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