ULYSSES OWENS JR’s GENERATION Y, com/feat. Francesco Cafiso

Modelled on bands like Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, “Generation Y” celebrates the importance of mentorship within jazz and the arts at large. Drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. teams up with a quintet featuring the next generation of emerging jazz talent. Ulysses has been on faculty at Juilliard in the role of Small Ensemble Director for over seven years and this ignited his desire to play with a younger collective of outstanding musicians. Their energy is high, their creative outlook is fresh, and the result is a high calibre, seriously swinging band with Ulysses at the helm. For this tour Francesco Cafiso, the internationally renowned Italian saxophonist, joins the band.

Three time Grammy Award-winning americandrummer producer and educator Ulysses Owens Jr., born 1982 has eight successful albums of his own and has also gained special attention for his performances on Grammy Award-winning albums by Kurt Elling and The Christian McBride Big Band .

In addition to five GRAMMY Award Nominated albums with Joey Alexander, Christian McBride Trio, John Beasley’s Monk’estra, and Gregory Porter,both Jazziz and Rolling Stone Magazines picked his album “Songs of Freedom,” as a Top Ten Album for 2019; his most recent Big Band release, “Soul Conversations,” received rave reviews and was added to multiple playlists.

The Ulysses Owens Jr. Big Band has also been voted “Rising Star Big Band” of 2022 by Downbeat Magazine. His eighth album release “A New Beat” (2024) features his new “Generation Y” band andJazziz Magazine voted it as one of “10 Albums You Need to Know in 2024”.  As an author Ulysses has published three books and is also a regular contributing writer for several publications.

Ulysses received his Bachelor Fine Arts from The Juilliard School in 2006 and was the 1^stAfrican American Jazz Drummer to be admitted to their Inaugural Jazz Program in 2001. He is currently slated to pursue his Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance and Arts Administration at Florida State University in the Fall of 2024.He is artistic director of his family’s non-profit organization, Don’t Miss a Beat.

Francesco Cafiso (born in Sicily on 24 May 1989) was barely nine years old when he took his first steps on the stage, working with musicians of international acclaim.  Since then, Francesco has gone on to perform with a dizzying array of the biggest names in jazz, including Wynton Marsalis, Hank Jones, Dave Brubeck, Cedar Walton, Mulgrew Miller, Jimmy Cobb, Ben Riley, Ray Drummond, Lewis Nash, James Williams, Joe Lovano, Christian McBride, George Mraz, Kenny Wheeler, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Enrico Rava, and Stefano Bollani, to name but a few.

 

From: https://www.usojazzy.com/about