Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge: Within Us

16

Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge: Within Us

By

View read count
Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge: Within Us
Any big band celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary has earned a triumph surpassing most others. To mark the occasion with an album as admirable as this one is icing on the celebratory cake. The fact is, composer/arranger Chuck Owen's Florida-based Jazz Surge, formed in 1995, shows no signs of aging or becoming obsolete. Thanks to Owen's broad-beamed and colorful charts, the Jazz Surge is as mesmerizing as a memoir and stylish as tomorrow.

Half a dozen of Owen's original compositions enhance the album alongside Chick Corea's sunny opener, "The Chelsea Shuffle," and Miles Davis' irrepressible "Milestones," the latter spliced by Owen with the first piece he ever composed for the band, suitably titled "Surge." Corea, who was penciled in as guest artist on Within Us, died in February 2021, three months before the enterprise got under way, so Owen arranged "Chelsea Shuffle" as a tribute. As a further homage, saxophonist Steve Wilson, a member of Corea's group Origin, agreed to join the Surge for this recording. Wilson solos on soprano on "Chelsea Shuffle" and alto on Owen's "Sparks Fly."

Speaking of solos, how many big bands can you name whose leading soloists include a violinist? On the Surge, her name is Sara Caswell, and she solos eloquently on "Trail of the Ancients," "Apalachicola" and "Sparks Fly." Besides Wilson and Caswell, the Surge benefits from persuasive statements by guest vibraphonist Warren Wolf, alto Tami Danielsson, tenors Jack Wilkins and Rex Wertz, baritone Matt Vance, trumpeter Clay Jenkins, trombonists Jerald Shynette and Tom Brantley, guitarists LaRue Nickelson and Corey Christiansen, pianist Per Danielsson, bassist Mark Neuenschwander and drummer Danny Gottlieb (the last three of whom comprise the band's sharp and supportive rhythm section).

Even so, it is Owen's bright and perceptive charts that guide the way, from the stalwart "Chelsea Shuffle" to the even-tempered title song, inspired by a quote from writer Albert Camus, which closes the album. Sandwiched between are the picturesque "Trail of the Ancients," meditative "American Noir," iconic "Milestones," prayerful "Apalachicola," cheerful "Sparks Fly" and prismatic "The Better Claim," the final movement of Owen's five-part concerto, River Runs, which debuted with the Surge and a large string orchestra in 2011. Within Us, recorded in May 2021, marked the first time the Surge was in one place since the start of the pandemic two years before, and the happiness and camaraderie are palpable. The result is an album whose import has more than earned its "happy anniversary" salutation.

Track Listing

Chelsea Shuffle; Trail of the Ancients; American Noir; Milestones; Apalachicola; Sparks Fly; The Better Claim; Within Us (An Invincible Summer).

Personnel

Chuck Owen
composer / conductor
Frank Greene
trumpet
Jay Coble
trumpet
Clay Jenkins
trumpet
Tami Danielsson
saxophone, alto
Steve Wilson
saxophone
Rex Wertz
saxophone, tenor
Matt Vance
saxophone, baritone
Keith Oshiro
trombone
Tom Brantley
trombone
Mark Neuenschwander
bass, acoustic
Beth Gottlieb
percussion
Warren Wolf
vibraphone
Additional Instrumentation

Chuck Owen: arranger, accordion, hammered dulcimer; Steve Wilson: soprano sax; Jack Wilkins: tenor sax; Jim Hall: trombone; Corey Christiansen: dobro; Beth Gottlieb: djembe (6). Warren Wolf: vibraphone, marimba (1, 7).

Album information

Title: Within Us | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: MAMA Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.