Marl Young (January 29, 1917 – 29 April 2009) was an American musician and
arranger who helped with the merger of the all-black and all-white musicians unions in Los Angeles in the early 1950s. He later became the first black music director of a major network television series, ''
Here's Lucy'', starring
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
.
Biography
Young was born in
Bluefield, Virginia, spending the first seven years of his life there before moving to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, Illinois, with his family. He had begun paying piano by the age of six.
1n 1947 he went to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California, where he became involved with the black musicians union and in the early 1950s was instrumental in the merging of the all-black and all-white musicians unions in Los Angeles. Steven Isoardi describes him as "one of the key figures in moving from segregated unions into an integrated
American Federation of Musicians".
After first connecting with
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golde ...
and
Desilu Productions
Desilu Productions () was an American television production company founded and co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. The company is best known for shows such as ''I Love Lucy'', ''The Lucy Show'', ''Mannix'', ''The Untouchabl ...
in 1958, Young went on to become the first black musical director of a major network television series, ''
Here's Lucy'', and his working relationship with Ball would span 16 years.
Young, who had prostate cancer, died in Los Angeles at the age of 92.
See also
*
West Coast jazz
West Coast jazz refers to styles of jazz that developed in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a subgenre of cool jazz, which consisted of a calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music relied rela ...
Further reading
* Steven Isoardi, ''Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Angeles'',
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...
, 1998.
References
External links
Interview of Marl Young Center for Oral History Research, UCLA Library Special Collections,
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
1917 births
2009 deaths
20th-century African-American musicians
20th-century American musicians
21st-century African-American people
People from Bluefield, Virginia
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