Ulysses Owens Jr. & Generation Y - A New Beat

2024

Grammy Award winning drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. Unleashes his Generation y band giving the listener a front row seat to this generation's top talent. - Generation y is a band concept that was conceived back in 2019 with the goal promoting the next generation of dynamic talent from the top conservatories in NYC and beyond.

Led by Ulysses Owens Jr. #who is a Multi Grammy Award-winning Drummer, Producer, Educator and Cultural Entrepreneur. Serving at The Juilliard School in the role of Small Ensemble Director within the Jazz Department for the last 8 years, has given Ulysses a front row seat to this Generation's top talent. The material on this album is a culmination of repertoire from Ulysses' influences and mentors like Mulgrew Miller, Roy Hargrove, George Cables, and of course the great Art Blakey. This Generation y is an updated model of the Jazz Messengers, and many of these band members also perform in Ulysses' big band, and he met many of them at The Juilliard School.

This album also features a few original compositions from Luther Allison who is an emerging talent performing with Samara Joy as her pianist, and the album also features a classic from Louis Armstrong titled Heart Full of Rhythm featuring Milton Suggs. This album is a culmination of repertoire that has been performed by this band around the world over the last 4 years and to add another level of nostalgia; it was recorded at the Legendary Rudy Van Gelder Studios in Englewood, NJ