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Jazz Articles about Ulysses Owens, Jr.

About Ulysses Owens, Jr.

Radio & Podcasts

Lee Morgan & Ulysses Owens Jr.

by Joe Dimino
September 19, 2021

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 ...

Interview

Ulysses Owens: Big Band, Big Sound

by R.J. DeLuke
June 29, 2021

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 ...

Book Excerpts

The Musician's Career Guide: Turning Your Talent into Sustained Success

by Ulysses Owens Jr
June 29, 2021

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 ...

Album Review

Tim Mayer: Keeper of the Flame

Read "Keeper of the Flame" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 12, 2021

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 ...

Album Review

Ulysses Owens Jr. Big Band: Soul Conversations

Read "Soul Conversations" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 9, 2021

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 ...

Album Review

Steven Feifke Big Band: Kinetic

by Jack Bowers
April 10, 2021

Jazz connoisseurs who lean toward big bands that swing as earnestly and often as the renowned architects of the epic big-band era should find plenty to cheer about on Kinetic, the debut recording by New York-based pianist, composer and arranger Steven Feifke's audacious and fiery ensemble. This is a band that fires on all cylinders—but it couldn't even leave the garage unless Feifke supplied the fuel. With one exception (noted below), Feifke's intense and high-powered charts neatly pave the way, ...

Album Review

Steven Feifke Big Band: Kinetic

Read "Kinetic" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
April 8, 2021

Assimilare la tradizione per poi creare cose originali. È questo il percorso che hanno seguito e continuano a seguire i musicisti jazz, in forme e approfondimenti diversi. A 30 anni esatti il pianista Steven Feifke è ancora al primo passo ma in questo scintillante debutto orchestrale dimostra di avere tutte le carte in regola per sviluppare percorsi originali. Kinetic è infatti un esempio del miglior modern mainstream orchestrale, elaborato sulle lezioni di Thad Jones e Mel Lewis, ...