Craig Owens and the Bodo Ensemble — The River

CLD002

May 29

Written By David Lord

Release date: 7/10/2026

TRACKLIST

The River
Zadi’s Agouti
Ballad for Kahabi
Crime Dog Bodo: Searching for Janessa
Bodo and the Dolphins
Then and When

CREDITS

All songs composed by Craig Owens

Craig Owens: guitar, percussion, voice
Ellen Johnson Mosley: flute
Miguel Santana Morales: double bass
Randy Bowen: drums
David Lord: guitar (3, 4, 6)

Produced & recorded by David Lord at Air House, Wichita, KS
Mixed by David Lord with assistance from Gwendolyn Johnson & Clint McClellan
Mastered by JJ Golden, Ventura, CA

ABOUT

The Bodo Ensemble was founded in 1989 as a trio consisting of Craig Owens, guitar: Glenn Holmes, bass; and Randy Bowen. The music was freely improvised. In the ensuing years the Ensemble expanded and came to feature Owens’ compositions, releasing five cd’s in the process, playing local events, New York, Paris and Amsterdam. The River represents The Bodo Ensemble 2025 featuring Randy Bowen on drums, Miguel Santana Morales on bass, and Ellen Johnson Mosley on flutes.

PRESS

“Guitarist Craig Owens has been a Wichita institution for decades: as a player and performer with his long-running Bodo Ensemble, as a music teacher at Wichita State (he retired in 2013), as a mentor to numerous younger artists interested in improvisatory playing and creative composition…This version of the Bodo features newer members Miguel Santana Morales on double bass and Ellen Johnson Mosley on flute, with only drummer Randy Bowen remaining from the group's founding in 1989. Deep Bodo heads will notice the absence of reeds in this group's arsenal – previous albums made heavy use of saxophone (usually Andrew Bishop) and bass clarinet (mostly Michael Unruh). Owens once relied on the throaty timbres of those instruments to give his tunes a hefty swing — with Mosley as his only front-line counterpart, his tunes move more nimbly and show more color. The opening title track summons the syncopated mojo of Eddie Harris' much-covered "Freedom Jazz Dance," with Owens and Mosley bobbing and weaving around a taut melodic line, supported by the brisk tempo of the drums and the limber hop of the bass. It's an old-school style that recalls the jazz of the late '60s, minus the Beatles-esque chordal harmonies and psychedelic tracers of the flower-power era. Though later tracks explore other modes such as blues ("Crime Dog Bodo: Searching for Janessa") and free groove ("Ballad for Kahabi"), the no-nonsense, unfussy evocation of bygone days persists…Owens has a dry, bristly tone that stops just short of aridity, which nicely complements Mosley's woody trill. On previous albums, most of them live recordings, Owens showed hints of the sprawling, buttery legato favored by Midwestern guitarists like Pat Metheny. Here, he operates in a much more contained zone. At times, his soulful single-note runs suggest Grant Green, as on "Zadi's Agouti," while on "Bodo and the Dolphins" he drops a few circular clusters reminiscent of an unusually experimental Jim Hall...Owens isn't afraid to get at least a little goofy, either. He shows off his scatting skills on "Bodo and the Dolphins," thankfully coming off as more lightly ironic than earnest, and a tangy, high-1970s' melody erupts in the middle of "Crime Dog" before just as suddenly breaking down into funky segments, from which it never reassembles.” -Reed Jackson, The Shout.