Episode 69: Ulysses Owens Jr.

Speaking of the Arts

Hello everyone and welcome to Speaking of the Arts. I am Mike Epstein, your host. Today’s episode is a real treat. We are featuring the drummer, educator, entrepreneur, author, non-profit organizer, band leader, producer, etc. etc., the list really goes on and on, Ulysses Owen’s Jr. I’ve always been a fan of Ulysses’s drumming but until I did my research for this interview I had no idea how multifaceted he is. In fact, it was a challenge just to summarize his extensive biography for this introduction. A few quick highlights - Ulysses has been named a Rising Star by DownBeat’s Critics Poll for five years straight. He is a recipient of the 2013 ASCAP Plus Award, a Gold Medal winner of the 2014 Global Music Awards, a 2015 Jazz at Lincoln Center Swing! Awards Honoree, and 2019 “3rd Runner-Up,” in Classic Jazz Category in the Modern Drummer Magazine Readers Poll. Among many of Owens’s accomplishments are his performances on the 2010 GRAMMY award-winning Kurt Elling live album, Dedicated to You, and the 2012 GRAMMY award-winning Christian McBride Big Band album, The Good Feeling. His work with Joey Alexander, the Christian McBride Trio, and Gregory Porter have also received recognition by the Recording Academy, garnering GRAMMY nominations for the albums; My Favorite Things, Countdown, Out Here , Live at the Village Vanguard, Nat King Cole and Me. This is really just the tip of the iceberg with Ulysses and our conversation turned out to be part 1 of 2 because there was so much to cover. In today’s episode, we talk about his approach to jazz education, his new podcast series From the Drummers Perspective, his thoughts on entrepreneurship, and his new book The Musicians Career Guide. Ulysses is the real deal folks and be sure to tune in again soon as we will be posting pt 2 of our conversation in the next week or so. Thanks for listening and now please enjoy my conversation with Ulysses Owens Jr.