ULYSSES OWENS JR. & GENERATION Y
Drummer. Educator. Author. Creative Entrepreneur. A drummer who The New York Times has said “take a back seat to no one,” and “a musician who balances excitement gracefully and shines with innovation. Performer, producer, and educator Ulysses Owens Jr. goes the limit in the jazz world and beyond.
Generation Y is a quintet comprised of the most dynamic young jazz musicians on the scene. This group is dedicated to moving the music forward, with a love of the jazz tradition.
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NESTOR TORRES
n evening with world-class jazz flautist and Latin Grammy winner Nestor Torres and his ensemble, performing Latin jazz, pop and other genres. Nestor Torres is a Puerto Rican flautist. He studied at Berklee College of Music, Mannes School of Music in NYC and later at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. His career includes collaborations with Herbie Hancock, Tito Puente and Gloria Estefan, to mention a few. He has released 18 CDs and has earned 4 Latin Grammy nominations, 1 Latin Grammy Award, and a Grammy nomination. His playing incorporates Latin jazz, pop, straight-ahead jazz and classical styles. One of his most notable albums, Dances, Prayers & Meditations for Peace, is based on his improvised performances in various houses of worship near Ground Zero in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was commissioned to compose the album’s title track, which he performed for the Dalai Lama during the spiritual leader’s visit to Miami.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Norman Dewey Keenan was born on November 23, 1916 in Union, South Carolina. He began playing piano before learning bass at age 15.
In the mid~1930s he worked with Tiny Bradshaw, Lucky Millinder, Henry Wells, Earl Bostic, and Cootie Williams into the Forties, and jammed at Minton’s Playhouse around the same time.
Following World War II he worked with Williams again and with Eddie Cleanhead Vinson in 1947-49. Then he became the bassist in the house trio at the Village Vanguard until 1957. After backing and recording three albums with Harry Belafonte from 1957 to 1962, Keenan worked on the TV show Hootenanny.
He began playing jazz again in the 1960s, recording with Miriam Makeba, Chad Mitchell, Count Basie from 1965-74, recording twenty-one albums with the orchestra, and Roy Eldridge in 1966. Double bassist Norman Keenan transitioned on February 12, 1980 in New York City.
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Three Wishes
Baroness Pannonica asked Jimmy Heath if he was given three wishes what would they be. He replied:
- “I wish it would be possible that the statement they make, that “you have paid your debt to society,’ would be true. I mean, when you’ve been to prison, when you come home, it’s suppose to be cool. But you still have a record, it still follows you. It’s always there.”
- “If the world is made over, I would like everyone to be made the same color. Then everyone would be judged by their merits, individually.”
- “I wish I could transfer this wish to my wife.”
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Paul D. “Polo” Barnes was born November 22, 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended St. Paul Lutheran College and began playing alto saxophone in 1919. He and Lawrence Marrero formed the Original Diamond Band, which would become known as the Young Tuxedo Band.
He was with Kid Rena in 1922, the Maple Leaf Orchestra in 1923, and Papa Celestin’s Original Tuxedo Band later that year. Celestin’s group recorded his tune My Josephine, which became quite popular. Polo played with Chick Webb in 1927, toured with Jelly Roll Morton in 1928-29 and with King Oliver three times in 1927, 1931, and 1934–35.
In 1932 and 1933 Barnes led his own band. He would go on to play with Chester Zardis and Kid Howard through the Thirties. He played in Algiers, Louisiana in a Navy band from 1942 to 1945, then returned to work with Celestin from 1946 to 1951.
Moving to California he left music from 1952 to 1957. Returning to New Orleans in 1959 he played with Paul Barbarin. In 1962 to 1965 Polo joined the Young Men From New Orleans band that played on a riverboat at Disneyland. He came back home again in 1964 and played at Preservation Hall and Dixieland Hall. He toured Europe in 1973 and 1974, but poor health ended his career in 1977.
Clarinetist and saxophonist Polo Barnes, who was the brother of clarinetist Emile Barnes and was a mainstay of the New Orleans jazz scene during the jazz age, transitioned on April 3, 1981.
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