About Owen
Saxophonist and band leader Owen Broder runs in a variety of musical circles, leading his own groups and participating in others. He earned the title 2018 Debut Artist of the Year from NPR’s Francis Davis and was included on DownBeat Magazine’s Critics Poll as a Rising Star Alto Saxophonist in 2023 and 2024. With a lyrical approach to his playing, he is recognized for his “smooth-as-silk alto and baritone saxophone work,” (Frank Alkyer, DownBeat) and his improvising as a “model of restraint and concision,” while demonstrating his “facility, timbre, and nimble attack,” (Pierre Giroux, All About Jazz).
Broder is a member of the GRAMMY® nominated Anat Cohen Tentet and has performed with internationally respected artists such as Ryan Truesdell’s Gil Evans Project, Miho Hazama, the Ulysses Owens, Jr. Big Band, and YouTube sensation Postmodern Jukebox. His six albums as a band leader have received national recognition. DownBeat said of his "Hodges: Front and Center, Vol. 1" (2022), “the swing is impeccable,” and included the album on the publication’s list of Best Albums of 2022. The debut album from his American Roots Project, Heritage (ArtistShare®, 2018), was praised by DownBeat Magazine as a “transcendent work of art.” His co-led quintet Cowboys & Frenchmen was described as “innovative as well as inspiring” (Travis Rogers, Jr., JazzTimes) and received received critical acclaim for its three full-length recordings, including a four-star review from DownBeat for their 2017 release, Bluer Than You Think, and singles from their 2021 release Our Highway premiered by WBGO and JazzTimes.
In musical theater, he was a member of the pit orchestras for the German tour of Grease and off-Broadway production For the Last Time, appeared with the band in David Bowie’s Lazarus and the Tony Award® winning musical Tootsie, and originated the woodwind chair in the U.S. premiere tour of The Bodyguard the Musical.
An award-winning composer and arranger, Broder writes for his own ensembles and a variety of others. “Fans of large-ensemble music might notice the sturdy artistic thread Photo by Adrien H. Tillmann 53 Sound Systems that connects bandleaders Maria Schneider, Ryan Truesdell and Owen Broder,” (Bobby Reed, DownBeat). His composition “Goin’ Up Home” earned him a 2018 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, and in 2020 he received a commission grant from the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers. Other commissioned projects have come from the U.S. Air Force Band in Europe, the Airmen of Note, the off-Broadway show “About Love,” the Winchester Symphonic Winds, the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, and the internationally acclaimed woodwind quintet WindSync.
The projects Broder leads are marked by creativity and originative thinking. UNCSA’s 2021 Artpreneur of the Year Award and the 2018 Eastman/ArtistShare® New Artist program recognized his entrepreneurial ventures for their creative musical programming, innovative presentation, and meaningful impact on the community. Notably, in response to the pandemic, Broder co-founded and performed in Live From Our Living Rooms. The initiative was credited as “the first online jazz festival” (Rolling Stone) and raised over $140k in support of US-based musicians whose performance careers were halted due to COVID-19.
A dedicated educator, Broder currently serves as Director of Jazz at Reed College, teaches Jazz Arranging and Jazz Ear Training at Portland State University and saxophone lessons at Pacific University, and directs ensembles at the three schools. He participates in educational festivals across the country as a guest clinician and adjudicator, including the Reno Jazz Festival and the Oregon Music Educators Association conference. He taught a course on The Music of Johnny Hodges through Jazz at Lincoln Center's Swing University as part of the program's month-long celebration of Duke Ellington's centennial.
Broder grew up in Jacksonville, FL, and also has hometown ties to Detroit, MI, and Washington, D.C. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, and a Master’s from the Manhattan School of Music.