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Knife's Edge by Chuck Owen

From the album

Album Title: Renderings
Label: MAMA Records
Released: 2023

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About the Album

Florida-based composer, arranger and bandleader Chuck Owen returns with a brilliant new collaboration with one of the most renowned large ensembles in the world, Germany’s WDR Big Band. Featuring new and reimagined compositions by Owen along with arrangements of jazz standards and pieces contributed by members of the ensemble, "Renderings" focuses on Owen’s vibrant gifts as an arranger. "Renderings" is somewhat unique in Owen’s big band catalogue for concentrating not on original compositions but on his arrangements of works by other composers alongside reprises from his earlier work. The concept is the collaboration itself. The idea came together when Owen discovered the dual meaning of “rendering” that gave the album its title: “1. A depiction, interpretation, or perspective; 2. The act or instance of performing a piece of music.” Owen’s composition “Knife’s Edge” opens the album. Like so much of his work, it was inspired by nature, in this case a daunting, narrow trail leading to Maine’s Mt. Katahdin that the composer hasn’t dared to hike. (“It’s the sort of thing I would have done in a heartbeat at a slightly younger age,” he demurs.) Kicking the proceedings off at a rollicking pace, it’s one of the most straightahead, swinging big band charts Owen has crafted in ages, and a stellar, vigorous example of the form.

Tracks

Knife’s Edge; …And Your Point Is?; Of Mystery and Beauty; This Love of Mine; Fall Calls; Arabian Nights; A Ridge Away; Canoe.

Personnel

Chuck Owen

composer / conductor

Wim Both

trumpet

Andy Haderer

trumpet

Rob Bruynen

trumpet

Ruud Breuls

trumpet

Ludwig Nuss

trombone

Raphael Klemm

trombone

Andy Hunter

trombone

Mattis Cederberg

trombone

Billy Test

piano

Philipp Brämswig

guitar

John Goldsby

bass

Hans Dekker

drums

Sara Caswell

violin

Johan Horlen

saxophone, alto

Karolina Strassmayer

saxophone, alto

Gabor Bolla

saxophone

Olivier Peters

saxophone, tenor

Paul Heller

saxophone, tenor

Jens Neufang

saxophone, baritone

Additional Personnel

Johan Horlen, Karolina Strassmayer, Gabor Bolla, Olivier Peters, Paul Heller, Jens Neufang: woodwinds; Mattis Cederberg: bass trombone; Billy Test: organ. Special guest—Sara Caswell: violin.

Reviews

Renderings by Angelo Leonardi
Renderings by Pierre Giroux
Renderings by Jack Bowers

Date featured

August 20, 2023

This song appears by permission of the contributing artist and/or record company.
It is for personal use only; no other rights are granted or implied.

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