Steve Owen is a saxophonist, composer, and the Director of Jazz Studies at University of Oregon. He is the founder and co-director of the Oregon Jazz Festival, an annual workshop for college, junior high, and high school jazz ensembles, the University of Oregon Summer Jazz Improvisation Camp, and is on the faculty of the University of Kansas’ jazz camp.

Steve is the original playful musician and was a big inspiration for this podcast. He joins The Playful Musician to chat about how music has been his playground his entire life. Steve shares about how he loves practicing and how he recently took a huge hiatus from playing the saxophone. We discuss his practice routine, writing process, and the evolution of jazz pedagogy. Steve shares his current favorite tunes, who inspires him, and about his plans for the future.