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Jazz Articles about Ulysses Owens, Jr.
Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra: The Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra
by Jack Bowers
The Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra, co-led by pianist/composer Steven Feifke and trumpeter par excellence Bijon Watson, is a seventeen-member ensemble comprising seasoned players paired with young lions who are poised to capture pride of place. Nowhere do the leaders say who is in which group, and it would be impolitic to name them here. Suffice to say that some of the names may be more familiar than others--as, for example, trombonist John Fedchock who cut his teeth with one of ...
Continue ReadingMONK'estra: MONK'estra Plays John Beasley
by Jack Bowers
The MONK'estra is actually a number of groups of various shapes and sizes, from duo to big band, assembled under the guiding hand of composer, arranger & pianist John Beasley to—wait for it!—"play John Beasley," an artist whose admiration for Thelonious Sphere Monk is clear throughout this buoyant and resourceful album, as it was on Volumes 1 and 2 of the series, in which the MONK'estra “played Monk." Beasley wrote eight of the album's fourteen genial numbers ...
Continue ReadingLee Morgan & Ulysses Owens Jr.
by Joe Dimino
From one of the most powerful drummers in jazz today who is has released a big band album, we start the 717th Episode of Neon Jazz with Ulysses Owens, Jr. and a tune off his latest CD Soul Conversations. As is the case with all Neon Jazz shows, we trace the history of influences for each artist. For Ulysses, he was swayed heavily by Miles Davis and we hear the song “Limbo" from the trumpet master. We also hear from ...
Continue ReadingUlysses Owens: Big Band, Big Sound
by R.J. DeLuke
Some jazz drummers, as remarkable as they may be and as successful as their careers are, just aren't suited to drive a big band. It's not for every percussionist. But every big band needs a good one or the effort will fall short. A ship needs a rudder. Ulysses Owens Jr., who started beating out rhythms at home at the age of two, is one of those. His superlative skills have contributed mightily to groups led by Kurt ...
Continue ReadingThe Musician's Career Guide: Turning Your Talent into Sustained Success
by Ulysses Owens Jr
The following is a revised excerpt from “Chapter 16: The Mental Side of Being a Musician of The Musician's Career Guide: Turning Your Talent into Sustained Success (Skyhorse Publishing, 2021). “You cannot have a positive life and a negative mind." --Joyce Meyer, Author, Speaker, and President of Joyce Meyer Ministries We've touched on so many very important areas related to the music business, but we've neglected one that is equally important: mental health. One of the ...
Continue ReadingTim Mayer: Keeper of the Flame
by Jack Bowers
On Keeper of the Flame, Tim Mayer, a Bostonian who now calls Mexico home, leads a sharp, swinging group of like-minded amigos on a (mostly) octet studio date enriched by Diego Rivera's colorful arrangements. Mayer plays tenor sax on half a dozen tracks, soprano sax on “Bye Bye Blackbird" and “Get Organized," alto flute on “Elusive." Mayer's tenor spans a bridge from early John Coltrane to George Coleman, Joe Henderson, Bob Mintzer and other post-bop patriarchs with a dash of ...
Continue ReadingUlysses Owens Jr. Big Band: Soul Conversations
by Jack Bowers
Drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.'s Big Band comes out swinging on its debut recording, Soul Conversations, thundering through Michael Dease's incendiary arrangement of the Dizzy Gillespie/John Lewis flame-thrower, “Two Bass Hit." For more such heat, however, the listener must move forward to Track 5, John Coltrane's impulsive “Giant Steps," thence to Track 9 for Charles Turner III's earnest homage to “Harlem Harlem Harlem," on which he doubles as vocalist. That's not to say that everything in between is ...
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