Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon in Maplewood with Opening Performance by Violinist Jacqueline Lee (RECAP)

By Gregory Burrus | Posted Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Once again Smooth Jazz History is being made in the very beautiful, very spacious, historic Georgian Revival-style mansion called The Woodland in Maplewood, NJ. Rich Engel, our local New Jersey resident, producer and promoter who for decades has produced numerous NYC Smooth Jazz Cruises along with many other marquee live music concerts is determined to make contemporary jazz a mainstay in our SOMA (South Orange-Maplewood) and beyond entertainment environment. 

Rich brought two of the gold standards in contemporary jazz, Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon to town. Rich is re-establishing a past custom of one of the former #1 Contemporary Jazz stations in the country, the long-running New York CD 101.9 radio station. Co-hosting the show was former CD 101.9 radio personality Steve Harris along with Maplewood, NJ, Mayor Frank McGehee who introduced the opening set led by our own local rising star violinist, Jacquie Lee.

Steve Harris - CD 101.9 - JESPY House Logo - Mayor Frank McGehee

Rich Engel is also committed to supporting our towns and local live music musicians. In addition to stellar performances, patrons also were able to enjoy an open wine bar in support of the South Orange-based nonprofit JESPY House, which supports adults with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities. It was nice to know that 90% of the open bar purchase price went directly to JESPY to support their amazing work.

Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon Together for Holidays at The Woodland

Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon Band on Stage

Steve Harris from CD 101.9 introduced a full house to the main event performers, worldwide stars Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon.

Marion Meadows started playing tenor sax in high school, and then migrated to soprano sax. After studying jazz at Rippowam High School in Stamford, Conn, with Anthony Truglia, Meadows attended Berklee College of Music. There he majored in arranging and composition. He later went to the SUNY Purchase School for the Arts. He earned his break while playing his horn in Grand Central Station. His sound caught the ear of composer Jay Chattaway who signed Meadows to his record label and introduced him to jazz great, Bob James. Meadows went on to perform with Eartha Kitt, Brook Benton and the Temptations before launching his solo career in 1990. (Read more at www.marionmeadows.com.)

Alex Bugnon has been a prolific, energetic force on the contemporary music scene for almost three decades. A renowned musician, composer and bandleader, Bugnon hails from the picturesque town of Caux, Switzerland – four miles above Montreux, site of the world famous Montreux Jazz Festival. No doubt, the annual convergence in his hometown of some of music’s most illustrious names played a role in his decision to pursue a musical career. An early friendship with Herbie Hancock plus a legendary uncle Donald Byrd only served to further his decision. Shortly after moving to New York City, Bugnon began touring with almost every R&B artist, such as Melba Moore, Freddie Jackson, Patti Austin, James Ingram and Glenn Jones to name a few. (Read more at www.alexbugnon.com)

Clearly everyone in the band is a long-standing professional and their performance matched their history. These veteran band members with a super history consisted of Carl Carter on bass, and he has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Phil Perry, Clark Terry and Ivan Neville. Poogie Bell was on drums, and he has worked with Roberta Flack, David Bowie, and David Sanborn, and Rohn Lawrence on guitar, who has played with Najee, Freddie Jackson, Diane Reeves and Jonathan Butler. 

Backstage with Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon Band

Besides playing a series of their originals and some holiday standards, they performed a number of popular hits from their previous albums which the audience remembered and immediately became excited. From standing in the back of The Woodland it was easy to see folks rocking and swaying to the music on every single tune that was played. 

Guitarist Rohn Lawrence with Saxophonist Marion Meadows

In addition, guitarist Rohn Lawrence performed some out of this world guitar solos and became another crowd favorite. As the music cascaded across the audience, Marion introduced one tune by saying “you will recognize this one” and within a few beats, the audience was ecstatic as he performed a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite tunes “Suede”. It was extremely upbeat and off the chain. Later, another tune that Alex Bugnon introduced was his favorite interpretation of a George Benson Songm “The World is a Ghetto”. It took no time before the audience was raising hands, clapping and singing along, and the band just rocked the house.

It Was An Explosive Performance!

Audience Loves Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon Performance

It was like this all night as they performed song after song. The audience joined in humming, singing and clapping, giving standing ovations in appreciation of a fabulous live music performance that definitely delivered. As stated, the event was titled “Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon Together for ‘Holidays at the Woodland’”. Well-based on the audience response all night, that was a low key introduction to what turned out to be a truly explosive performance by two great contemporary jazz artists that folks will remember for a long time to come. Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon, as the old song goes,  “blew the roof off” the Woodland Auditorium.

Jacqueline Lee Quartet Opening for Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon  

Jacqueline Lee Quartet enjoys the night with Mayor Frank McGehee.

For this event, we had another awesome and fabulous opening set led by bandleader and local Montclair resident violinist, 16-year-old Jacqueline Lee. While young in years, she is not young in experience. Jacquie has been a member of Jazz House Kids and has a professional family of musicians surrounding her. They all thrive very well in the Greater New York, New Jersey and beyond live music scene.

Also note, that Jacqueline had been playing Violin for 11 years and received the Jazz Soloist Downbeat Student Music Award for an Outstanding Performance. Jacqueline has performed at the Jazz Standard and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center in NYC and, recently, for my Jazz973 program at Newark NJ's Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, Clements Place Jazz venue. Still the proof is in the moment. Jacquie said to me that “I’m comfortable with performing the music, but I am more concerned with making sure my speaking pieces are correct.”

Jacqueline Lee Band On Stage

Well, let the music play because Jacqueline did not disappoint at all. Her quartet included a number of local favorites, Seniar Raines on bass, Derick Campos on guitar, and Zack Perez on drums. She led her band through a number of standards: “Red Jumps” by Stuff Smith, “Cherokee” by Ray Noble and my favorite, “Invitation” by Bronislau Kaper Strasbourg/St. Denis - Roy Hargrove. All band and tune introductions were excellent, the tunes were performed eloquently, tight, and the band was totally in sync.  

Videos courtesy of Rebecca Harris-Lee

Jacquie Lee stated afterwards: “It was a lovely experience to play with a band that I've become very comfortable with. This was the first time we’ve gotten to play a performance of this caliber and having such an enthusiastic and engaged audience made the whole experience so enjoyable. It’s been amazing but quite honestly very nerve wracking to start playing for real-life people again, but I don't think that was reflected too much in our music and our energy that night was better than ever!” 

The band and audience clearly enjoyed their performance and big kudos go out to Jacqueline Lee for leading an absolutely wonderful performance. 

You can enjoy more clips and videos at the links below :

• https://vimeo.com/gregoryburrus  

• http://24hoursofmusicjamboree.com 

• https://www.youtube.com/gregoryburrus 

Artist Meet and Greet 

Enjoying the Night. Top-left Roxanne Burrus, Top-right Gregory Burus, Roxanne Burrus, DJ Roc, Patricia Harrison and Virgil Harrison, Bottom-left Al Clarke, Bottom-right Gregory Burrus, Mike Lee 

After the event, there was a meet and greet area on the 2nd floor. Here you were able to meet with other friends and neighbors in attendance and enjoy the JESPY open bar. The artists showed up, chatted with audience members, and we purchased their CDs and event merchandise. All of us had a great time. 

About The Author 

Gregory Burrus with Alex Bugnon and Marion Meadows

Writer Gregory Burrus is a local live music ambassador, event planner, and community partner that curates, manages and promotes live music events in the SOMA (South Orange-Maplewood) community and Northern NJ and New York Area. Read more about Gregory Burrus at www.jerseyindie.com/gregory-burrus.

Making History: Linda Moody Honors James Moody Scholars at 100 Blanchard Rd in South Orange, NJ (RECAP)

By Gregory Burrus | Posted Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Every year, the spectacular TD James Moody Jazz Festival comes to Newark, NJ — an absolutely fabulous jazz festival, in its 10th year, that is still sponsored by TD Bank. The TD James Moody Jazz Festival presents dozens of free and ticketed events at the beautiful New Jersey Performing Arts Center and selected locations around Downtown Newark. This year, the Godmother of the Festival, as NJPAC President John Schreiber referred to her, Linda Moody, widow of James Moody (RIP), came into town from San Diego and hosted a number of TD James Moody Jazz Festival events.

“I am honored and excited to come to the TD James Moody Jazz Festival every year.  I have life long friends here and it feels like home. I know that my husband would be thrilled at this being the 10th anniversary of the festival. He would love the diversity of it because there is something for everyone. I especially love meeting with the James Moody Scholars from Purchase College and New Jersey.  I thank Jazz House Kids for their hard work facilitating The James Moody Jazz Scholarship for New Jersey. Having the Scholars play together for the first time was heartwarming. I live in a constant state of gratitude and  sometimes I just have to pinch myself.”

— Linda Moody

Our Host, Linda Moody represents the spirit of James Moody very well. She is very engaging and ensures everyone feels happy that they came out. 

This year was special for us, as Linda Moody wanted to honor the James Moody Scholarship Scholars with a live music concert during her time here. There has been a recipient of the scholarship each year and now there are enough of them to have a band with a rhythm section. 

Now for me, a person with a Jazz loving dad and mom, we grew up listening to the famous saxophonist James Moody. Then fast forward to the 1970s, when New York City radio DJ Frankie Crocker played the King Pleasure recording of “Moody's Mood for Love” every night at the end of his show on WBLS-FM. And, as one listener stated, “Frankie Crocker had the ENTIRE tri-state singing this song - word for word - every night at 8pm - genius.” To say I was ecstatic to find a location and host an event for the James Moody Scholars is an understatement. I was truly blown away and honored.

The James Moody Scholars

With band members coming from as far away as Trenton, NJ to perform, the James Moody Scholars Septet did James Moody proud, big time. Each band member came from a different year to play together for the first time. Bandleader Birsa Chatterjee (2015) Tenor Saxophone, Iyonna Herbert (2016) Drums, Andrew Wagner  (2017) Trumpet, Caelan Cardello (2018) Piano, Jalin Shiver (2019) Alto  Saxophone, Rayner Perez (2020) Trombone, and unable to attend was Paul Reinhold (2021). That night, Gervin Myles was on Bass, all under the direction of Saxophonist Birsa Chatterjee.

The James Moody Scholars Performances

Set 1:

The night opened with me, Gregory Burrus, being very happy to introduce the host, Linda Moody. Linda discussed the past scholarships, the meaning behind them and then introduced the band one by one. We proceeded to listen to the band swing and play on. 

Set 2:

The power of jazz and improvisation was evident all night long as they also performed with the singers who came up to perform. The band continued swinging hard, playing the standards and continued playing beautiful and strong all night long. They were definitely in sync. 

The Invited Vocalists

In addition, we wanted the night to be reflective of the real world, so selected local vocalists were invited to join in the fun. In attendance were: local entrepreneur, Blues and Jazz vocalist, East Orange’s Jacqueline Harmon Johnson; actor, producer, director and the unseated “West Orange Idol” Lynette Sheard, and the award-winning writer, playwright, and actor with the beautiful voice, Hillsdale’s Joy Topping-Mann.

I also should note that we had a wonderful introduction to freelance documentary filmmaker, pianist, singer, and songwriter Dara Tucker. Dara is the winner of the Nashville Industry Music Awards 2017 and 2020 Best Jazz Album and 2016 and 2017 Best Jazz Vocalist of the year. 

Needless to say, all the vocal performances backed by the James Moody Scholars were simply fabulous.

The Jazz Supporters

A number of notable jazz supporters and special guests came out in support of the scholars. We were very honored to have the daughter of James Moody — Michelle Bagdanove — in attendance. That was just awesome. Also, special guests were: NEA Jazz Master Dorthaan Kirk and, as The New York Times, said “Dorthaan Kirk Is Newark's First Lady of Jazz”; Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies & Newark Archives Executive Director Wayne Winborne; Grammy award-winning record producer and audio engineer John Lee; SOMAtv Station Manager and Genealogist, Dustin Dumas, along with our local WBGO’s Jazz After Hours OnAir Personality Greg Bryant.

Also, thank you to New Jersey Jazz Society (NJJS) President Cydney Halpin, who commented, “I just wanted to thank you again for inviting me to last night's Moody Scholarship event. Those cats were wonderful!!  And that house... heavenly!! Congratulations on a wonderful event!!” 

The Historic Venue — 100 Blanchard Rd. 

100 Blanchard Rd. is a gorgeous historic house in South Orange, NJ. Known as the "Blanchard Estate," this Georgian brick mansion has over 13,000 square feet of space and sits on 2 acres of private, stunning property with NYC skyline views. Built in 1924, this stately residence was designed in the style of the Gilded Age Mansions of Newport, well designed for entertaining friends with a grand foyer leading to the custom wood appointed ballroom with stylish coffered ceilings. It was a perfect location.

The Event Volunteers

None of this could have happened without support from our team of supporters and volunteers. A big thank you to: 

GBP Volunteers that made the night run smoothly: James Pansulla, @DJ Roc M South Orange; Teresa Ware; Mary Collins and Donald; Barbara White; CC Minton; and we inducted Rayner Perez who helped us big time with the chairs. 

Official Event Photographer All these creative folks documented the nights events with some truly beautiful photos: Albert Clarke, Allison V Brown and Patrick Hilaire. 

Live Streamed Videographer We live streamed to Facebook, Youtube and TwitchTV, so thanks to our onsite Livestream and videographer Yardbird Entertainment - Peter Lin and our remote Livestreamer G2BProductions. 

Also, Millie Austin’s Catering and Roxanne Burrus for supplies and delivery of light refreshments. A big huge thanks to our audience attendees who are helping keep live music alive. We thank you big time. 

Patterson Foundation / Blanchard Conservatory — Our hats off to our venue host, Yvonne Patterson, for helping us make the night a huge success.

Final Words

Linda Moody, Nov 1, 2021:

"I am in complete awe of the James Moody Scholars and soooo proud of them!

All of the musicians, because they loved James Moody, were more than willing to help each year so that we could build a corpus large enough to award scholarships of $5,000 per year to each eligible student. Without the incredible musicians, none of this would be possible. But, one can't accomplish something of this magnitude alone. Jazz House Kids is the fabulous facilitator of this scholarship. I am forever grateful to all who have stepped up to help the James Moody Scholarship thrive. Honey and I wanted to create something that would continue long after we are gone and we have done just that. Keeping the music alive and helping young musicians grow is a dream come true. The love I feel for these kids grows with each meeting. It gave me a sense of pride and purpose watching them play together for the first time at Blanchard House.

Yvonne and John Patterson and Gregory Burrus Wow!

If anyone wishes to make a contribution please visit https://bit.ly/31i8bRT."

Gregory Burrus Productions

Gregory Burrus is a Live Music Events Producer, Promoter, Curator and Community Partner. Gregory Burrus is writing about his first love: the creative people, towns, events involved in the arts and entertainment scene that is happening all around South Orange, Maplewood and the overall JerseyNYC area.

Bernie Williams-Gil Parris Quartet with Baker Street Trio Knock it Out of The Park at the Woodland in Maplewood

By Gregory Burrus | Posted Monday, November 1, 2021

Maplewood, NJ - The Woodland 

A very special event took place in a historic, very beautiful and very spacious 1930 Georgian Revival-style mansion with an adjoining auditorium known now as The Woodland. It was completed in 1930 as an elegant home for the Maplewood Woman’s Club and has served as a hub for Maplewood Township's cultural and civic life for over eight decades. 

The Great Hall at The Woodland 

The Woodland was designated a local historic landmark in 2014 and this architectural jewel houses two unique spaces — The Parlor and The Great Hall. These venues are used frequently for public events. Tonight, the Woodland was beautifully decked out for this very important live music performance. 

The Bernie Williams-Gil Parris Quartet Come To Town

On October 22, a unique and powerful set of live music performances added to The Woodland’s wonderful historical legacy. Four-time World Series Champion and five-time All Star New York Yankee Baseball legend Bernie Williams was coming to Maplewood-South Orange, NJ. 

The excitement was in the air as Bernie Williams, the former Yankee Baseball player, now a guitar virtuoso/Latin Grammy Nominee, was coming to perform in the Great Hall at the Woodland.  Teamed up with long-time friend and fellow musician, guitarist, Grammy Nominee and bandleader Gil Parris, the expectations were high and you could feel the music in the air. 

Smooth Jazz Productions

Rich Engel is a New Jersey resident who has for decades been involved with Smooth Jazz in NY and “Smooth Cruises.'' For us local folks, Rich was the Owner of Live At Nite Sound, Producer of Smooth Cruise N.Y.C., created the Angela Bofill Experience stage show, and produced this event. He produced and released Angela Bofill "Live From Manila" CD on the independent Black Angel label. Also, he produced the German release Saundra Records "Bigfoot " featuring our local musicians Bassist John Lee and Drummer Jerry Brown along with Danny Toan. The night’s programming became my favorite theme of jazz across the generations with a fabulous opening act by local up and coming jazz group The Baker Street Trio.

Opening Act - The Baker Street Trio 

This was a genius move, as the Baker Street Trio consists of 3 young teenagers ages 14, 15 and 16. They began playing together through Montclair's Jazz House Kids.

“The trio was formed in the Fall of 2020 out of these young musicians' love for jazz and the need to be able to play together -- safely, outdoors. They played a standing gig through the Fall and Winter of 2020 on a street corner on Baker Street in Maplewood Village, and in doing so during these tough times entertained and brought the joy of jazz to countless appreciative audiences.” - Lisa Mainardi

Quick Background -  The Baker Street Trio

The Baker Street Trio with Bassist Ben Ruebens filling in at Jazz On Sloan, South Orange, NJ

I encountered the group during various events this year like the Maplewood Porchfest, the 24 Hours Of Music Jamboree, and the Baker Street Trio has also performed for me in South Orange. See Baker Street Trio Debuts in Summer Saturdays at Jazz On Sloan St. 

My comments upon hearing them: “Baker Street Trio—3 teenagers (14, 15, and 17) will be making a serious mark on Jazz for a long time. These young cats were killing it... After listening to them perform a number of tunes — if you closed your eyes, you would've thought they had way more experience than their actual ages combined.  These young folks were swinging hard. I highly recommend all jazz fans should check them out whenever, wherever you can."

Hence, I for one was very happy to see these young dedicated jazz musicians opening for the Bernie Williams-Gil Parris Quartet. 

The Baker Street Trio with Ace Williams

Introduced by the guest MC, Maplewood Mayor Frank McGehee, The Baker Street Trio, Ben Collins-Siegal, Ben Schwartz and Ryoma Takenaga, came out strong and performed a thunderous tune “The End of a Love Affair” by Edward Redding. It was fast moving and grabbed the audience by the ears as it was a perfect engaging opening song that said there is nothing timid or young about us, we are here to play! 

For a jazz lover, their next two tunes were a tribute to multiple Grammy winner Roy Hargrove and it was a perfect tribute. Roy was born Oct 16, 1969 and passed Nov 18, 2018 and will be loved and remembered by the Jazz community forever. Joining in this tribute was the very talented teenage trumpeter Ace Williams, son of a Maplewood resident, the award winning performer/composer Jazz tenor Saxophonist Willie Williams. They performed Roy’s tunes “Top of My Head” and “Strasbourg/St. Denis.” The tunes were played to perfection and the audience expressed their approval with long, loud cheering and clapping. 

Bernie Williams-Gil Parris Quartet

Next up were the event headlinders, the Bernie Williams-Gil Parris Quartet,  a true super group with the legendary “World’s Most Dangerous Bassist” Will Lee and the multitalented drummer and vocalist Josh Dion. 

Bernie Williams - Guitar 

Bernie Williams is a classically trained guitarist who plays and composes music with influences that include jazz, classical, pop, Brazilian, and Latin sounds. Bernie stated that he “became this musician in great part due training and mentorship of Gil Parris who let [him] sit in on jams all over town for the past 17 years.”  

Gil Parris - Lead Guitar  

Gil is an American Grammy-nominated rock, blues, jazz and pop guitarist. After briefly attending the Berklee School of Music because, as his Mother said in this New York Times article, “Mrs. Parris conceded she was '‘a little worried'‘ when her son returned home with photocopies of lecture notes and said he would ‘sit in his room’ and teach himself the school's jazz guitar curriculum.'' 

Parris then left to tour Europe as part of a musical troupe performing Jesus Christ Superstar before becoming a recording artist. Parris has released six solo albums and played collaboratively with over 20 other groups/artists. He has recorded and toured both as a solo artist and as a sideman with major artists including Dr. John, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Diane Schuur, David Mann, Billy Vera, Bobby Caldwell, Toni Braxton, Sonny Fortune and Kenny Barron, to name a few. 

Will Lee - Bass 

I was going to say “who’s Will Lee”, then my research showed that I heard Lee many times before. Trumpeter Randy Brecker called Lee out of a class one day and invited him to audition for Dreams. In New York, Lee's career as a session musician flourished, and he toured with many artists. In 1982, Lee became one of the original members of The World's Most Dangerous Band, the house band on NBC's Late Night with David Letterman. He holds the distinction of playing with Paul Shaffer, on both Late Night and The Late Show, longer than any other member of the CBS Orchestra. Highlights also include getting a lifetime achievement award from Bass Player magazine, playing with many luminaries such as all The Beatles -- George Harrison at Royal Albert Hall, Paul McCartney at The Concert For NYC, D’Angelo, Chaka Khan, Phoebe Snow, James Brown and more. 

Josh Dion -  Drums and Vocals

Josh Dion was born at the tail end of the disco funk era, when popular radio bore the sounds of Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, and “four on the floor” drum beats! Raised in Storrs, CT, Josh started playing his father's drums before he even started kindergarten. Dion is a singing drummer who made his first impression in New York in February 2004 at Blue Note. Josh was noticed by jazz guitarist Chuck Loeb, who offered him an opportunity to be seen and heard by a whole new level of the music audience. From that platform, he has gone on to work with some of the major brand names of the music world: Candy Dulfer, Spyro Gyra, Will Lee, Pat Martino, Jeff Kashiwa, Jason Miles, Anthony Jackson, Edgar Winter, Randy Brecker, Bob James, Eric Marienthal, Til Bronner, Jim Beard, saxophonist Kim Waters and on and on. 

This night, as was noted by a few attendees, was not just a smooth jazz concert, as the band played a mix of blues, funk, jazz, rock and even some New Orleans type jazz. They performed a mix of classic songs with creative arrangements that brought back many memories. One of my favorites was Rick James’s “Give It To Me Baby” that was innovative but right on point. They also performed some original material that was very entertaining and were instant hits with the very attentive and involved crowd. 

The night in review was outstanding, Bernie was smooth and mellow, Gil Parris unbelievable on guitar, Will Lee was an absolute beast on bass and Josh Dion singing and drumming was simply off the chain. The singing and drumming was amazing. It was a fabulous performance. At the end of the night, the audience wanted more and they were called back for an encore tune that did not disappoint, and we clapped and enjoyed tremendously.  Truly, it was a wonderful performance and a night to remember. 

Mayor Frank McGehee 

Closing the night, Mayor Frank McGehee thanked folks for coming out and reminded them they were just steps away from the most diverse choices in eating right here in Maplewood, so please enjoy the town on your way home. 

 Gregory Burrus with The Baker Street Trio and Ace Williams 

Gregory Burrus is a local live music producer, promoter, event planner and community partner that curates, manages and promotes live music programs around Essex County.