Chuck Owen, who plays University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida on Feb. 20, 2025. Credit: Press Handout

Collectively, violinist Sara Caswell, guitarist LaRue Nickelson, and trombonist Tom Brantley appear on three tracks from Within Us, the seventh album by Grammy-nominated big band composer Chuck Owen, who ran the University of South Florida’s jazz program from 1981-2022

For a no-cover concert by the school’s Jazz Ensemble 1 led by Brantley, they all come back together to breathe life back into work by Owen, whose orchestral jazz is complex and challenging, but melodic and intrinsically listenable.

As an added bonus, the ensemble will also perform new work by composer Ross Strauser, who was a studio assistant on Owens’ 2022 album.

There’s no cover to see Jazz Ensemble 1 play Barness Recital Hall at University of South Florida in Tampa on Thursday, Feb. 20.