Young was lead trumpeter of the
Jimmie Lunceford band from 1939 to 1942. He played with
Count Basie (three stints totalling eight years),
Gerald Wilson and
Lionel Hampton, among others, and was an original member of the
Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band. His longest engagement was with
NBC, where, as a studio trumpeter, he joined
The Tonight Show Band in 1967 and remained with them until 1992, when the band was replaced by a new, smaller group. He was part of the touring ensemble, the "Now Generation Brass", that traveled with
Doc Severinsen, which included other jazz greats such as reed man
Lew Tabackin, drummer
Ed Shaughnessy, and saxophonist and arranger
Tommy Newsom, as well as singer
Robert Ozn. Young went on to performing live concert dates, corporate events, and headlining shows in the main rooms of Las Vegas. The one-nighters usually occurred on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays, as Severinsen was committed to
The Tonight Show on weeknights. For the Las Vegas gigs, the nucleus of Severinsen's touring band (Young, conductor Steve Thoma, and drummer Paul Line) would commute to Vegas nightly, leaving
Van Nuys Airport around 6pm via Lear jet, arriving in Las Vegas by 7pm. A limousine would transport the musicians directly backstage, where they would dress and prepare for an 8pm and midnight show. Then it was back to the airport for the ride back to Los Angeles, where Severinsen and Young had their NBC gig, and Steve Thomas and Paul Line were undertaking studio sessions daily. Young performed nightly with Severinsen, and he was featured prominently for several solos, as well as a trumpet version of "Dueling Banjos". He continued to perform in
Los Angeles, appearing on the 1976
Coconut Grove recording
Bobby Bland and B.B. King Together Again...Live and again on King's 2008 album
One Kind Favor. He was one of the horn players that accompanied the rock group
the Band on their 1972 live album
Rock of Ages. Young recorded only three albums under his own name. The 1971 album,
Boys from Dayton, featured
Norris Turney on alto sax,
Booty Wood on trombone,
Richard Tee on piano and organ, and
Cornell Dupree on guitar. for 2009 on October 17, 2008, at the
Lincoln Center in
New York City. Throughout the years, Young recorded and performed with Gerald Wilson (a friend since their Lunceford days) and his Orchestra. Until 2010, he was still playing and recording with the
Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. He died of a respiratory ailment in
Newport Beach at the age of 92.
Harry "Sweets" Edison considered
Ed Lewis and Snooky Young "the two greatest first trumpet players" he ever played with. ==Discography==