With saxophonists Tim Green, Lakecia Benjamin, Daniel Dickinson, Michael Thomas, and Carl Maraghi; trombonists Michael Dease, Tom “Bones" Malone, Nicholas Lee, and Wyatt Forhan; trumpeters Benny Benack III, Frank Green, Marcus Parsley, and Alphonso Horne; pianist Takeshi Ohbayashi; bassist Yasushi Nakamura; drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr.; and vocalists Shenel Johns and Charles Turner

Drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. leads the New Century Big Band’s debut at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. This new, unrecorded group is an expansion of the acclaimed New Century Jazz Quintet, a small group featuring five of the best rising star musicians from New York City and Japan: Ulysses Owens, Jr., Tim Green, Benny Benack III, Takeshi Ohbayashi, and Yasushi Nakamura. Over the past few years, the Quintet has performed to enthusiastic New York audiences at Dizzy’s Club and throughout Japan, leaving no question that they’re all key players in the future of jazz. This big band adds 11 worthy instrumentalists to the mix, plus vocalists Shenel Johns and Charles Turner, both of whom have been featured headliners at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. We don’t know what repertoire they have planned, but recent performances have featured some excellent originals as well as a range of tunes by such artists as Terence Blanchard, John Coltrane, and Mulgrew Miller.