composers, performers and dancers. The 1980s in New York had some of the vibrancy of the 1960s in California but with a different twist. Music and people from various cultures and artistic concepts began to collaborate. These juxtapositions led to some very creative performance possibilities that encouraged Roland to express his then current concept more completely.
It was during this period that Roland joined the Ska New Wave band the Offs, with whom he toured the U.S., record and produced a classic album for 415 Records entitled FIRST RECORD. After leaving the Offs he continued to perform as a solo artist releasing two more self composed, performed, and produced albums on Flow Chart Records: I-LAND with his wife Risa on vocals, and HEARSAY EVIDENCE (two excursions into New Wave vocal territory). He then returned to his instrumental based solo concept while expanding the inspirations from the Infinite Isophonic Source.
Roland is blessed with YAH!
During the 1990s, Roland sought the solace of his Isophonic Studio in Brooklyn, New York with the love and support of his wife Risa and his daughter Lena. He worked on new concepts, rehearsed, composed, and recorded hundreds of tracks. Fortunately the climate for music performed by soloists began to change for the better in the late 1990s and 2000s. Larger segments of the public now embrace many of the concepts that Roland initiated and has been developing for these past years.
Consequently, he emerged with an Ambient Electronica based CD, REGENERATION. A solo project he composed, performed and produced in 2002 for Flow Chart Records. And in 2005 he released TWELVE ELEMENTS. Expanding his Isophonic/comprovisational concept further.
Fortunately in 2005, EM Records in Japan, (emrecords), re-released the historic ground breaking ISOPHONIC BOOGIE WOOGIE with all of the original 1980 tracks plus the inclusion of two bonus tracks recorded in 2004 and 2005. This is one of his most definitive releases to date.
A few years ago Roland traveled to New Mexico and met Sky Redhawk who introduced him to the Native American Flute (NAF).
Upon returning from this inspiring trip Roland devoted day and night to the history, theory and practice of this infinitely complex and simple instrument. And began to incorporate it into his Isophonic sound conception and the results was his CD on Flow Chart Records, ISOPHONIC NATION, featuring music for NAF.
ISTET SERENADE, a year in the making, is Roland's forthcoming CD and 12" to be released on EM Records in December 2009. It extends the ISOPHONIC BOOGIE WOOGIE concept while incorporating the expansion of Isophonics. A very definitive body of work.
Stay turned for the continuation of a long series of creations from the ISOPHONIC SOUND of ROLAND P. YOUNG. Please listen, enjoy, and respond!
ALL MUSIC IS AVAILABLE AT:
cdbaby
emrecords
itunes
bestbuy
rpy@rolandpyoung
rolandpyoung
And many other fine download hotspots