Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
Keeping the Flame at Van Gelder Studio
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
Trumpeter Calvin Owens, former B.B. King band leader and arranger, died of kidney failure early Thursday morning. Owens was 78.
A native of Houston, Calvin “The Maestro” Owens’ recording credits included work as an artist and producer for Memphis’ Kiondict recording company, A&R director/studio musician for Peacock and as an arranger for A&M recording studios in Los Angeles.
Named after the area where he grew up near Sumpter, Texas, the Sawdust Alley Preservation Foundation, founded by Owens, was a non-profit organization dedicated to blues preservation.
Owens was a fixture at SugarHill Studios, beginning in the late 1940s with blues legend Lightnin’ Hopkins and in the early 1960s with singer Joe Hinton.
He returned to the studios in 1994 after more than a decade in Belgium to record parts of True Blue. Owens would record and mix another eight blues albums, two Spanish-language albums and one hip-hop album with chief engineer and friend, Andy Bradley.
Owens arranged two tracks and played on three tracks of the forthcoming Johnny Bush album, Young at Heart, featuring Willie Nelson and Ray Price.
Owens was heralded by many and worked with musicians spanning a myriad of genres. Among his recordings are tracks featuring Shelly Carrol, Otis Clay, Archie Bell, Arnett Cobb, B.B. King, Conrad Johnson, David “Fathead” Newman, Marvin Sparks, Keith Vivens, Barbara Lynn, Pete Mayes and Rue Davis.
Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.
Sep 3, 2025 12:02 PM
On the last Sunday of 2024, in the control room of Van Gelder Studio, Don and Maureen Sickler, co-owners since Rudy Van…
Jack DeJohnette boasted a musical resume that was as long as it was fearsome.
Oct 28, 2025 10:47 AM
Jack DeJohnette, a bold and resourceful drummer and NEA Jazz Master who forged a unique vocabulary on the kit over his…
Trio aRT with its avalanche of instrumentation: from left, Pheeroan akLaff, Scott Robinson and Julian Thayer.
Sep 3, 2025 12:03 PM
Trio aRT, a working unit since 1988, shockingly released its very first studio recording this summer. Recorded in…
“Think of all the creative people I’m going to meet and a whole other way of thinking about music and a challenge of singing completely different material than I would have sung otherwise to my highest level in dedication to the moment,” Elling says about his Broadway run.
Sep 9, 2025 1:18 PM
Kurt Elling was back at home in Chicago, grabbing some family time in a late-June window between gigs. Sporting a smile…
Pat Metheny will perform with his Side-Eye III ensemble at Big Ears 2026 in Knoxville, Tennessee, next March.
Sep 9, 2025 12:19 PM
Big Ears has announced the lineup for its 2026 festival, which will take place March 26–29 and include 250…
