Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y: A New Beat

The rhythms presented on award-winning drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr.'s latest album are not exactly A New Beat, as they have been heard in various configurations for at least eighty years or more, but they do provide a plausible indication of the path that Art Blakey's legendary Jazz Messengers would presumably have followed had Blakey lived into the twenty-first century.

Owens, who teaches at the Juilliard School in New York City, has a knack for spotting and encouraging sharp young musicians, a skill he has put to good use in assembling Generation Y, an admirable quintet whose front-line and rhythm section house budding talents whose names may one day be far more widely known and appreciated. For the record, those names include alto saxophonists Sarah Hanahan and Erena Terakubo ("Chicken an' Dumplings" only), trumpeters Benny Benack III and Anthony Hervey, pianists Luther Allison and Tyler Bullock, bassists Philip Norris and Ryoma Takenaga ("Chicken an' Dumplings"). Vocalist Milton Suggs is added on Louis Armstrong's idealistic "Heart Full of Rhythm."

Doubling as composers, Hervey wrote the funky "Better Days," Benack the picturesque "London Towne," Allison the tender ballad "Until I See You Again." Opening with Cannonball Adderley's spirited "Sticks," the menu also includes Roy Hargrove's aptly named "Soulful," Jackie McLean's frenetic "Bird Lives" and George Cables' charming "Helen's Song." The funky and evocative "Chicken an' Dumplings" is listed as a bonus track, increasing the playing time to just over an hour. Although the album was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey, an audience that expresses its appreciation at the close of each number is present for most of them.

Owens solos only on "Bird Lives," leaving those duties largely to his proteges, who are for the most part respectable—even though "Bird Lives" presents quite the challenge for Hanahan and Benack. Terakubo, Hervey and Bullock are splendid on "Chicken an' Dumplings," one of the session's highlights. In sum, a generally pleasing debut by a group of talented young musicians whose star is clearly on the rise.