Jazz Professor Blows The Room Away By Crushing Nirvana Song The Very First Time He Hears It

part of a drum kit

iStockphoto / puhimec


Few things in life are as impressive as watching a professional musician showcase their talent in ways the rest of us couldn’t ever conceive of.

Case in point, jazz musician Ulysses Owens Jr. who is a professor at The Julliard School in NYC listens to Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom’ for the first time but he listens to a track without drums on it. Professor Owens then proceeds to play Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom’ on the drums, having never heard the song before, and he blows away the room with his incredible talent.

Julliard Professor / Jazz Musician Crushes The Drums On Nirvana’s Song He’s Never Heard Before

This performance is reminiscent of Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers (aka Will Ferrell’s twin brother) nailing the drums to ‘The Kill’ by Jared Leto’s 30 Seconds to Mars. It is all part of a recurring series by Drumeo that honestly, every single video they release delivers the goods. Check it out:

First things first, how has anyone who works in music *not* heard Nirvana‘s ‘In Bloom’ before. I’m less surprised by the fact that he crushes the drums on a song he’s never heard before than I am by the fact that he’s never heard one of Nirvana’s most famous songs, a song that still gets radio play.

It’s also worth calling out who the Nirvana drummer was (is?): Dave Grohl, the frontman of The Foo Fighters, and someone who continues to be one of the most famous figures in Rock Music.

Now I know nothing about this Julliard professor and jazz musician but I’ve got nothing but respect for his skills and I cannot say enough great things about this video series from Drumeo. The video with Chad Smith is epic:

I’ve never taken a proper lesson on the drums but something about these videos makes me want to pick up a beginner’s kit and fire up this channel to test my mettle.

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Cass Anderson is the Editor-in-Chief of BroBible. Based out of Florida, he covers an array of topics including NFL, Pop Culture, Fishing News, and the Outdoors.