Bing, Harry, Nat and Horace

In one sense, the guest artists at the Spokane Jazz Orchestra’s annual holiday concert on Saturday at The Met will be named Bing, Harry and Nat.

They won’t be present, of course, but they’re the ones with famous interpretations of many of the songs on the program, including “White Christmas,” “The Christmas Song,” “Frosty the Snowman,” “Silver Bells” and “The Christmas Waltz.”

That’s why the program is titled “The Holiday Music of Bing Crosby, Harry Connick Jr. and Nat King Cole.”

However, the true guest artist, Horace Alexander Young, has a musical background every bit as impressive.

Young, a professor of music at Washington State University, has played with blues legends (B.B. King and Lightnin’ Hopkins), jazz heroes (McCoy Tyner and Lionel Hampton), soul stars (Bill Withers and the Manhattans) and world music artists (Youssou N’Dour and Abdullah Ibrahim, aka Dollar Brand).

In fact, Young is a member of Ibrahim’s touring septet and is Ibrahim’s musical director and principal arranger. He recently conducted the National Symphony of South Africa in a televised concert honoring Ibrahim, one of South Africa’s most popular musical exports.

Young is a multi-threat recording artist who plays sax, flute and keyboards, as well as being a composer and a singer. He is a member of the Dozier-Jarvis-Young Quartet, based in Pullman-Moscow, and also has his own solo recording career.

In Saturday night’s concert, his considerable vocal talents will be on display. He’ll be singing renditions of holiday songs backed by big-band arrangements under the direction of Dan Keberle, the SJO’s musical director.

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