While Sept. 8th found most of us Floridians hunkering down or making plans to flee from Hurricane Irma, the Jazz Surge’s latest recording, “Whispers On the Wind”, was widely released.   No sooner than it hit store shelves (a modern metaphor if there ever was one!!), Jeff Simon of the Buffalo News penned the first review calling the project, “creative, poetic, and liable to do all manner of unexpected things in service to American vision”.  In addition, in its 1st week out of the box, the recording debuted atop the “most added” chart in JazzWeek! 

More from Jeff Simon:
“Owen’s record is from another tradition altogether – where Gil Evans could add the poetry of Claude Thornhill’s dance band to Duke Ellington’s highly personal sonic laboratory and come up with wildly personal and unusual syntheses of jazz and pop sound no one had thought of.”

“Copland-esque in scope, suitable as a score for an epic Hollywood movie, Chuck Owen has created an incredibly colorful portrait of a part of America’s natural beauty, specifically rivers that he has rafted or canoed on. This concerto is on a grand scale with the solo voices of Jack Wilkins (tenor sax) and LaRue Nickelson (guitar) soaring throughout. The music is visceral…you can feel the power and majesty of these natural settings with all the sections (each named for a river) evoking a singular mood.”…Dave Liebman

“Chuck Owen’s RIVER RUNS, is a tour de force in contemporary orchestral composition that conveys his musical ideas with immense dynamic clarity.  This exquisitely produced recording defies categorization, as it is a synthesis of musical concepts woven into a luscious tapestry that intrigues and satisfies.  BRAVO!”…Rufus Reid