Album Review: Within Us from Chuck Owen and The Jazz Surge

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Album:  Within Us
Artist:  Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge
Label:  Summit Records
Website:  https://www.chuckowen.com

Composer-bandleader Chuck Owen builds vibrant landscapes with his 19-piece orchestra The Jazz Surge.  Their latest recording Within Us is a compilation of nostalgic swing and big band energy merging with modern practices and creative phrasing.  Owen's compositions and arrangements are steep in traditional jazz parlences while exercising a playful character that integrates influences of contemporary and classic American folk/roots music, blues-infused rhapsodies, and ambient torchlight.

The melodic paradigms of the opener "Chelsea Shuffle" are modelesque while maintaining a spontaneous playfulness.  Vibraphonist Warren Wolf adds dimension to the spiraling woodwinds and brass instruments.  The mood turns solemn in "Trail of the Ancients" displaying a Celtic lilt in Sara Caswell's violin.  The track coalesces folksy textures with classic symphonic rhapsodies.  The continual stream of strings and horns form sonic cascades that portray a picturesque ambience.

Vibraphonist Wolf returns on "The Better Claim" sketching sprightly twinkles that embellish the wailing sonorous of the woodwinds and brass instruments, building up into a vibrant crescendo and interfacing traditional jazz parlences with modern intonations.  Moving ahead, "American Noir" travels with a slumbering gait as the horns drone languidly, deepening the ruminating phrases to weighty reflections along "Apalachicola."

The recording marks the 25th Anniversary of Owen working with The Jazz Surge.  His partnering of nostalgic swing and big band verve with modern jazz and contemporary roots music overflows with harmony.  Based in central Florida, Chuck Owen embraces a breadth of melodic harmony that has a home in the wider body of world music.

Musicians:
Warren Wolf - Vibes/Marimba
Sara Caswell - Violin
Per Danielsson - Piano
LaRue Nickelson - Guitar
Corey Christiansen - Dobro, Nylon String, Steel String, & 12-String Guitars
Mark Neuenschwander - Bass
Danny Gottlieb - Drums
Beth Gottlieb - Djembe on "Sparks Fly"
Chuck Owen - Accordion and Hammered Dulcimer
Woodwinds:   Tami Danielsson, Steve Wilson, Jack Wilkins, Rex Wertz, and Matt Vance
Trumpets:  Frank Greene, Jay Coble, Mike Iapichino, and Clay Jenkins
Trombones:  Keith Oshiro, Tom Brantley, Jerald Shynett, Jim Hall


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