Magic Light Chuck Owen & ReSurgence

• 1Spinning Wheel05:41
• 2Can't Remember Why08:40
• 3...And Your Point Is??09:35
• 4Omaha06:50
• 5Apalachicola10:52
• 6We Rise06:33
• 7What Once Was Lost10:00
• 8Magic Light05:29
• Total Runtime01:03:40

Info for Magic Light

Pianist/composer/arranger Chuck Owen's multiple Grammy nominations over the last two decades honored his instrumental Jazz Surge Big Band's achievements. Here, through lyrics he's written for several of his compositions—all beautifully interpreted by Kate McGarry—Owen more directly reveals his music's intent. His genre-defying sextet of creative improvisers move freely through his expansive compositions—from urban funk to folk music, swing to contemporary classical—in a manner that is not self-conscious but assured, heartfelt, and deeply musical. With Sara Caswell's lyrical, sometimes haunting violin, paired with Corey Christiansen's blues-drenched guitars or Jack Wilkins' expansive sax performance, the group deftly embraces the sonic groundwork of drummers Danny Gottlieb and Matt Wilson along with bassist Mark Neuenschwander and Owen on piano and keys.

"Like water, Owen's music will go everywhere it can: his colors are amazingly diverse." (New York Music Daily)

Kate McGarry, vocals
Sara Caswell, violin
Jack Wilkins, saxophones
Corey Christiansen, guitars
Chuck Owen, piano, keyboard, accordion & hammered Dulcimer
Mark Neuenschwander, bass
Danny Gottlieb, drums (tracks 1, 2 ,4 6 & 8)
Matt Wilson, drums (tracks 3, 5 & 7)

Chuck Owen
The recipient of five individual GRAMMY nominations and a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship, Chuck Owen's compositions have been performed widely: by the Netherlands' Metropole Orch., WDR Big Band, Brussels Jazz Orch., Aarhus Big Band, Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orch. and numerous others. Chuck's evocative and intensely personal work is steeped in the jazz tradition but draws liberally and playfully from a diverse array of influences.

Since 1995, Owen's primary creative outlet has been his own 19-piece Jazz Surge. Conductor as well as primary composer/arranger, he has produced each of the Surge's 7 highly feted CDs. Whispers on the Wind, released in 2017, was recognized with 4 GRAMMY Nominations while 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 received GRAMMY nominations. Their most recent recording Within Us (2021) was celebrated with a sold-out performance at NY's Birdland while multiple critics acclaimed it one of the year's best jazz releases.

Retired from the University of South Florida where he taught for 40 years, Chuck was accorded the title of "Distinguished Professor Emeritus". He continues to serve as President of ISJAC (International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers), an organization he helped found having formerly served as President of IAJE and panelist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, the NEA, ASCAP, the Recording Academy, and numerous others.

Renderings, Chuck's 2023 album project in collaboration with the renown WDR Big Band, received rave reviews worldwide, making the lists of several annual top 10 releases. Meanwhile, ReSurgence, his new septet featuring several members from the Jazz Surge along with the luminescent vocalist, Kate McGarry, have their first album, Magic Light, set to debut in Spring 2024 amidst a flurry of performances & tours.

This album contains no booklet.