Draft:Chuck Owen

Chuck Owen (b. January 20, 1954) is an American jazz composer/arranger, conductor, producer and educator.

Early Life
Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Owen grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and Cincinnati, Ohio where he attended Wyoming High School and studied piano with Dorothy Payne. He graduated from the University of North Texas (previously North Texas State University) with a Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental Music Education and received his Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from California State University – Northridge.

Career
After a brief period of free-lancing in Los Angeles, writing for a variety of ensembles including the Tonight Show, pianist Roger Williams, pops orchestra conductor Erich Kunzel, and his own Fault Line Big Band–Owen left Los Angeles for Tampa, Florida in 1981 to accept a post as the first Director of Jazz Studies at the University of South Florida. He retired after 40 years of teaching in 2021, having been accorded the title Distinguished University Professor as well as being cited with the President’s Award for Faculty Excellence in 2003 and the Outstanding Teaching Award in 1992. He founded his Jazz Surge Big Band in 1995 and continues to serve as its principal composer/arranger, conductor, and producer. From 2004-2013 he served as Director of the University of South Florida Center for Jazz Composition producing Central Florida’s “Jazz Masterworks Series” as well as inaugurating the “Jazz Composers’ Symposium” which he continues to produce, now under the aegis of the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC) where he serves as Founding President.

Awards and Honors
2018


 * Grammy Nomination for Best Instrumental Composition (Warped Cowboy)
 * Grammy Nomination for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella (All Hat, No Saddle)
 * Grammy Nomination for Best Large Ensemble Album (Whispers on the Wind)

2014


 * Grammy Nomination for Best Instrumental Composition (Bound Away)
 * Grammy Nomination for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella (Side Hikes – A Ridge Away)

2009


 * Guggenheim Fellowship for Music Composition

2000


 * American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers / International Association of Jazz Educator's (now Jazz Education Network) Commission in honor of Louis Armstrong

Discography
As a Leader

As a Contributing Arranger/Composer