Andrew Young is blowing back
DUBBED the “Prince of the Saxophone” by the Beijing Daily, saxophonist Andrew Young is back in town and will play here this weekend and return for a one-night-only performance next month.
Durban is where it all started for the legendary saxophonist. Born in Liverpool, England, Young – who has performed around the world and worked with the likes of Dionne Warwick and Shirley Bassey – was lured to South Africa by an advert for a clarinet player.
“I had studied music in London and was working with a philharmonic orchestra in Germany, where it was freezing cold. I was looking through a magazine and saw a job advertised in Durban.
“I didn’t even know where it was, so I looked it up and saw it was in South Africa and on the coast. It looked fantastic so I packed up my clarinet and came over,” he said.
Working for what was then the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, Young soon teamed up with another German with the orchestra, percussionist and piano player Jens Pfretzschner, and the duo began moonlighting at local clubs.
“I played clarinet with the orchestra but played saxophone on the side. We decided to put together the best band Durban had ever seen and were probably the first band in Durban to play jazz/funk,” says Young, whose music was influenced by Earth, Wind & Fire and George Benson,
Soon playing to packed clubs, primarily Late Night Dukes and Harlequins, Young often arrived late to a club gig from an orchestra concert.
“We’d do the first set still wearing our tails,” he said.
But his highlight came when they were invited to play at uMlazi Stadium in the early ‘90s. “We had a huge coloured following in Durban, but were not sure how we would be welcomed in uMlazi. But the audience seemed to love our music and were screaming, so it was really, really good.”
His six years of non-stop playing in Durban prepared him well for the world stage and he returned to Europe, as well as his first trip to Turkey after a Turkish music promoter saw him perform with the Durban orchestra.
Travelling across the world from the US to the Far East, Young’s touring days continue. He enjoys massive popularity in China and has done 18 tours to that country. He will perform there again in October.
“In China, the smallest audience will be 2 000, the largest being 15 000,” he said.
He has played in Cuba, including for Fidel Castro, while his biggest audience was before a Liverpool football match when he played You’ll Never Walk Alone to a 54 000-strong audience.
“One of the highlights of my career, though, was my first number one album, Soul People, produced by Dennis East, also from Durban,” he said.
Often on the road, Young does not have a lot of time to practise but has always worked at ensuring his music evolves.
“I keep updating my sound. When it comes to longevity in this industry, talent still counts as you have to be able to produce time and time again.
“Being back here (Durban), African music is real, singers get up on the stage and sing. In Europe and America with advances in technology, music has become very ‘produced’ and too much technology takes away the music,” he says.
Andrew Young will play at the Garden Concert at Lindi’s Farne, Botha’s Hill, tomorrow, tickets R130 at the gate which opens at 11.30am. For details call 031 7651516 or 083 3627059
He will also perform with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2017 Starlight Pop Opera at Chris Saunders Park on August 6.