Chuck Owen may be unfamiliar to you but you'll thank me for bringing you up to speed on him. Chuck is a composer-arranger who has just released an album featuring him conducting the WDR Big Band playing his original compositions and arrangements. The WDR Big Band is one of the world's finest jazz orchestras, and this new album is stunning.
Born in Norfolk, Va., Chuck grew up in Omaha, Neb., before his family moved to Cincinnati. After a year at the College of Wooster in Ohio, Chuck transferred to the University of North Texas where he received an undergraduate degree in music education, with a focus on trombone.
At the university, he found a large number of mentors and a dozen jazz “lab” bands all hungry for new music. He happily obliged. After graduation, he earned a Master’s degree in orchestral conducting at California State University, Northridge. After grad school, he remained in Los Angeles for a few years freelancing and apprenticing with the great film and TV composer Patrick Williams through an NEA study grant.
In 1981, Chuck moved with his wife and family to Tampa, Fla., to join the jazz-studies faculty at the University of South Florida. There he helped build a jazz program from scratch, designing the curriculum and degree programs.
USF Jazz Studies Program quickly became acknowledged as one of the nation’s best. Chuck earned the title of Distinguished University Professor and was awarded USF's Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, President’s Award for Faculty Excellence, and the Outstanding Research Award.
In 2004, Chuck founded the USF Center for Jazz Composition, which focuses on the role of the composer in jazz and assists in composers' continuing development. The CJC launched several prominent programs, including the Jazz Composers’ Symposium, the International Jazz Arranging Competition and Central Florida’s Jazz Masterworks Series. He went on to found the ISJAC—the International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers—in 2015.
In August of 2021, after 40 years, Chuck retired from the University of South Florida and has been accorded the title of Professor Emeritus. He continues to serve as President of ISJAC and served as president of IAJE and has been a panelist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, the National Endowment for the Arts, ASCAP, the Recording Academy, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and numerous other groups.
Since 1995, Owen has led his19-piece Jazz Surge band, serving as conductor as well as primary composer and arranger. The band has recorded seven albums, including the Grammy nominated Whispers on the Wind.
Which brings us to this new album, Renderings. The album too two years to record, thanks to the pandemic. When Chuck returned to Cologne, Germany, in the spring of 2021 to resume work on the project, more than a year had passed since he worked with the large ensemble.
There's a great deal of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis in Chuck's arrangements, and the WDR Band delivers with precision, swing and feeling. It's easily the finest big band album of the year thus far.
The band's personnel:
JazzWax clips: Here's Knife's Edge...
Here's A Ridge Away...
Born in Norfolk, Va., Chuck grew up in Omaha, Neb., before his family moved to Cincinnati. After a year at the College of Wooster in Ohio, Chuck transferred to the University of North Texas where he received an undergraduate degree in music education, with a focus on trombone.
At the university, he found a large number of mentors and a dozen jazz “lab” bands all hungry for new music. He happily obliged. After graduation, he earned a Master’s degree in orchestral conducting at California State University, Northridge. After grad school, he remained in Los Angeles for a few years freelancing and apprenticing with the great film and TV composer Patrick Williams through an NEA study grant.
In 1981, Chuck moved with his wife and family to Tampa, Fla., to join the jazz-studies faculty at the University of South Florida. There he helped build a jazz program from scratch, designing the curriculum and degree programs.
USF Jazz Studies Program quickly became acknowledged as one of the nation’s best. Chuck earned the title of Distinguished University Professor and was awarded USF's Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, President’s Award for Faculty Excellence, and the Outstanding Research Award.
In 2004, Chuck founded the USF Center for Jazz Composition, which focuses on the role of the composer in jazz and assists in composers' continuing development. The CJC launched several prominent programs, including the Jazz Composers’ Symposium, the International Jazz Arranging Competition and Central Florida’s Jazz Masterworks Series. He went on to found the ISJAC—the International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers—in 2015.
In August of 2021, after 40 years, Chuck retired from the University of South Florida and has been accorded the title of Professor Emeritus. He continues to serve as President of ISJAC and served as president of IAJE and has been a panelist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, the National Endowment for the Arts, ASCAP, the Recording Academy, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and numerous other groups.
Since 1995, Owen has led his19-piece Jazz Surge band, serving as conductor as well as primary composer and arranger. The band has recorded seven albums, including the Grammy nominated Whispers on the Wind.
Which brings us to this new album, Renderings. The album too two years to record, thanks to the pandemic. When Chuck returned to Cologne, Germany, in the spring of 2021 to resume work on the project, more than a year had passed since he worked with the large ensemble.
There's a great deal of Thad Jones/Mel Lewis in Chuck's arrangements, and the WDR Band delivers with precision, swing and feeling. It's easily the finest big band album of the year thus far.
The band's personnel:
- Woodwinds—Johan Hörlén, Karolina Strassmayer, Gabor Bolla, Olivier Peters, Paul Heller and Jens Neufang.
- Trumpets—Wim Both, Andy Haderer, Rob Bruynen and Ruud Breuls.
- Trombones—Ludwig Nuss, Raphael Klemm, Andy Hunter and Mattis Cederberg.
- Rhythm section—Billy Test (piano and organ), Philipp Brämswig (guitar), John Goldsby (bass) and Hans Dekker (drums).
- Special guest—Sara Caswell.
JazzWax clips: Here's Knife's Edge...
Here's A Ridge Away...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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