Playing by ear is one of the necessary skills of a jazz musician, a skill that was put to the test when drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. and his band Generation Y were challenged to cover Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” after hearing the song once.
For Owens, a Juilliard jazz instructor, it was the second time he had been challenged to cover Nirvana on the spot. He was tasked with doing a spontaneous Nirvana cover. playing “In Bloom” Earlier this year, as part of Drumeo's ongoing “For the First Time” video series, which we've covered on multiple occasions here at Serious consequenceincluding Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith's viral rendition of Thirty Seconds to Mars' “The Kill.”
The new clip comes via Musora, part of the Drumeo family, and Owens is once again greeted with a Nirvana song he’s never heard before. In fact, it seems like most of his Generation Y bandmates weren’t familiar with “Heart-Shaped Box” either.
“I don't know anything,” Owens jokes after the studio engineers stop playing the song.
Only the bassist nods in recognition and takes the lead after Owens gives him the cue to play the song's bass line.
Almost immediately after hearing the original, Owens' group is in full action, with the horn section carrying the vocal melodies. When Owens gives the command to do the chorus, everyone is focused, much to the amazement of Musora's studio engineers, and it only takes a couple of rehearsals before the band has achieved a full jazz instrumental version of the song. In the womb classic.
“To be completely honest, it was amazing,” Owens said when asked to sum up the experience. “I don’t usually get nervous, especially around my band… but I was nervous because you guys put so many things to people conceptually. I was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re going to do, but how does it fit into the context of what we do? ’”
He concluded: “We took an amazing song, an amazing band, an amazing concept and combined it with who we already are.”
Below you can watch Ulysses Owens Jr. and Generation Y cover “Heart-Shaped Box” after one listen, as well as Owens’ original drum clip.
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