ENDEA OWENS AND THE COOKOUT / CAPE MAY CONVENTION HALL / SATURDAY, 2:30 PM

The Story

One of the most vibrant emerging artists on the scene today, Detroit-raised bassist-composer came under the sway of Motor City mentors Marcus Belgrave and Rodney Whitaker while in the Jazz Studies program at Michigan State University. In 2018, she received her masters degree from The Juilliard School in Manhattan, where she also studied with iconic jazz bassist Ron Carter. Owens has toured and performed with Wynton Marsalis, Jennifer Holliday, Diana Ross, Jon Batiste, Jazzmeia Horn, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Steve Turre. After joining Jon Batiste’s Stay Human, she became a member of the house band for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert a and can still be seen nightly on that popular late-night talk show on CBS in the house band, currently under the direction of Louis Cato. Owens appeared on Batiste’s Grammy-winning album We Are, played on the soundtrack for the Oscar-nominated film Judas and the Black Messiah, and was part of H.E.R.’s widely acclaimed Super Bowl LV performance. 

In 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, she founded the Community Cookout, a non-profit organization providing meals and music to underserved neighborhoods in New York City. To date, Community Cookout has helped feed close to 3,000 New Yorkers and has hosted over a dozen free music concerts. Her band, making its Exit Zero Jazz Festival debut, is named for that altruistic endeavor. In August 2022, Owens and her band The Cookout appeared on NPR’s popular Tiny Desk Concert series. They are making their Exit Zero Jazz Festival debut.

The Sound

Her original tunes like the head-bopping groover “Where the Nubians Grow” (dedicated to her hometown of Detroit), the raucously swinging “Feel Good,” the sensuous “Love Cynical,” the uptempo burner “Cycles” and uplifting and the uplifting “For the People” are all imbued with a joyful spirit and showcase the tight interplay and improvisational daring of her bandmates (and fellow Juilliard alumni) Giveton Gelin on trumpet, Jeffery Miller on trombone, Zoe Obadia on alto saxophone, Jonathan Thomas on piano and Lee Pearson on drums.