Rod Young is the artist of the much anticipated Jazz CD "Atlanta Chilled" to be released Spring 2010.
Rod Young's musical gift is unique. His life experiences have had a profound impact on his approach to music. He has developed a style of play that is emotional, stylish, and creative. His melodies are simple, concise and place more emphasis on the passion of sound than on the technical placement of notes. His melodies are offset by his extremely complex harmonies and rhythms that give his songs a distinct balance that sets him apart from any other artist today.
Know Rod Young
At 10 years old and after only his third lesson, Rod Young's piano teacher told him that he was wasting her time and his mother's money because he was "unteachable". While he had a great ear for sounds and could play any song he heard on the radio, his mother was told that his short attention span and his lack of respect of authority made him "untrainable". Thus began Rod Young's love-hate relationship with his musical gift.
A few years later after completely walking away from the piano and picking up a Saxophone, Rod found an instrument expressive enough to scratch the surface of his young but explosive talent. Not going un-noticed, he started playing in a Funk band while honing his technical skills in his school band. By day Rod Young was a student of music, learning his craft, using his school lunch breaks to listen to musicians and styles his classmates thought were strange. By night he was transformed into a young musician with an old spirit playing riffs and scales sometimes influences by something he heard just hours earlier. By his last year in high school, Rod Young was spreading himself thin by playing saxophone in 2 R&B bands, a high school Jazz band and was touring with a famous Interdenominational Gospel choir in addition to his difficult college prep classes. Feeling overwhelmed by the demands of his grueling schedule, the growing anxiety of life after high school ,and the prospects getting into College, he sensed an urgent need to gain control of his life. Rod Young walked away from the music again. This time walking away from a College music scholarship. Remembering his disappointment as a 10 year old, he vowed never to play again.
Having developed an interest in computers, Rod Young entered Louisiana Tech University as a Computer Science major. Music was a distant memory after 3 years of challenging college courses and a fulfilling college social life. That all changed in one night.
After 3 years of avoiding the Howard Center of Performing Arts Building on campus because it was the Mecca of all things music on the Tech campus, Rod overheard a piano playing in one of the numerous practice rooms adjacent to the street that lead to his dormitory. The buildings were locked late in the evening so it was very odd to see lights and hear music. Intrigued, Rod entered the building through a side door that was unlocked. Rod walked past the beautiful main auditorium with a single black grand piano center stage, and entered a concert band rehearsal room filled with every instrument known to man. He found the piano practice rooms lined up side by side. He walked to the source of the sound, slowly opening the practice room door. Rod discovered a startled Janitor looking back at him. Because they both were not where they were supposed to be, an agreement was made to "keep quiet to keep playing". Night after night until graduation, Rod would go the Howard Center of Performing Arts building, enter the same side door, and play all of the instruments in the rehearsal room. Rod learned to play 16 instruments this way. When the janitor was working, Rod would go to a practice room and the janitor, who couldn't read music, taught him to play piano.
Rod Young's musical gift is unique. His life experiences have had a profound impact on his approach to music. He has developed a style of play that is emotional, stylish, and creative. His melodies are simple, concise and place more emphasis on the passion of sound than on the technical placement of notes. His melodies are offset by his extremely complex harmonies and rhythms that give his songs a distinct balance that sets him apart from any other artist today.