Young, Al (Albert
James), 1939-2021, Univ. of Calif., Berkeley (BA, 1969), African-American
poet, b. Ocean Springs, Ms. The son of sharecroppers, Young's family moved
to Detroit, Mi., when he was in grade school. He was exposed to jazz and
blues music from an early age thanks to his father’s extensive record
collection. He edited his high school newspaper, and then attended college
at the Univ. of Mich. for three years, co-editing its literary magazine,
before moving to San Francisco, Ca. He tried different occupations,
including performing briefly as a folksinger and working as a DJ, before
taking up poetry, publishing his first collection, Dancing,
in 1959. He closely associated poetry and music, as shown in collections
like The Blues Don’t Change (1982), and sometimes
shared the stage with jazz musicians. He was noted for his dramatic
recitations of his own poems, which he viewed as an important part of
communicating with his audience. Young served as poet laureate for
California from 2005-08. In 2007, he toured the state from “top to
bottom,” as he said, in his role of poet laureate, giving 40 readings
in 11 days. Besides writing poetry and novels, Young taught writing and
literature at numerous colleges, including at Stanford Univ. (1969-76).
See his collected poems (2002); and memoirs Bodies and Soul (1981),
Kinds of Blue (1984), Things Ain’t What
They Used to Be (1986), Mingus/Mingus: Two
Memoirs (1989; with Janet Coleman), Drowning in the Sea
of Love: Musical Memoirs (1995).
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