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 ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. As a teenager, he was awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study music with

Pat LaBarbera Pat (Pascel Emmanuel) LaBarbera (born April 7, 1944) is an American-born Canadian jazz tenor, alto and soprano saxophonist, clarinetist, and flautist born in Mt. Morris, New York, most notable for his work as a soloist in Buddy Rich bands fr ...

and

Phil Nimmons Phillip Rista Nimmons, (born June 3, 1923) is a Canadian jazz clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and educator. Nimmons is known for playing in a "Free Jazz" and mainstream styles. As well as playing jazz, Nimmons also played other genres, notab ...

at the

Banff School of Fine Arts Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

. 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 system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, 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 complex ...

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 owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue notes of jazz and the blues. Or ...

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 Michel Camilo (born April 4, 1954) is a Grammy-award winning pianist and composer from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He specializes in jazz, Latin and classical piano work. Camilo lists some of his main influences as Chick Corea, Keith Ja ...

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 (born August 26, 1960 in Philadelphia) is an American jazz pianist and keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer who has worked with Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Mike Stern, Dennis Chambers a ...

. 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 and raised in Philadelphia.Lutz, Phillip. "Orrin Evans The Instigator." ''Downbeat'' 81.11 (2014): 42-45. Print. He attended Rutgers University ...

, Jim Trompeter, Renee Rosnes,

Earl MacDonald Earl MacDonald (born July 26, 1970) is a Canadian pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, recording artist, and educator specializing in jazz. Described as "a magical, musical alchemist of hip hybrids", MacDonald's compositional work frequently d ...

Ralph Peterson Jr. Ralph Peterson Jr. (May 20, 1962 – March 1, 2021) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Early life Four of Peterson's uncles and his grandfather were drummers. Peterson himself began on percussion at age three. He was raised in Pleasan ...

Charles Fambrough Charles Fambrough (August 25, 1950January 1, 2011) was an American jazz bassist, composer and record producer from Philadelphia. Fambrough was a member of Art Blakey, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers during the early 1980s. Suffering from kidney fail ...

, and Anthony Branker. Bowen has led the jazz program at

Mason Gross School of the Arts Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It is named for Mason W. Gross, the sixteenth president of Rutgers. Mason Gross offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, Theater, Digi ...

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

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

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

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

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

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) * ''Soul Proprietor'' (Criss Cross, 2001) * ''Keep the Change'' (Criss Cross, 2003) * ''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) * ''Five'' (Criss Cross , 2008) 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

* ''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, bass and piano. Biography Michael Dease was born in Augusta, Georgia and attended ...

, ''Reaching Out'' (Posi-Tone, 2018) *

, ''Keeper of the Spirit'' (AudioQuest, 1995) *

Conrad Herwig Lee Conrad Herwig III (born 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 Septet and ...

, ''A Voice Through the Door'' (Criss Cross, 2012) * Brian Lynch, ''Conclave'' (Criss Cross, 2005) *

, ''Schroeder's Tantrum'' (Radioland Jazz, 1992) * Manteca, ''Strength in Numbers'' (RCA, 1984) *

, ''Back to Stay'' (Sirocco Jazz, 1999) * Renee Rosnes, ''Renee Rosnes'' (Blue Note, 1990) *

Jim Rotondi James Robert Rotondi (born 28 August 1962) is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger, educator, and conductor. The youngest of five siblings, Rotondi was born in Butte, Montana. He played in New York City for twenty years before moving ...

, ''The Move'' (Criss Cross, 2010) * John Serry Jr., ''Enchantress'' (Telarc, 1996) *

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

References

Other sources

*Richard Skelly,

Ralph Bowen 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 Tor ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Ralph Canadian jazz saxophonists 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 saxophonists 21st-century Canadian male musicians Canadian male jazz musicians Out of the Blue (American band) members 21st-century flautists