Chuck Owen

The recipient of 5 individual GRAMMY nominations as well as a prestigious 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship, Chuck Owen’s compositions have been performed throughout the world; by the Netherlands’ Metropole Orch., WDR Big Band, Brussels Jazz Orch., Aarhus Big Band, Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orch., Tonight Show Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, and numerous others. Since 1995, however, Owen’s primary creative outlet has been his own 19-piece Jazz Surge. Serving as conductor, as well as primary composer/arranger, he has produced each of the Surge’s highly feted seven albums. Whispers On the Wind, released in 2017, was recognized with 4 GRAMMY nominations (including for best composition) while also named #1 Big Band album in the annual Jazz Station Awards. River Runs (2013), a stunning 5-movement genre-bending orchestral/big band hybrid and The Comet’s Tail (2009) also were honored with GRAMMY nominations. Their most recent (2021) recording, Within Us, was released to widespread acclaim, named on several prominent jazz critics’ “Best of 2021” awards and celebrated with a sold-out performance at New York’s Birdland Jazz Club (former Surge guest artists, Randy Brecker and Gregoire Maret joining in on the fun)!