Horace Alexander Young

In May 2008 Young released his first solo album, entitled Acoustic Contemporary Jazz, which met with positive reviews. Released on the Pacific Coast Jazz label, this album features 12 tracks, including a remake of Luther Vandross's original "Dance With My Father". The album features collaborations with Andre Hayward, Brent Carter, Dwight Sills, Johnny Kemp and Onaje Allan Gumbs.

Young has also done private tutoring in music in various U.S. cities and Canada including Houston (Texas), Pullman (Washington), Santa Rosa, Novato and Oakland (California), Nanaimo (British Columbia) and Englewood (New Jersey). In 1997 he developed his own record label (Design Records), which he operated until 2008, after which his recordings were released on the Pacific Coast Jazz label. Young has performed for various events throughout the world, including at major jazz festivals in Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Leverkusen (Germany), London, Glasgow, New York, Detroit, Chicago, Houston and Seattle.

In 1993 Young conducted South Africa's National Symphony during a concert held in honour of South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim. This fete was a first in the region for a Black American, becoming the first to conduct such an orchestra. Young appeared in the 2005 documentary Abdullah Ibrahim: A Struggle for Love, directed by Ciro Cappellari.

Young was previously married to Phyllis Karon Gooden, with whom he had two children, Victoria-Pearl Young and Alexander Charles Young. He was married from 1985 to 1990 to singer/recording artist Regina Belle, with whom he had a daughter, Tiy (born in 1989).

Young earned his BM in Music from Texas Southern University (Houston, Texas) in 1978 and later pursued a MA in Music at Washington State University (Pullman, Washington), which he completed in 1983. Prior to his attendance at Washington State, he studied for two years at The Shepherd School of Music/Rice University (Houston, Texas), with a focus in Flute Performance and Composition.

Horace Alexander Young (born November 4, 1954) is an American saxophonist and flute player. He currently teaches woodwind instruments and jazz studies at Washington State University since 1998; he currently serves as the chair of the Contemporary Music Program at Santa Fe University of Art and Design (SFUAD). He has performed alongside acts such as B.B. King, Bill Withers, Freddy Fender, Jonathan Butler, The Manhattans, McCoy Tyner, Nancy Wilson, Norman Brown, Regina Belle, Sam Hopkins and Toots Thielemans.