Ralph Bowen (born December 24, 1961) is a Canadian jazz saxophonist.

Biography

Bowen started piano lessons at an early age, with clarinet and saxophone lessons following soon after. At thirteen he led a quartet and performed in big bands in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. As a teenager, he was awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study music with Pat LaBarbera and Phil Nimmons at the Banff School of Fine Arts. While in Toronto, he studied with LaBarbera for eight years and developed a long-time association with drummer Keith Blackley and his father, drummer Jim Blackley. He performed and recorded with Canadian fusion group Manteca. In 1983 and 1984, he was awarded two more grants to pursue his musical studies in at the jazz department at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

, where his teacher was David Baker. In 1985, the same year he and

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...

were voted Main Jazz Men of the Year by the ''Toronto Globe and Mail'', Bowen won the audition for the

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

co-leader position of the contemporary all-star New York based jazz band known as Out of the Blue (OTB). He moved to New York and would eventually record four albums for Blue Note. In 1986, Bowen began to tour with jazz pianist Michel Camilo with whom he recorded a number of albums and soundtracks. Between 1986 and 1991 he completed three world tours with jazz pianist

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

and toured Europe with

Jim Beard James Arthur Beard (August 26, 1960 – March 2, 2024) was an American jazz pianist and keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer who worked with Steely Dan, Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Dennis Ch ...

. He has also worked with

Orrin Evans Orrin Evans (born 28 March 1975) is an American jazz pianist. Evans was born in Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton, New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia.Lutz, Phillip. "Orrin Evans The Instigator." ''Downbeat'' 81.11 (2014): 42-45. Print. He attended ...

, Jim Trompeter, Renee Rosnes, Earl MacDonald, Ralph Peterson Jr., Charles Fambrough, and Anthony Branker. Bowen has led the jazz program at

Mason Gross School of the Arts Mason Gross School of the Arts ("Mason Gross" or "MGSA") is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mason Gross offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in art, design, dance, filmmaking, music, and theater. Ma ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

."The State of Jazz: Meet 40 More Jersey Greats"
''

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'', September 28, 2003, backed up by the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

as of September 27, 2008. Accessed September 15, 2017. "Ralph Bowen -- A tenor saxophonist and composer, Bowen lives in Piscataway and heads the jazz program at the Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick. "

Awards and honors

* Silver Disk Award for Best Jazz Album, Japan, ''OTB'' by Out of the Blue, 1986 * Canadian Juno Award, Best Mainstream Album, ''Free Trade'' wit Peter Leitch, Renee Rosnes, Neil Swainson, Terry Clarke, 1994

Discography

As leader

* ''Movin' On'' (Criss Cross, 1992) * ''Free Trade'' with Peter Leitch, Renee Rosnes, Neil Swainson, Terry Clarke (Justin Time, 1994) * ''A Morning View'' (Ratamacue Records, 2001) * ''Soul Proprietor'' (Criss Cross, 2002) * ''Keep the Change'' (Criss Cross, 2003) * ''Five'' (Criss Cross, 2008) * ''Dedicated'' (Posi-Tone, 2009) * ''Due Reverence'' (Posi-Tone, 2010) * ''Power Play'' (Posi-Tone, 2011) * ''Total Eclipse'' (Posi-Tone, 2012) * ''Standard Deviation'' (Posi-Tone, 2014) * ''Ralph Bowen'' (Posi-Tone, 2017) With Out of the Blue * ''O.T.B.'' (Blue Note, 1985) * ''Inside Track'' (Blue Note, 1986) * ''Live at Mt. Fuji'' (Blue Note, 1987) * ''Spiral Staircase'' (Blue Note, 1989)

As sideman

With Anthony Branker * ''Spirit Songs'' (Sons of Sound, 2006) * ''Blessings'' (Origin, 2009) * ''Dance Music'' (Origin, 2010) * ''Dialogic'' (Origin, 2011) * ''Together'' (Origin, 2012) * ''Uppity'' (Origin, 2013) * ''The Forward (Towards Equality) Suite'' (Origin, 2014) * ''Beauty Within'' (Origin, 2016) With Michel Camilo * ''On the Other Hand'' (Epic, 1990) * ''Amo Tu Cama Rica'' (Epic 1991) * ''One More Once'' (Columbia, 1994) * ''Caribe'' (Calle, 2009) * ''Essence'' (Sony, 2019) With

* ''Captain Black'' (Criss Cross, 1998) * ''Listen to the Band'' (Criss Cross, 1999) * ''Meant to Shine'' (Palmetto, 2002) * ''Easy Now'' (Criss Cross, 2005) With others *

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

, ''Harlem Renaissanc''e (MusicMasters, 1992) *

Michael Dease Michael Patrick Dease (born August 25, 1982) is an American jazz tenor and bass trombonist, composer and producer. He also plays saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn, Double bass, bass and piano. Biography Michael Dease was born in Augusta, Georgia a ...

, ''Reaching Out'' (Posi-Tone, 2018) * Charles Fambrough, ''Keeper of the Spirit'' (AudioQuest, 1995) *

Conrad Herwig Lee Conrad Herwig III (born November 1, 1959) is an American jazz trombonist from New York City. Biography Herwig began his career in Clark Terry's band in the early 1980s and has been a featured member in the Joe Henderson Sextet, Tom Harrell's ...

, ''A Voice Through the Door'' (Criss Cross, 2012) * Brian Lynch, ''Conclave'' (Criss Cross, 2005) * Earl MacDonald, ''Schroeder's Tantrum'' (Radioland Jazz, 1992) * Manteca, ''Strength in Numbers'' (RCA, 1984) * Ralph Peterson Jr., ''Back to Stay'' (Sirocco Jazz, 1999) * Renee Rosnes, ''Renee Rosnes'' (Blue Note, 1990) * Jim Rotondi, ''The Move'' (Criss Cross, 2010) *

John Serry Jr. John Serry Jr. (born John Serrapica Jr.; January 19, 1954) is an American jazz pianist and composer, as well as a composer of contemporary classical music works that feature percussion, on which he also doubles.''Deomocrate and Chronicle'' July ...

, ''Enchantress'' (Telarc, 1996) *

, ''Rockin' with Rachmaninoff'' (2003)

References

Other sources

*Richard Skelly, Ralph Bowen at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Ralph Canadian jazz saxophonists Canadian male saxophonists Canadian jazz flautists Jazz tenor saxophonists Living people 1961 births Criss Cross Jazz artists Posi-Tone Records artists People from Piscataway, New Jersey 21st-century Canadian saxophonists 21st-century Canadian male musicians Canadian male jazz musicians Out of the Blue (American band) members 21st-century Canadian flautists