About
Who is Owen?
New York based Jazz guitarist
▎ Owen Chen is a New York-based jazz guitarist and bandleader. He holds a Master's in Jazz Performance from NYU, where he studied with John Scofield, Peter Bernstein, Ari Hoenig, and Adam Rogers, and he records for Origin Records — his debut, The Ghibli Collection (2026), reimagines Joe Hisaishi through a post-bop and contemporary jazz lens. A violinist since age five, he brings a lyricism to the guitar that Jazz Weekly calls "Pat Metheny-esque… lyrical yet gently dancing." and Paris-Move describes as "one of those understated artists whose work carries a profound poetry, immediately accessible while remaining remarkably complex."
▎Owen bandleads Eternal Wind, featuring a contemporary jazz ensemble hailed by BroadwayWorld [REVIEW] for “creating a space where everyone reconnected with the stories and songs that shaped them,” and a straight-ahead hard-bop quintet "The Lunar Frontier". He maintains jazz residencies such as sold-out performances at at The Red Pavilion, Bar Next Door, as well as cross-genre appearances at Le Poisson Rouge, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, 54 Below ("Broadway's living room"), Nublu, Catch One (LA) and more. His dual identity as guitarist and violinist brings distinctive color to his arrangements, which BroadwayWorld describes as "tender, almost aching... made the room go quiet."
His concert series The Lunar Frontier, traces the journey of jazz from New Orleans to Tokyo, performing the music of Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakey, and Duke Ellington alongside compositions by Yoko Kanno — exploring the deep relationship between the American jazz tradition and the Japanese artists who carried it forward. The Lunar Frontier features a rotating cast of guest features, sharing the stage with jazz veterans such as pianists Anthony Wonsey, David Kikoski, and more, as well as a cast of rising NYC players on the scene.
Eternal Wind has collaborated with partners including Uniqlo and Studio Ghibli. Owen is the acoustic guitarist on the soundtrack of the award‑winning short film Let’s Eat (IMDB), is a jazz semi‑finalist in The 2019 Wilson Center Guitar Fest, and has appeared as guitar soloist with the San Diego Young Artists Symphony Orchestra.
The Lunar Frontier: Cowboy Bebop & Jazz That Inspired It
This popular series at The Red Pavilion features a hard-bop quintet connecting the music of Cowboy Bebop with the 1960s jazz it came from — Yoko Kanno's book alongside Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, and the standards tradition. The project features a rotation of veteran and rising NYC jazz artists, with a debut recording in development for 2027.
Eternal Wind
A dual-guitar led contemporary jazz ensemble that reimagines popular film, anime, and video game music scores. Drawing from post-bop, and contemporary jazz and fusing influences from classical, world music, pop, and R&B, this cinematic jazz ensemble reshapes familiar melodies into immersive improvisational experiences.
Selected Press
“Albums of this caliber inevitably raise high expectations for what comes next. After a project as romantic and enigmatic as The Ghibli Collection, audiences will naturally expect more.”
“revealing Chen’s gift for storytelling through music. His work possesses a cinematic quality, painting landscapes and characters through melody and offering listeners not just music but immersive worlds. ”
“Owen Chen is, without a doubt, an artist who deserves to be discovered without delay.”
““Pat Metheny-esque landscape to them, lyrical yet gently dance, with strings crying and sighing””
“His guitar playing in particular is carefully crafted, expressive, and marked by great subtlety.”
“The originality of the musical arrangements in this project ensures that his future, through what we hope will be many personal creations to come, will be widely appreciated for both its poetic subtlety and technical mastery. ”
“"Eternal Wind created a space where everyone got to reconnect with the stories and songs that shaped them.”” - BroadwayWorld
EternalWindMusic.com
Eternal Wind is continuously developing new theme concept shows:
Upcoming Shows
Performance History
Residencies
- The Red Pavilion, Brooklyn — resident artist, 40+ shows (2024–present).
- Bar Next Door, NYC (trio)
- Recurring: Laissez Faire, NYC · The Bronze Owl, NYC · Fiction Bar
Also Appears At
- Joe's Pub (with Natalie Walker) · 54 Below · Le Poisson Rouge & Catch One LA · Nublu
Pop, Musical Theater
Short Film
Acoustic guitarist
Albums
ETERNAL WIND [eternalwindmusic.com]
The Ghibli Collection (2026)
Released under Origin Records (OA2 Records), March 2026.
Guitarist Owen Chen introduces Eternal Wind, a dual-guitar-led ensemble that reimagines the timeless stories of the Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli through the expressive lens of modern jazz. Developed over a year of performances at Brooklyn's Red Pavilion and shaped by Chen's long-standing collaboration with guitarist Andrew Cheng, the album channels the emotional gravity, tenderness, and wonder of Joe Hisaishi's iconic film scores into a deeply personal improvisational language. Reviewers praised the performances for their dramatic weight and aching nostalgia, moments where the room seemed to hold its breath as familiar melodies resurfaced with renewed urgency and vulnerability. Anchored by the conversational interplay of two guitars and supported by a collective of rising New York jazz musicians, the arrangements move fluidly between lyricism and risk, honoring the source material while allowing space for spontaneity and discovery. For Chen, the project reflects an Asian American experience of reconciling formative influences into a voice that feels wholly his own; for listeners, it offers a chance to reconnect with beloved stories in ways that feel both unexpected and profoundly familiar. The Ghibli Collection marks a compelling debut and the emergence of Eternal Wind's distinctive sound.
https://originarts.com/oa2/recordings/recording.php?TitleID=22250
Eternal (2022)
Debut (EP) "Eternal" of 4 original compositions was released on April 24th 2022. iTunes.
Each piece draws from different sources of personal musical inspiration in Owen's life experiences, from influences of cinematic soundtracks, progressive rock, and anime music, the contrasting themes and melodic improvisations paint a picture of the different melodies that contributed to his "eternal" musical journey. This music was brought to life by a phenomenal band of New York musicians - Sukyung Kim (piano), Sunhyun Yoo (saxophone), Sean Hannon (Bass), and Joshua Roberts (Drums)
