The Charles Owens Trio celebrates the five-year anniversary of their excellent album 10 Years. Featuring the Virginia-born saxophonist alongside bassist Andrew Randazzo and drummer Devonne Harris, the project captures the energy of a single, six-hour marathon session. This anniversary release highlights a spontaneous blend of Afrobeat, jazz-funk, and psychedelic rock, offering high-energy reinterpretations of John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, and other legends.

The album is full of performances that enamor with climactic, rich structural unveilings, and that begins with opening track “Cameron The Wise.” Bass and drums enamor with an intoxicating, hypnotic pull, then giving way to the vibrancy of saxophone, which finds a lovely middle ground between effervescence and caressing intrigue. Its Afrobeat sound compels with sophisticated allure, its concluding rhythmic pitter-patter arriving into the bouncy, charismatic flair of “Caught Up In The Rapture,” providing a delectably jazzy take on the 1986 ballad by R&B/soul singer Anita Baker. An especially memorable bass emphasis takes hold past the five-minute turn, interplaying wonderfully with whispers of saxophone.

An enthralling take on Coltrane’s “Central Park West” is another blissful standout, maneuvering across smoky saxophones and gentle washes of rhythms, while a funk-ready blaring invigorates on “If 6 was 9,” breathing new creative life into the Jimi Hendrix track. Jumpy bass and expressive saxophone also dazzle on “Tell Me A Bedtime Story,” the Herbie Hancock classic; its soulful jazz-funk sound fits perfectly within Charles Owens Trio’s talents, showcasing an abundance of strong musicianship and reverence for the classics — while still retaining a unique creativity — throughout 10 Years.

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“If 6 was 9” is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Rainy Days and Late Night Drives.

We discovered this release via MusoSoup.

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