Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Utah Musician, Professor Featured On Grammy Nominated Tracks

coreychristiansen.com

This year’s Grammys are on the 26th and featured on a recording nominated for “Best Instrumental Arrangement” and “Best Instrumental Composition” is a professor from Utah State University.

Guitar Studies Director Corey Christiansen plays on famous jazz musician Chuck Owen’s latest album, River Runs.

“Whenever he’s needed, you know, more non-conventional jazz kind of things, like 12-string guitar, nylon-string guitar, steel-string guitar, I’ve always kind of been his go-to guy,” Christiansen said.

Christiansen first played with Owen in the late 1990s. He describes Owen’s music as contemporary jazz written for big band and studio orchestra.

Each song on River Runs is written to depict Owen’s journeys on various rivers. Christiansen said the album is like visual sound.

“This piece of his is really so astounding, I just hope that all of the voting members of the Grammys will really understand how significant this work is.”

Christiansen says he’ll be watching the awards show from home. 

After graduating with a B.S. in Anthropology from the University of Utah, Elaine developed a love of radio while working long hours in remote parts of Utah as an archaeological field technician. She eventually started interning for the radio show Science Questions and fell completely in love with the medium. Elaine is currently taking classes at Utah State University in preparation for medical school applications. She is a host of UPR’s 5:30 Newscast and a science writer for the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station. Elaine hopes to bring her experiences living abroad in Turkey and Austria into her work.