The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and five GRAMMY nominations, Chuck Owen’s compositions have been performed by the Netherlands’ Metropole Orch., WDR Big Band, Brussels Jazz Orch., Aarhus Big Band, Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orch., Tonight Show Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, US Army Jazz Ambassadors and numerous others. Owen's thoughtful, creative, evocative, and intensely personal work is steeped in the jazz tradition but draws liberally and often playfully from a diverse array of additional influences.

Since 1995, Owen’s primary creative outlet has been his own 19-piece Jazz Surge. Serving as conductor & primary composer/arranger, he produced each of the Surge’s 7 highly feted CDs. "Whispers On the Wind" was recognized with 4 Grammy Nominations while "River Runs", a stunning 5-movement genre-bending orchestral/big band hybrid and The Comet’s Tail also received Grammy nominations.

Owen is the founding President of the International Society of Jazz Arrangers & Composers (ISJAC) and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of South Florida (USF).