Bartow-Pell And Bronx Music Heritage Center Present Jimmy Owens Plus Renowned Quartet To Play At Bartow-Pell On June 7th

New York, NY (Top40 Charts) First Friday! on Friday, June 7 features Bronx born and bred trumpeter, composer, arranger, and educator Jimmy Owens. His music career has taken him from sitting in with Miles Davis at 15 to being awarded the nation's highest honor in jazz, NEA Jazz Master, by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2012.

Owens and his band have performed around the globe: Asia, South and Central America, the Middle East, and across Europe and his own compositions have been performed nationally and internationally, including by the Metropole Orchestra (Netherlands). But on June 7th you can hear the quartet (piano, bass, drums and trumpet/flugelhorn) where their sound was born - right here in the Bronx.

Owens attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City, and studied composition with Henry Bryant and trumpet with Donald Byrd. Since sitting in with Miles Davis he has played with countless jazz greats including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Max Roach, and Billy Taylor. In 1972, he played at the inaugural Ellington Fellowship Concert at Yale, and in 1974 became musical director of the New York Jazz Repertory Company. In 2008, Owens received The Benny Golson Jazz Master Award in Washington, DC.

An educator and activist, Owens has delivered seminars, workshops, and concerts at major colleges and universities worldwide. He helped found Collective Black Artists, a not-for-profit jazz education and performing organization, and was closely involved with the Jazzmobile program. His advocacy efforts led to the founding of the Jazz Musician's Emergency Fund, a program of the Jazz Foundation of America which helps musicians with medical, financial, and housing assistance. Jimmy serves on the board of the Jazz Foundation of America and is a past board member of New York City's American Federation of Musicians. Jimmy is a founding member of the Bronx Music Heritage Center's Music Advisory Board.