(RAHWAY, NJ) -- The second leg of the WBGO All That Jazz series headlines Marion Meadows who celebrates his new album at the Hamilton Stage on February 8, 2025 with a matinee at 5:30pm and an evening performance at 8:00pm. The Hamilton Stage in a partnership with WBGO and Smooth Jazz New Jersey is fast becoming the go to venue for contemporary Jazz.
Contemporary Jazz legend, Marion Meadows celebrates over three decades of recording on his latest Shanachie album and 17th recording as a leader. Meadows pays homage to the principles of honoring thy self, music as humanity and taking care of the planet with an all-star lineup including Chris “Big Dog” Davis, Rahni Song, Wirlie Morris, Paul Brown and others. Includes the chart-topping smash “AI Moonrise”. Available everywhere now!
Adding to his musical achievements Marion is an accomplished artist whose works will be on display In the WBGO Piano Lounge adjacent to the Hamilton Stage concert space. You can see his visual art at this site and his photography at this site. Come early and enjoy art, cocktails, and the fabulous Leonieke Scheuble perform on the Fazioli Grand Piano. Meet and greet Marion after each show in the WBGO Piano Lounge.
Tickets are $59.50 and available for purchase online. Hamilton Stage is located at 350 Hamilton Street in Rahway, New Jersey. It's "the new go to venue for all that jazz.”
Marion was born in West Virginia and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. He began playing the clarinet and studying classical music at the age of nine. He started playing tenor sax in high school, and then migrated to soprano sax. His passion for various types of music led him down an eclectic musical path. He was intrigued by the styles of jazz musicians, like Stanley Turrentine, Sidney Bichet, Johnny Hodges, John Coltrane, Sonny Stitt, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Fortune, Joe Henderson, Grover Washington, and many others.
After studying jazz at Rippowam High School in Stamford, CT 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. During his college years he played in a number of bands including disco, R&B and various jazz ensembles.
“I got a lot of sideman jobs in college, and I have always said I got my real graduate degree playing clubs,” says Meadows, who perfected his craft studying with Sonny Fortune, Joe Henderson, Dave Liebman and Eddie Daniels. “Not long after I finished school, (drummer) Norman Connors recorded one of my songs, Invitation, and then asked me to join his band. I later produced his Passion album with my colleague Jacques Burvick (Aquarium Dream). Things just fell into place.”
Meadows first hit the airwaves in 1991 with “For Lovers Only”, but his career really began one day in the late ‘80s at New York’s Grand Central Station. He had been a sideman with Connors for three years, with only vague notions of eventually going solo. One day, while waiting for a train, he pulled out his horn and began playing under the huge dome. His sweet sound caught the attention of fellow traveler, producer and TV composer Jay Chattaway, who happened to be passing by on his way to the train. Chattaway was so impressed with Meadows’ sound that he hooked Meadows up with legendary keyboardist Bob James. Meadows and James collaborated on a recording that unfortunately went unreleased. The experience put him on the road to his eventual success.
Meadows hooked up with numerous artists and musicians and became a well-known sideman in his own right, recording or performing over the years with Brook Benton, Eartha Kitt, Phyllis Hyman, Jean Carne, The Temptations, Michael Bolton, Angela Bofill, Will Downing, Bob Baldwin, Chuck Loeb, John Lee, among many others. In the late ‘80s, Meadows stretched his boundaries by becoming a member of a New York avant-garde band called the Aboriginal Music Society. In 1990 Meadows submitted a solo project to Steve Backer at Novus/RCA and was signed to a recording contract, thus marking the beginning of his solo career.
Meadows’ first RCA release For Lovers Only was a huge success and was followed by his groundbreaking album Keep it Right There. He became a staple of the contemporary jazz format with his subsequent recordings, which include Body Rhythm (1994), Forbidden Fruit (1996), Passion (1997), Another Side Of Midnight (1999), Next To You (2000), In Deep (2002), Players Club (2004), Dressed To Chill (2006), Secrets (2009), Whisper (2013), Soul Traveler (2015), Soul City (2018), Christmas With You (2019), Twice as Nice (2021), and Just Doing Me (2024).
Coming up next in the series at Hamilton Stage is Jazz from Juilliard: The Sound of Bebop on Saturday, March 1st at 5:30pm. The Sound of Bebop, performed by the Juilliard Jazz Ensemble, and part of the Jazz from Juilliard concert series, is a production of The Juilliard School, which is world renowned for educating Jazz artists such as Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Jon Batiste and many others. Come hear the new generation of world class musicians swinging their way through the innovative musical style known as Bebop. Introduced by Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Charlie Parker in the 1940’s, the rhythmic and harmonic innovations they pioneered continue to inspire musicians to this day. This show will blow you away.
Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) has a well-earned reputation as the “Crown Jewel” of the performing arts scene in Union County. It is a sophisticated performing arts campus presenting everything from rock concerts to theatrical productions, a multipurpose community center, a five-star rental facility for corporate, nonprofit, and private events, and currently, the home of New Jersey’s one and only classic movie palace! Governed by a Board of Trustees, the Union County Arts Center, Inc. (d.b.a. The Union County Performing Arts Center, aka UCPAC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit historic theatre serving both the community of Union County and the state of New Jersey.
