David Young Dies at 71; Painter and Friend to Jazz Artists

David X. Young, a painter whose rodent-infested, illegally rented loft became a citadel of jazz improvisation and experimentation in the 1950's and 60's, died on May 22 in Manhattan. He was 71.

The cause was a heart attack, said his daughter, Eliza Alys Young.

The loft, in an industrial building at 821 Avenue of the Americas, near 28th Street, became a gathering place for the greats of jazz, including Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie, as well as for utter unknowns who simply yearned to play.

Known simply as “the Sixth Avenue loft," it was one of maybe a half- dozen places where musicians gathered at a time when various strains of jazz