Born and raised in Ottawa, Alison Young is a JUNO-nominated and Maple Blues award winning saxophonist and composer. Young discovered jazz at an early age, gravitating towards the exuberance of Sonny Rollins and Cannonball Adderley, who continue to influence her to this day. As well as being featured in the National Youth Jazz Ensemble at the Ottawa Jazz Festival in 2001 and 2002, she began playing professionally as a teenager, developing an affinity for blues and R&B as well as jazz. Since moving to Toronto in the early 2000s, to study music at the University of Toronto, Alison has been an active presence on the Toronto music scene, and has toured internationally as a sideperson with various artists.