(Contemporary Jazz, Post-Bop) Ulysses Owens Jr. (with Nicholas Payton, Christian McBride, Christian Sands, Jaleel Shaw, Michael Dease) - Unanimous - 2012, WEB, FLAC (tracks), lossless

Still on the shy side of 30, Ulysses Owens Jr. has garnered an international reputation as drummer of choice for Christian McBride, Nicholas Payton, and Kurt Elling, three very different personalities who are very particular in what they want to hear from the kit.
On his Criss Cross leader debut, Owens Jr. convenes Christian McBride and Nicholas Payton, as well as pianist Christian Sands (even more visible for his work in McBride's trio), rising star alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw (Roy Haynes' main sax voice for the last five years), and trombonist Mike Dease.
The leader finds fresh approaches to various flavors of the swing timeline --- Art Blakey and the refractions of Buhaina established by Mulgrew Miller and Bobby Watson (each a one-time employer); Tony Williams' two phases with the Miles Davis Quintet; Ed Thigpen's crispness with the Oscar Peterson Trio --- within a 21st century context.
It's a must-hear. ~ Criss Cross Jazz

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Here we have the swinging debut album by 29yr old drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. Owens has flown under the radar for me until I heard his deep groove with bassist & band leader Christian McBride on his fantastic big band albumThe Good Feeling. Already making a name as a sideman for Nicholas Payton, Kurt Elling & Christian McBride playing with McBride's recently formed trio & big band. Owens a native of Jacksonville Florida got his start playing drums in the Pentecostal church getting into jazz thru Buddy Rich & Philly Jo Jones. Owens now resides in NYC where he studied at Juilliard while cutting his teeth on the NYC jazz scene.
That brings us to Owens debut Unanimous. In a word this album is "swinging"! Owens concept for this record was to hire a group who where tops on their instruments, and give them music that wasn't to difficult so it would be easy to hear their artistry. Owens assembled a cohort of modern masters on trumpet Nicholas Payton one of my favorite modern jazz trumpeters who's quartet Owens plays in. Jaleel Shaw on alto sax is a rising jazz star with two great solo albums to his credit with a third soon to come. Michael Dease a trombonist that was a classmate of Owens at Juilliard is a new name for me but he certainly holds his own here contributing arrangements & a tune. On bass a man that has been at the top of the heap since he hit the jazz scene with Wynton Marsalis at age 19, Mr. Christian McBride another of Owens employers has a deep simpatico with Owens & 22yr old pianist Christian Sands. Christian Sands really stands out on this recording, this being the first time I'v ever heard him.
This brings me to the music. The album opens with Michael Dease's "Good & Terrible", a grooving, soulful, multi-sectional sextet track that has the feel of the classic Jazz Messengers lineup with Curtis Fuller, Freddie Hubbard & Wayne Shorter except we have Shaw playing alto sax instead of tenor. It posses a feel good melody with swaggering solos by trombone, alto, piano, bass & trumpet, they restate the theme & conclude with a hip vamp that finds Owens soloing over the band as they vamp an ostinato.
Owens plays a brief intro to Dease's arrangement of Dizzy Dillespie's "Con Alma" which commences with a short reharmonized prelude before the horns state the melody. Mike Dease blows a long creative trombone solo that concludes with some nice written ensemble parts that lay the foundation for Payton to blow over & blow he does! building gradually with theme & variation & a bold beautiful trumpet sound the likes of Clifford Brown or Freddie Hubbard. Christian Sands takes a well paced solo that brings the band to the melody & out.
I was excited to see that Owens chose to play one of my personal favorite Wayne Shorter tunes, E.S.P., written during Shorters stay in Miles Davis second great 60s quintet. For some odd reason this tune hasn't been recorded near as much as any of Shorter's other compositions like Footprints for example. The band sticks really close to the way Miles & co played it on the album E.S.P. Payton delivers the melody solo pushing & pulling the melody all over the place. Owens & McBride show their connection as they lock into the quick tempo & swing it into submission.
Track 4 is a very hip choice of material Prototype composed by Andre Benjamin (aka Andre 3000) of the awesome hip hop duo known as Outkast. This is the sets sole ballad. Payton delivers the beautiful bluesy melody with perfect tone, timing & phrasing. I think this tune is one of the standout tunes in the bunch. The melody begins over a hushed dynamic from the band that they build in intensity while Christian Sands plays to almost a fever pitch but then it fades down for one of McBride's most soulful solo statements on the album which then fades with some beautiful piano work by Sands.
Track 5 is the bluesy Lee Morgan penned tune "Party Time" which Lee recorded for Blue Note on The Procrastinator. What kind of jazz album would it be without a swinging mid tempo blues romp? That's exactly what you get here Owens is swinging like Billy Higgins with McBride showing us just why he's where he is in the music world breathing the air of the elite, his swinging support is awesome.
Track 6 "Beardom X" "is what it would sound like if Malcolm X & artist Roman Bearden had a conversation" says Owens in the linear notes of the cd. This is a grooving mid tempo piece with a catchy bassline that has that A Love Supreme chant quality that features killer solos by Jaleel Shaw & Christian Sands.
The last three tunes on Unanimous feature the Christian McBride trio that spot lights Christian Sands who kills the Mack Gordon classic "You Make Me Feel So Young". Then another high moment for me musically comes on the trios treatment of the bop staple "Cherokee" which features a burning Ray Brown arrangement that jumps from the burning four four in the A-section to a slower 3/4 for the bridge. Everyone, bass, drums & piano shine but it's Christian McBride who just kills it with his smoking basslines & fantastic bowed bass solo with that saw like Paul Chambers arco tone. They conclude the album with a tune from McBride's pen "Cute and Sixy" a bluesy swinger in six written for this date that takes us out on a killer swinging groove.
There you have it Unanimous by Ulysses Owens Jr. In my opinion a fine debut by a swinging drummer that's not afraid to swing interacting with some of jazz musics finest players. I hope you've enjoyed this review & found it informative and not to long winded. If you like your jazz swinging & inventive with a nice varied program of material then have no fear & buy this cd now & support our American art form. ~ Jonathan Guarriello