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It is hard to believe that it has been only six years since Endea Owens graduated from the prestigious Julliard School. Her achievements since that time (and before and during) are significant. She has toured with legends such as Wynton Marsalis, Jennifer Holliday, Diana Ross, Rhonda Ross, Solange, Jon Batiste, Jazzmeia Horn, Dee Dee Bridgewater, was a member of the house band of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show and has won an Emmy, Grammy Award, and a George Foster Peabody Award.
As a composer, her debut album Feel Good Music was released in September 2023, and her monumental composition Ida’s Crusade, about the life of journalist, educator and civil rights leader, Ida B. Wells, for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, was also performed by the NYO Carnegie Hall Orchestra. To say Endea Owens is a force to be reckoned with is an understatement. Not only as a musician and composer, but as an advocate, a true voice and role model for the people. I have been following her career closely over the past few years and I have been continually astounded and inspired by her work. Her music exemplifies her passion and love for the community and the role she has within that community. A true role model for all to aspire to.
During the pandemic, Endea was deeply affected by the struggles she witnessed all around her. Musicians she knew, losing their jobs, people everywhere without work and unable to cope. It affected us all and we all worked through our own coping mechanisms, but Endea brought some light to the dark times in a hugely significant way. It started with an idea to buy 200 meals from a local restaurant and distribute them and asking her friend if they could use her dad’s car…
‘125th St., between Park Ave. and Lexington in Harlem is a very underserved community with unfortunately a lot of addicts, single mothers, pregnant women, just so many homeless people and I said this is exactly where I want to start. So, we spent the whole hour passing out the meals and I started reaching out and handing people money to help pay their rent and bills and everything, and I said OK it was supposed to be a one-time thing but I want to do it every month! I thought, how can I have more people know about this? Let me add some music to it and then I could hire my friends and I could hire people from different boroughs, in different areas to play. I was lucky enough to still work on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert – we did remote recording – but I was one of the few people that was still working. For the first 3 years, it was with my own money – paying the musicians, getting the catering, transportation, back line etc. was all out of pocket. We’ve fed over 5000 people so far and we’ve had almost 20 live concerts. Now I’m getting funding from the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, so the sponsorships are coming in.’
We have all, sadly, witnessed homelessness and reacted in different ways. I spend a lot of time with the homeless community in London and have spent time listening to people’s journeys and what life is like in a place where you are often treated disgracefully. The impact of sharing even 5 minutes of your time can be significant, but the majority of people just walk on by. But Endea does not just walk on by. She is changing peoples lives. Defined as an organisation ’that creates inclusive spaces that are accessible to anyone no matter their race, gender, or background. The Community Cookout strives to make New York a better place through music, activism, and meals.’ It is extraordinary. Raised in Detroit, working across the globe but based in New York I asked Endea why she started this initiative in such a specific place.
‘I’m starting here because it’s something I’ve seen and witnessed. When people see people who are addicted to drugs or homeless or just struggling, when they walk past those types of people and do the ‘don’t touch me, don’t say anything to me – you’re invisible. I wanted to make the invisible visible. Just to give them a gift – someone sees you and someone is believing in you to better your life and you can do this and it’s OK, this is only a moment in your life, but you have help and you have people that care.’
Endea released her brilliant debut album Feel Good Music in September 2023, which is described as ‘a world of soulful melodies and rhythmic dynamism designed to make your heart dance and spirit soar.’ Having seen her perform recently at Ronnie Scott’s in London, I can say without a doubt, that her performance was incredible, and I have never seen the club exuding so much feel–good energy. Everyone was involved. The audience were singing, dancing, clapping, launching – smiling. It was a truly beautiful thing.
‘The whole reason that I named my band The Cookout is really based on the energy felt during the cookouts, when families come together, friends and strangers and we all meet on one accord. We listen to music; we have food and fellowship. When I write, the music is activism, and it is community based – I’m trying to reach people. I’m not just trying to write notes just because, you know? Everything is with intention, so I never wanted the community cookout to be a separate idea, the school of thought is community.’
With an innovative and quickly growing portfolio of work as a composer, I was interested to see in a recent interview, how Endea spoke of how specifically as a female composer, she felt powerful. I asked her to expand on this and she gave an unsurprisingly empowering response.
‘I believe in being a female, doing anything grand, you will feel powerful. Society, when you’re a woman, especially if you’re, you know a certain skin tone, but let’s just keep it to gender, the world can try to minimise you. So, I always believe that it’s important to tell your own story and control your own narrative so people don’t decide that for you. That’s what I meant when I said I feel powerful. I feel powerful, not like I’m controlling everything, but I feel powerful within my own story. Many times, people have tried to write my story or counteract my story or endanger my story, so through that channel I’m able to express myself at such a high level that is uniquely me and authentically me. That is a power that I can tap into myself and hopefully bring to others. So that’s what I mean by powerful, it’s just telling my story but on my terms.’
Endea not only controls her own narrative so powerfully and inspirationally, she uses her platform to share the stories of other powerful women. The album Freedom, Justice and Hope featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis was created in collaboration with social justice activist Bryan Stevenson, and shares recordings of some of the most vital protest songs in jazz history as well as new works, including Endea’s composition Ida’s Crusade, about the life of journalist, educator and civil rights leader, Ida B. Wells.
‘The first premier was introduced by Angela Bassett – one of the best days of my life – and Ida B Wells is one of my heroes. She was one of the founders of the NAACP and one of the leading journalists in America – especially for writing about lynching’s which was unheard of. She was just such a pioneer of all thing’s activism, so I was honoured to write her story and tell her story through music.’
Endea’s connection with Ida B Wells is palpable. At a dangerous time in history, where books are banned and people’s stories and experiences are threatened with eradication from schools, sharing the stories of the pioneers that lived, stood and fought before us, is imperative. Endea grew up surrounded by truth. By the age of five, she already knew about Malcom X and was reciting Dr Martin Luther Kings’ ‘I Have A Dream’ speech when she was eight.
‘I always knew about Ida B Wells from a kid, thankfully. We were a very, very knowledgeable group of young people. I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, so all of our activists and black American inventors, all the important figures in history, we always knew about. I was having a conversation with Wynton Marsalis before I decided what the piece would be about and he was just discussing all of the monumental women including Florence Price who was an incredible classical composer and we started talking about Ida B Wells a little bit more and I decided I was definitely going to write about her. I don’t think a piece has ever been written about her. Her life is so amazing. She started teaching at 16, she was orphaned at 16 and also had to care for siblings but she found a way to teach and to learn and to get her degrees. She sued the railroad company…so many, many things about her… she got people exonerated from prison, she went undercover into the prison… She was really a woman, not only for the people but amongst the people. That’s how I try to live my life and so I saw pieces of myself through her story.’
Endea transforms Ida’s life into a truly masterful composition.
‘In the beginning of the piece there’s an open bass solo followed by a call and response in the brass section. The open bass solo signified Ida B Wells voice, like a call for justice and the brass section was the response to justice, like her newsletters and her pamphlets that went across America. The suite also ends with one voice on the piano, playing her last homecoming – I wanted to start it with one singular voice on the instrument and one singular voice at the end. There’s four different suites and the first suite is her, kind of upbeat and signifies the start of college, the start of her teaching, everything is going good. Then the second suite is when things are happening and she’s learning more about all these lynching’s and she sees everything that’s just going crazy and haywire in her life. She was born in 1862 before the emancipation, so she was born enslaved but then she experienced reconstruction and then she experienced Jim Crow…so that was supposed to signify all of that. The third suite is kind of fast-paced because one of her friends actually got lynched at a grocery store – he was one of the three people – and that really put a fire in her to spread the word even more. The final suite signifies her homecoming ceremony. I feel like every hero of ours should have a proper homecoming and a proper song for their life. It is grand and it is beautiful, and it just feels like you’re really carrying someone’s life home, like going up to the heavens.’
Endea Owens is a role model for us all. Her dedication to making the community not only a better place, but an inspired place where food, music and companionship are front and centre is remarkable. I imagine if I spoke to anyone in her Cookout community, they would describe her as some kind of guardian angel. Endea not only wants people to feel seen and heard, she takes action to ensure they are. She truly is an inspiration.
Crusade for Justice The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, Second Edition
Freedom, Justice and Hope featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Photos provided by Endea Owens
This interview was first published in the Women in Jazz Media July 2024 magazine.
Last modified: August 30, 2024
