(relaxed jazz music)

>>In a recent review, our
guest today was described

as having rock bottom, musical
and emotional integrity.

Having held down the
coveted, Friday night slot,

at Smalls Jazz Club in
New York City for years,

he now resides in
Charlottesville.

Join us today, as we
catch up with educator,

and tenor saxophonist,
Charles Owens.

Come on!

(relaxed jazz music)

>>Charles, how old were you

when you started playing music?

>>I don't remember
how old I was.

I think that I was
sitting at the piano

from the time that
I was in diapers.

>>You have pictures.

>>I have pictures, yeah.

(laughing)

I remember very distinctly,
sitting at the piano

when I was really, really
small, and just being fascinated

by the way two notes, or
three notes, or four notes

sound at the same
time, by the chords.

My parents were great,
in that sense of,

they just let me sit
and play and-- (laughs)

>>How old were you when you
fell in love with saxophone?

When you chose, and why did
you choose the saxophone?

>>Well, I was eight,

and there was an assembly
at my elementary school.

They had one every year,
and the band teacher

would line up all the
instruments on the table.

He picked up the tenor sax.

I think at first, I was struck

by how many buttons
there were on it,

and how complicated it looked,

and how complex and
mysterious it looked.

Also, the thing
that really got me,

was the curve of the neck,

this curvature of
this neck right here,

the way it curved around,

was just very attractive to me.

I wanted to be closer
to the instrument,

and just like really
see how it worked.

(happy jazz music)

>>You had a rough childhood.

Tell us about, you know,

kinda what music meant to
you through all of that.

>>Yeah, I did have a bit
of a rough childhood.

One of the things that really
got me interested in music,

is that my father and
mother weren't, really.

>>You wanted to go far, far,
as far as you could. (laughs)

>>Well, yeah, but I
was fascinated by it,

especially with the saxophone.

It gave me a healthy
way to release

my anger, emotions, my pain.

Something about breathing
into the horn was very--

>>Yeah, you were saying,
in an earlier conversation,

how that breathing
is another reason

that you love the saxophone.

>>Mm, Hm, yeah, it's a real
connection to the instrument.

It's a real physical connection.

I love playing piano,

because piano's very
sophisticated, and it's civil.

Your head isn't vibrating,

and there's not spit
goin' everywhere.

You're not like heavy,
heavy breathing,

you're just sort of like,

"Hm, let me have a sandwich,
and play some piano."

It's different, it's totally
different than saxophone.

With saxophone, it lends
itself to an emotional release,

because like crying or yelling,
you breathe and you exhale,

and you just let it all go.

With saxophone, it's
very similar, and also,

the saxophone players that
I like, like John Coltrane,

and Sonny Rollins, and Wayne
Shorter, and those guys,

are all very emotional players.

The saxophone just really
lends itself to that,

and it's helped me deal
with a lot of things.

It continues to help me
deal with a lot of things.

>>I think that's great.

(relaxed jazz music)

>>I went to Duke Ellington
School for the Arts,

in Washington, D.C., near
Georgetown University.

I also went to New World
School of the Arts in Miami,

sat in downtown Miami.

Then I went to the New
School for Social Research,

world-renowned jazz program,

and studied with a lot
of great masters there.

>>And then you played
in New York City.

You lived and played in
New York City for years.

You had a coveted spot
every Friday at Smalls,

which is a renowned jazz club.

>>What was--
>>Yes, 20 years now.

>>that like?

>>My first gig in New York,
was at the Village Gate.

>>Oh, ha!

>>Which was, you know,
it was a boon for me.

There was the Sunday
afternoon jam session

at The Village Gate, and
that's where I met everybody.

The Village Gate
unfortunately closed,

so that Sunday session
moved to Smalls,

and that was my first gig at
Smalls, the Sunday jam session,

that was run by The New School,
and that became my home.

>>Literally.

>>(laughs) Yes.

>>You lived there for awhile.

>>I did.

I slept in a very small
room that was big enough

for a futon and a radio,
and my only responsibilities

were to play saxophone, and
to work at the door at Smalls

to help paying my rent
from living there,

and then to write music,
and that was it. (laughs)

>>So now, you and your now wife,

and your two beautiful
daughters, live
here in this area.

>>In Charlottesville.

>>And you tour, you
play Charlottesville,

Richmond, D.C., New York.

>>Mm Hm, I still go to Smalls

three or four times
a year to play.

>>How many albums do you have?

>>Five albums,

and I just recorded
a new one yesterday.

We did 10 songs in five
hours, which just seems crazy.

>>Yeah, a little, uh huh.

>>I like to record that way.

The way I do it is, I get a new
band, and I pick repertoire,

and then I get gigs, and we
go and perform this repertoire

at these gigs.

Then after a year or so,
it's been a year and a half

since I've had this quartet,
we go in and play them all

right in succession, as if we
were just playing another gig.

(relaxed jazz music)

>>Your other most recent
album, A Day With Us,

has gotten all kinds
of fabulous reviews.

That's done very well.

>>That was recorded
in the same way.

It was recorded, actually,
at Jellowstone Studios,

that was built by Devonne
Harris, who is the drummer

on the record, but he's
also a great piano player,

and a great bass player,
and a great producer.

He built the studio,
he recorded it.

A Day With Us was an
amazing experience,

because we did also
do that in one day,

but there was no
one at the studio.

It was just us three.

Devonne would literally go to
this control room, hit record,

come back, get on the drums,
and then we'd count it off,

and then do a take.

It was a special record, and
the critics really did like it.

I'm very proud of it.

>>The other thing
I think you should

be really proud of, is
the fact that you're such

a great educator
in the community.

You have a lot of
private students.

You teach saxophone.

Theory's a big one.

You teach voice, piano, and
you work with high schools.

You work with Albemarle
High School jazz kids.

What is your best
piece of advice

that you like to
give your students?

>>The thing that has
served me best in my life,

is my ear and my instinct.

The saxophone, being
such a new instrument,

it's not included in any of
the classical repertoire.

So, saxophone repertoire and
saxophone as an instrument,

have to be approached
differently,

from an educational standpoint.

Your ear and instinct
is not gonna be 100%,

but if you nurture it and
nurture the connection

between your instinct and your
ear, and learn to trust it,

then it will never let you
down, after a certain point.

>>You play a lotta jazz?
>>Mm Hm.

>>Funk?
>>Yes.

>>Rock?
>>Some, yes.

>>Give us an example, just
play a little somethin'.

Play some jazz.

>>Some jazz?

>>As you like to say, jazz!

>>Sure.

>>Do a little of
that improvising

that you were talking about.

>>Of course.

>>Of course, we have no band,
but you don't need a band.

(plays tenor saxophone)

>>Okay, so you have a
philosophy about music

>>Yes.

>>that you tell people.

I want you to show me that,
>>Okay.

>>and tell me what that means.

>>Sure.

Music is melody,
harmony, and rhythm.

When we play music,
we have to be calm,

and what we play,
has to be clear,

and we have to play
it with confidence,

just how we're
speaking to each other.

We're being so clear
and eloquent, aren't we?

>>(laughs) Yes, we are.

>>And that's important.

We have ideas that we
want to get across.

The reason I'm an artist,
the reason I'm a musician is,

I wanna make my fellow
humans feel something

that they weren't
expecting to feel.

We have to be clear about it.

If we're standing up in front
of a big crowd of people,

or even just by ourselves,

or even one or two
people in the audience.

Think if Martin
Luther King was like,

"I had a dream you
guys." (speaking quietly)

He says, "I have a
dream!" (speaking boldly)

So, we have to be
really confident.

We're calm, we're
playing clearly,

we're playing confidently.

We have melody, harmony,
and rhythm mixed.

From where do we gain our
inspiration to play this music?

We gain it from
our spirituality,

our intellect, and our passion.

That's really one of the things

that will make
the audience feel.

If you really believe
what you're doing,

then they will believe it.

They will love it.

When we do that, we have
to take stock all the time.

Whenever we're playing,
we have to take stock

of all these things together.

It's no accident that
these three things

are grouped together:
confidence, rhythm, passion.

Clarity, harmony, intellect.

Calm, melody, spiritual.

They definitely go
together, but really,

in order for it to go right,
it has to be all mixed up.

>>Yeah.

>>The artist has
to ask themself,

"Is this a balanced mix
of all these things?"

If it is, then your
audience will have no choice

but to love you.

(happy jazz music)

>>Tell me about the
experience that you had

when you were asked to perform,
A Love Supreme, Coltrane's--

>>Opus.

>>Yes.
>>Yes. (laughs)

A Love Supreme was
Coltrane's greatest work,

in many people's opinion,

and one of the greatest albums
of all time, ever recorded.

It's a very spiritual work.

I never dreamed that I
would be able to perform it,

not because I didn't think
that that I'd ever be able

to do it, but just
I never thought

that I'd have a chance to do it.

This was real.

It was one of the best
moments in my life,

it really, really was.

It wasn't just one of the,
"Oh, that was a great moment,"

it was a moment that transcended
my reality a little bit,

and it made me sort of
peak behind the curtain.

There's moments in every
jazz musician's life,

and the reason why people
get addicted to playing jazz,

and they devote their entire
life to it, is because,

I like to talk about peekin'
behind the curtain of reality,

and seeing something greater.

That's why I play, because
I wanna be something

greater than I am.

(slow saxophone jazz music)

(crowd applauding)

(slow saxophone music)