Midwest Record, March 2013

CHUCK OWEN & THE JAZZ SURGE/River Runs: Here’s a throwback date that doesn’t involve hard bop. Owen tips the cap to the golden era of impressionistic jazz where jazz and simply beautiful music collided. Not sounding at all like it was fueled by arts council money, Owen and his jazzbos and symphonic refugees tackle one of the lynch pins of impressionistic music—the river. And they do a bang up job of capturing it in sound. Another jazz educator with no dust on him, this is one of the finest proponents of audio mental health this side of new age or healing music. Egghead jazz that anyone can enjoy.

-Chris Specter