Jeff Younger seemed like a normal little kid. Something happened along the way...

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and adopted into a wonderfully loving family at the tender age of 14 months, Jeff grew up in the conservatively beating heart of prairie suburbia. When it became evident that shoveling snow and cutting the grass was not a high priority on the youngster's agenda, eyebrows began to raise. His genetic coding remains a mystery, but it was evident from the beginning that he was "a little bit different" than the other kids, with velcro straps on their shoes and frostbite on their earlobes.

A handful of important events would profoundly influence the development of the young artist. At some point during elementary school, he attended a school Christmas Concert during which a choir performed holiday favorites for the festively assembled masses. The melodies and the sound of the voices made him feel funny on the inside, and for the first time he realized that music spoke to him in a profound way. He was an integral member of the recorder club until around grade 5, when he realized that the only thing less cool than being in the recorder club was ratting out the other kids in the recorder club who didn't practice their parts.

He quickly abandoned the world of plastic noisemakers into which you blow, and expressed an interest in playing the drums. His parents immediately quashed this noisy notion, but at the age of 11 his mother dragged him to his first guitar lesson. His sister protested that it would be just the latest in a long series of things he did for a week and then hid under his bed (the comprehensive list of these activities has been sealed by The Courts), but sometimes it's nice when big sisters get to eat their words.

Jeff immediately took to the guitar, practiced constantly, and quickly graduated from "Ode To Joy" on the 1st string into the sweaty world of ROCK'N'ROLL. Soon to follow was a growth spurt (for his hair), a tightening of his jeans, and an ascension into the fist-pumping world of HEAVY METAL. He transcribed all the hits, learned a bunch of cool licks, and vaulted himself into the realm of the INSTRUMENTAL ROCK GUITAR VIRTUOSO not long after. He spent weeks on end shedding Steve Vai and Joe Satriani solos and abusing his whammy bar. All the while, he was writing quirky music to amuse himself and feed the creative monsters that would guide the rest of his life.

During this period, a good friend of his mother's, to whom he will forever remain indebted, took him to see a NEW MUSIC concert. After picking his jaw, ears and brain up off the ground, the leather-jacketed teenager regularly attended any new music concert he could find. This music spoke strongly to the young fingertapper, and had a huge impact on his musical development. Then he saw Bill Frisell in concert and was never quite the same…

In August of 1999, Jeff moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and hit the ground running. In September of 2000, he entered the highly regarded Capilano College Jazz Studies Program, and completed his studies in December 2006, earning a Bachelor of Music Degree. Majoring in modern classical composition, with a strong secondary emphasis on jazz guitar, Younger presented an entirely individual, artistic statement in the form of a 2 ½ hour long graduation concert of all original music. Boldly smashing the constricting boxes inherent in musical academia, it was indeed "a little bit different" from anything the program had ever seen.

Since relocating to Vancouver, Jeff has been bandleader, composer, sideman, co-conspirator and hired gun in an enormous number of musical adventures and projects. He has preformed and studied with many people who's names would impress you and many more whom you've never heard of but are amazing musicians and artists. He has played in the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and the Vancouver International Dance Festival, performed in live theatre, radio and television, worked for an Elvis impersonator, was commissioned to compose a jazz tune for a recently published book, and has done a stint as a jazz guitar player on the floating consumer herding device known as a "cruise ship". Among much else, he currently leads his all original, modern jazz quartet The Unsupervised, his all original, entirely tasteless country band The Family Stump, the free improv duo Alternative Worlds, and performs entirely improvised solo guitar w/electronics shows fondly referred to as Jeff Younger's Devil Loops. He is quickly becoming one of the most interesting and individual artists on the West Coast and feels like he's just begun his musical adventures.

Stay tuned.