MEET THE BAND

Christian Bohnenstengel teaches piano at Southern Utah University. Praised as “a master of contrasts” (Aalener Nachrichten) and for his ability to “put the audience into a state of sheer awe” (Gmünder Tagespost), his performances have taken him all over the United States, South America, Asia, and Europe. Christian frequently performs with jazz combos and big bands throughout southern Utah, and his recordings include the albums Jazz Hands and Jazz Hands II with the Shawn Owens Project Trio. He also serves as music director for the First Fridays at Kayenta event series. 

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Thomas Herb is originally from Salem, Oregon but has spent the last 15 years in Cedar City where he runs the music education program at Southern Utah University. While his list of saxophone influences run far and wide, his initial youthful inspiration came from Spyro Gyra and Maynard Ferguson. He founded the Jazz Alliance of Cedar City in 2018, and during 2020 the “JAZZcast” (currently getting 20k monthly views) was formed. He can be found performing with many local bands, including the Rebel Jazz Band, St. George All Stars, and The Shawn Owens Project, while also doing plenty of freelance work.

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Shawn Owens is from Cincinnati, Ohio.  He fell in love with jazz at an early age and was influenced by Art Blakey, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and Dave Weckl.  Shawn left music behind for awhile but when he moved to Utah he found his way back to jazz, when a jazz group performing at a local restaurant didn't have a drummer and invited him to audition right then and there on the house drum set.  Shawn got the gig and has been playing ever since.  While Shawn's favorite genre is jazz, he's on the first call list for fill-in work (live and studio) for classic rock, country, gospel, and reggae bands.