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(relaxed jazz music)

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

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as having rock bottom, musical 
and emotional integrity.

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Having held down the 
coveted, Friday night slot,

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at Smalls Jazz Club in 
New York City for years,

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he now resides in 
Charlottesville.

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Join us today, as we 
catch up with educator,

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and tenor saxophonist, 
Charles Owens.

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Come on!

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(relaxed jazz music)

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>>Charles, how old were you

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when you started playing music?

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

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I think that I was 
sitting at the piano

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from the time that 
I was in diapers.

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>>You have pictures.

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>>I have pictures, yeah.

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(laughing)

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I remember very distinctly, 
sitting at the piano

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

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

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sound at the same 
time, by the chords.

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My parents were great, 
in that sense of,

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

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

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

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>>Well, I was eight,

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and there was an assembly 
at my elementary school.

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They had one every year, 
and the band teacher

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would line up all the 
instruments on the table.

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He picked up the tenor sax.

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I think at first, I was struck

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by how many buttons 
there were on it,

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and how complicated it looked,

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and how complex and 
mysterious it looked.

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Also, the thing 
that really got me,

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was the curve of the neck,

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this curvature of 
this neck right here,

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the way it curved around,

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was just very attractive to me.

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I wanted to be closer 
to the instrument,

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and just like really 
see how it worked.

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(happy jazz music)

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>>You had a rough childhood.

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Tell us about, you know,

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kinda what music meant to 
you through all of that.

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

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

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

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

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

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especially with the saxophone.

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It gave me a healthy 
way to release

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my anger, emotions, my pain.

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Something about breathing 
into the horn was very--

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

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how that breathing 
is another reason

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that you love the saxophone.

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

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It's a real physical connection.

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I love playing piano,

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

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Your head isn't vibrating,

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and there's not spit 
goin' everywhere.

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You're not like heavy, 
heavy breathing,

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you're just sort of like,

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

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

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With saxophone, it lends 
itself to an emotional release,

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

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and you just let it all go.

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

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the saxophone players that 
I like, like John Coltrane,

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

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are all very emotional players.

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The saxophone just really 
lends itself to that,

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

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

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>>I think that's great.

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(relaxed jazz music)

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

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

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

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sat in downtown Miami.

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Then I went to the New 
School for Social Research,

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world-renowned jazz program,

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and studied with a lot 
of great masters there.

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>>And then you played 
in New York City.

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You lived and played in 
New York City for years.

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You had a coveted spot 
every Friday at Smalls,

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which is a renowned jazz club.

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

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>>that like?

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

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>>Oh, ha!

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

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There was the Sunday 
afternoon jam session

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

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The Village Gate 
unfortunately closed,

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so that Sunday session 
moved to Smalls,

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

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

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>>Literally.

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>>(laughs) Yes.

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>>You lived there for awhile.

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>>I did.

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I slept in a very small 
room that was big enough

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for a futon and a radio, 
and my only responsibilities

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

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to help paying my rent 
from living there,

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

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>>So now, you and your now wife,

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

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>>In Charlottesville.

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>>And you tour, you 
play Charlottesville,

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Richmond, D.C., New York.

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>>Mm Hm, I still go to Smalls

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three or four times 
a year to play.

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>>How many albums do you have?

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>>Five albums,

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and I just recorded 
a new one yesterday.

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

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>>Yeah, a little, uh huh.

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>>I like to record that way.

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

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

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at these gigs.

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

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

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

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(relaxed jazz music)

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

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has gotten all kinds 
of fabulous reviews.

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That's done very well.

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>>That was recorded 
in the same way.

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It was recorded, actually, 
at Jellowstone Studios,

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that was built by Devonne 
Harris, who is the drummer

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

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and a great bass player, 
and a great producer.

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He built the studio, 
he recorded it.

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A Day With Us was an 
amazing experience,

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because we did also 
do that in one day,

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but there was no 
one at the studio.

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It was just us three.

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

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

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and then do a take.

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

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I'm very proud of it.

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>>The other thing 
I think you should

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

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a great educator 
in the community.

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You have a lot of 
private students.

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You teach saxophone.

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Theory's a big one.

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

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You work with Albemarle 
High School jazz kids.

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What is your best 
piece of advice

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that you like to 
give your students?

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

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is my ear and my instinct.

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The saxophone, being 
such a new instrument,

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

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So, saxophone repertoire and 
saxophone as an instrument,

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have to be approached 
differently,

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from an educational standpoint.

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Your ear and instinct 
is not gonna be 100%,

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but if you nurture it and 
nurture the connection

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

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

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

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>>Funk? 
>>Yes.

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>>Rock? 
>>Some, yes.

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

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Play some jazz.

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>>Some jazz?

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>>As you like to say, jazz!

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>>Sure.

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>>Do a little of 
that improvising

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that you were talking about.

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>>Of course.

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

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(plays tenor saxophone)

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>>Okay, so you have a 
philosophy about music

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>>Yes.

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>>that you tell people.

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

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>>and tell me what that means.

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>>Sure.

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Music is melody, 
harmony, and rhythm.

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When we play music, 
we have to be calm,

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and what we play, 
has to be clear,

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and we have to play 
it with confidence,

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just how we're 
speaking to each other.

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

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>>(laughs) Yes, we are.

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>>And that's important.

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We have ideas that we 
want to get across.

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

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I wanna make my fellow 
humans feel something

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that they weren't 
expecting to feel.

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We have to be clear about it.

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

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or even just by ourselves,

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or even one or two 
people in the audience.

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Think if Martin 
Luther King was like,

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

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

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So, we have to be 
really confident.

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We're calm, we're 
playing clearly,

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we're playing confidently.

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We have melody, harmony, 
and rhythm mixed.

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

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We gain it from 
our spirituality,

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our intellect, and our passion.

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That's really one of the things

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that will make 
the audience feel.

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If you really believe 
what you're doing,

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then they will believe it.

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They will love it.

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

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Whenever we're playing, 
we have to take stock

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of all these things together.

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It's no accident that 
these three things

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are grouped together: 
confidence, rhythm, passion.

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Clarity, harmony, intellect.

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Calm, melody, spiritual.

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They definitely go 
together, but really,

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

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>>Yeah.

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>>The artist has 
to ask themself,

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

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If it is, then your 
audience will have no choice

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but to love you.

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(happy jazz music)

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>>Tell me about the 
experience that you had

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

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>>Opus.

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>>Yes. 
>>Yes. (laughs)

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A Love Supreme was 
Coltrane's greatest work,

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in many people's opinion,

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

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It's a very spiritual work.

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

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

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00:11:22,666 --> 00:11:24,366
to do it, but just 
I never thought

247
00:11:24,366 --> 00:11:26,533
that I'd have a chance to do it.

248
00:11:26,533 --> 00:11:27,700
This was real.

249
00:11:28,866 --> 00:11:30,133
It was one of the best 
moments in my life,

250
00:11:30,133 --> 00:11:31,600
it really, really was.

251
00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:34,366
It wasn't just one of the, 
"Oh, that was a great moment,"

252
00:11:34,366 --> 00:11:37,333
it was a moment that transcended 
my reality a little bit,

253
00:11:37,333 --> 00:11:41,700
and it made me sort of 
peak behind the curtain.

254
00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,500
There's moments in every 
jazz musician's life,

255
00:11:45,500 --> 00:11:47,666
and the reason why people 
get addicted to playing jazz,

256
00:11:47,666 --> 00:11:51,200
and they devote their entire 
life to it, is because,

257
00:11:52,666 --> 00:11:56,000
I like to talk about peekin' 
behind the curtain of reality,

258
00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:57,400
and seeing something greater.

259
00:11:59,766 --> 00:12:03,433
That's why I play, because 
I wanna be something

260
00:12:03,433 --> 00:12:04,333
greater than I am.

261
00:12:05,466 --> 00:12:09,133
(slow saxophone jazz music)

262
00:12:23,666 --> 00:12:25,333
(crowd applauding)

263
00:12:25,333 --> 00:12:28,600
(slow saxophone music)