Jazz Articles about Matt Owens

About Matt Owens

Album Review

Russ Anixter's Hippie Big Band: What Next?

Read "What Next?" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
September 4, 2026

A big band by any other name... Arranger and orchestrator Russ Anixter has chosen to call his 11-piece ensemble the Hippie Big Band. Which is fine, Russ. Whatever works for you. Alas, much of the music on What Next? sounds as though it could have been imported from the mid- 20th century. Yes, this is unquestionably jazz even though it does lean rather heavily on rock, funk and even some free improvisation as its bedrock; and ...

Album Review

Matt Owens: The Aviators' Ball

Read "The Aviators' Ball" reviewed by Phil Barnes

by Phil Barnes
May 12, 2015

From the vibrant Manchester jazz scene that gave us the likes of Matthew Halsall, Nat Birchall and GoGo Penguin comes this eclectic beauty from Matt Owens. Much of the album was written in response to a commission from the Manchester Jazz Festival for a 'jazz quartet combined with wind quintet and tuned percussion' -a wide ranging brief that has plenty to enthral the more open-minded music lover. Taking the melodic spirit of late 1960s Beach Boys LP “Friends," ...