USU professor assists Grammy nominee
Corey Christiansen, professor of guitar studies at USU, has been called a gifted musician by music critics, far and wide. That recognition was taken to a new level when he lent his guitar playing to acclaimed jazz composer Chuck Owen for his Grammy-nominated record “River Runs.”
Christiansen said it was a privilege to be included as a part of the album.
“It’s epic,” Christiansen said, describing what he thinks is Owen’s best work. “I mean, that word is so overused in pop culture right now, but I’m not sure what other word to use for it. It’s just huge in scope.”
Owen was made one of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation’s Fellows in Music Composition in 2009. The honor includes a grant of several thousand dollars, which varies according to each individual fellow’s needs and can be spent as the receiver sees fit.
While many recipients might see the cash prize as a payoff for the work they’ve done over the years, Christiansen said Owen used the award money to further his work in composition.
“I know he dumped all of that reward into his art, which is really the mark of a true artist,” Christiansen said. “Chuck thought it was the catalyst to do something really big and keep propelling.”
During his graduate studies at the University of South Florida, Christiansen developed a friendship and working relationship with Owen, his composition instructor. Since that time, Owen has featured Christiansen on several of his recordings.
“Chuck has used me in his band on and off for years to do the textural guitar parts,” Christiansen said.
He said he often plays and records “quirky guitar parts” and instruments that aren’t typically heard in standard jazz writing, including classical, steel-string and 12-string guitars.
“That just goes to show Chuck is really thinking all the time,” Christiansen said. “He’s always taking ideas from other artists that he hears and he likes, thinking, ‘Man, I like that sound. How can I put that into my writing for the jazz band?’ He doesn’t really limit himself to the idea of doing what most people do.”
Craig Jessop, dean for the Caine College of the Arts, praised Christiansen’s past work and applauded his part in “River Runs.”
“We are very proud of Corey’s spectacular honor and achievement,” Jessop said in a news release. “It doesn’t get any bigger in the music business than the Grammys.”
Christiansen, like Owen, said he tries to never limit himself. Several of his own albums have reached critical acclaim, but he believes 2013’s “Lone Prairie” is his strongest work to date – an album that embodies his experiences and progression through music over the past 35 years, from cowboy tunes in his youth to bluegrass and Appalachian music in his adulthood to jazz studies in his professional life.
“‘Lone Prairie’ is kind of a crazy project in a bunch of ways because usually, as a jazz guitarist, there’s kind of a set repertoire that you draw from or you write original music that’s related to some of that repertoire that you play,” he said. “But this was all based on old cowboy tunes, and for the most part really old tunes. Some of these date back into the 1800s – the 1850s, 1860s and maybe older.”
As he researched, compiled and arranged jazz instrumental versions of these old cowboy tunes, Christiansen found most of the subject matter “told a dark story” in spite of the pleasant, happy melodies throughout.
Most of the songs featured on “Lone Prairie” are centered around death, Christiansen said, and two of the most recognizable are Marty Robbins’ “El Paso” and Spaghetti Western scorer Ennio Morricone’s “Il Grande Massacro” from the Charles Bronson film “Once Upon a Time in the West.”
“As I researched all of these tunes, I started kind of trying to put them in an order that kind of tells a story or almost several stories,” Christiansen said. “It’s kind of a concept record that nobody really gets. We didn’t write that into the liner notes, but when we perform the music live, we don’t have really much of a program change. That music is exactly the way I wanted it on the record, and we just play it straight through because there is a kind of a story that’s being told. If nobody else gets it, I don’t really care. But I get it.”
Christiansen centers each of his recordings around a concept, something he feels is void in most of modern music put out by today’s popular musicians.
“Really, from what I can tell, they make records where they can sell singles on iTunes,” Christiansen said. “It’s all about the singles. Back in the day we’d be calling them 45s, but it’s really rare that people are doing a record with a real artistic concept. Most of the high-level jazz stuff – and I think some of the classical writing that’s going on – is very similar to the idea that you’re presenting an art show, not just a bunch of random paintings.”
Christiansen will be playing many music and jazz festivals across the country and internationally in the next four months when his schedule at USU allows.
He’ll be touring and performing cuts from “Lone Prairie” in cities throughout the nation during the summer months. But even while he’s promoting “Lone Prairie,” Christiansen said he has been working on material for future releases.
“I’m getting some music together, and I’m kind of torn between two projects,” Christiansen said. “I’ve got another record that’s kind of a concept record. I’ve been writing music for a couple years now and I think I’ve got enough tunes to do the whole record, so I’m thinking about recording that. But I’ve also been doing a fair amount of arranging of Jimi Hendrix tunes for my group, so I’m thinking of doing a Hendrix concept record. It’ll definitely be a jazz-rock kind of record, and I guess it’d be fair to say if people like jam-band music, they’ll like the next two projects that will be coming out eventually.”
– paul.r.christiansen@aggiemail.usu.edu