Harry Owens

b. 1902, Nebraska, USA, d. 11 December 1986, Eugene, Oregon, USA. Before forming his own dance band Owens played trumpet in several Los Angeles area orchestras, including those of Vincent Rose and the Cocoanut Grove Orchestra. When he established his own combo in 1926 to play at the local Lafayette Cafe, it was a conventional dance band that gave little indication of his future direction. The change came about when he travelled to Honolulu in 1934 to fulfil a four-month contract as the musical director of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The orchestra he pieced together here took nat...