# LA saxophone legend Charles Owens plants the seeds of jazz wherever he goes: Videos, Photo

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2020/04/29/la-saxophone-legend-charles-owens-plants-the-seeds-of-jazz-wherever-he-goes-videos-photo/
- Published: 2020-04-29T16:06:50+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Charles Owens is in his element when he plays jazz with his saxophone, dressed
in a dark suit, red tie and black fedora. **

Before the coronavirus pandemic, he regularly played  to hundreds of elementary 
school kids as part of a program organized by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. The “
Jazz in Schools” program brings this music to many campuses across LA county.

During Black History Month, Owens’ band plays for about 6000 kids. He has led these
performances for more than 20 years with his saxophone, flute or clarinet.

At age 83, Owens is a legend in the music world. He played with Duke Ellington, 
Miles Davis, Barbra Streisand, Frank Zappa and many more.

“I get up thinking about music. I go to bed thinking about music,” Owens says. “
We are planting the seeds of jazz wherever we go.”

In each school auditorium, the musicians talk about jazz history and its groundbreaking
leaders. They play songs the kids know but never thought about as jazz, like the“
[Peanut](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6zypc_LhnM)s” and “Pink Panther” themes.
They even ask the kids to sit behind the drum set and play their own solo.

_ _

Owens was about the same age as these kids when he touched a saxophone for the first
time on a trip to his father’s family home in Oklahoma. “Everybody in his family
played an instrument. There was a saxophone, trumpet, piano, drums trombone sitting
around in the living room. I had a good time messing with the instruments,” he remembers.

Back home in California, he asked his mother to send for his uncle Henry’s saxophone.
He wanted to play like Charlie Parker. Later he joined the Air Force Band and eventually
studied music in Boston and Los Angeles.

He mastered many instruments and soon toured with jazz greats like Buddy Rich and
Mongo Santamaria’s Afro-Cuban band. “I sat next to some of the greatest musicians
in the world, talked to them. Just to hear these guys made me want to be better.”

He also played in the movie “La La Land.”

Now Owens has become the teacher that young musicians look up to and want to work
with, such as Michael Alvidrez, a latin jazz bass player. He plays with him at elementary
schools, in orchestras and bands at local clubs.

Alvidrez says Owens is one of his favorite people:** “**He always encourages you
to play with heart and fun. He knows so much of history and he has got lots of wisdom.”

Charles’ main passion now is to pass on his knowledge. He teaches a weekly jazz 
class at UCLA, and is teaching his 9-year-old grandson the saxophone.

Now when he’s onstage, he sits down more than he used to. His memory is no longer
as sharp as he would like it. But the fingers on the sax are as loose as they always
were.

Owens still practices his instruments for hours every day. He says he likes to make
up music. “I figured that there are still sounds that I haven’t made yet and maybe
nobody else has either.”

Once stay-at-home orders are lifted, you can watch Owens and his band  play regularly
at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach — during Saturday brunch and Happy Hour 
Jazz.

![Before the coronavirus pandemic, Charles Owens regularly performed at Lighthouse
Cafe in Hermosa Beach.](https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/high-schools-
jazz-restaurants-coronavirus/charles-owens/@@images/rectangular_image/page-header?
v=1587765918.77)

### _Related_