2021 Gregory Burrus Productions Live Music Year In Review

In the beginning we thought about it being a year of restart, recovery and renewal. I think we all lost some family, friends and in our case some fabulous musicians. Unfortunately the losses continued so definitely a challenging year and we all found a way to live again. For us the listeners, a live music concert is a pleasurable social event that is among the most visceral and memorable forms of musical engagement. It's the same for the musicians with the added note that for many it’s not a side business, it’s their lifeblood and the thing that keeps them alive. With that in mind we soldered on thru the year making music and great memories.

2021 Year In Review

https://vimeo.com/661857582

• In January 2021 we thought we’d start the year off back with our Jazz973 program at The Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies but no such luck as lots of uncertainties were still around so our favorite Jazz Venue Clement’s Place Jazz did not have any programming.

• For February for the Town of South Orange, we had a musical tribute and a South Orange Street renaming to honor our fallen buddy Lee Boz May. It was cold but a wonderful day.

• For March we celebrated Women's History Month with a wonderful online performance titled WHM2021 “Refresh in Progress” by Ife Basim. We also had a stirring and moving Cello performance by Caylen Bryant as we all Reflected Together For COVID-19 Victims at the lake in Meadowlands Park in South Orange, NJ. We tested the outdoor live music scene as Jazzy Nights, which joined the South Orange Jazz scene right before the pandemic hit us, turned into Jazzy Afternoons at The Fox and Falcon with an outdoor live R&B performance by MPACK at the Fox and Falcon. It was a big hit as folks starved for live music came out like crazy. It was really a great thing to experience.

• For April, we honored Jazz Appreciation Month. Other than one rainout, It was a truly swinging set of Sunday afternoon performances which you can read more about here Jazzy Afternoons South Orange Presents "Jazz Across The Generations" to Honor Jazz Appreciation Month 2021. The weather was great and music, the vibe was truly jumpin.

• Over the Months of May, June, July, August and September we ran a number of concurrent live music performances. Our every Summer Saturday South Orange Downtown performances ran every Saturday for 2 performances a day along with our monthly Sunday Jazz On Sloan program at the South Orange Gazebo. About 60 fabulous performances. We rolled through Summer Wednesdays with a jumpingWednesday afternoon R&B driven City of Orange Farmers Market. From 12-5 pm this program grew from a few attendees to a full house every week. This year we were also honored to crank up live music for the town of Cranford and had a really great Downtown Cranford Summer Sounds every Thursday evening all summer. Folks also enjoyed some great live music bands we provided to the town of Westfield Open Quimby Live Music program.

• In September we started with the Maplewood Community Music’s Maplewood Porchfest which was a nonstop all day community fest of porch owners, honk paraders, lemonade stands and what really makes it happen, awesome local music performers and enthusiastic attendees. In Sept after a July weather cancellation, thanks to South Orange Downtown we conducted the 5th Annual 24 Hours of Music Jamboree, adapted for our times. Saturday gave us 12 hours of music, Overnight gave us online musical performances including a wonderful performance from Japan by the Kumiko Tanaka Trio. On Sunday we were finally able to host a Tribute to Darryl Clark. It was a glorious 24 Hours Of Music Jamboree headlined by the famous Nat Adderley Jr Trio and members of Darryl’s former band. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon of beautiful music and great tributes.

• October finally saw the return of our beloved Clements Place Jazz Venue and while all the performances through December were great, a few highlights were 87 year old Houston Person with Matt Chertkoff and 94 year old Bassist Bill Crow with 19 year old Leonieke Scheuble performing for us our Jazz973 program on Wednesday evenings.

• This year the October Live Music Fest took over South Orange, NJ Spiotta Park and we had a really good time every weekend when the weather cooperated. Meanwhile the town of Cranford NJ reached 150 years old and MPACK was there to perform. Also in October we performed for Pink Out Cranford Events. Finally we performed a few weekends for the wonderful Cranford’s 14thAnnual Scarecrow Stroll which has some amazing scarecrows.

• November brought us some wonderful live music performance opportunities. Thanks to Linda Moody, wife of famed saxophonist James Moody, we were Making History as Linda Moody Honored the James Moody Scholars at 100 Blanchard Rd in South Orange, NJ A beautiful elegant night to remember. This was one swinging jamming experience. We then happily covered A Smooth Jazz Explosion Lights Up the Woodland in Maplewood. This event was very cool as it opened up with an exciting group of young musicians from our towns the Baker StreetTrio. Then we got to experience the fabulous SmoothJazz performances of Yankee great Bernie Williams and the phenomenal Blood, Sweat & Tears, Guitarist Gil Parris and his band. It was definitely a really great performance to remember.

• December ended with our entertainer Lynette Sheard joining Mr and Ms. Claus on a Holiday Chorals Walk around Downtown Cranford NJ. This year we had a fun time performing in the return of the award winning South Orange Open Air Holiday Market. We closed the month out in Maplewood where we enjoyed another great local performance where Local Resident Jacqueline Lee Opens For 2 Contemporary Jazz Stars and fabulous off the chain performance in the Woodlands where Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon delivered an outstanding smooth jazz performance.

Of course along the way we conducted a number of private events.

Venues Around Our Towns

This year consisted of multiple live music events, sometimes on the same day, conducted across multiple towns like South Orange, Newark, Cranford, Maplewood, City of Orange, Westfield, West Orange, Montclair and more. You can read more here.

Videography. Livestream

This year we continued producing live music events and, promoting them on various platforms, We are also happy to say we continued documenting these events via video and live streaming them on multiple platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and websites. You can read more below:
https://www.youtube.com/gregoryburrus
https://vimeo.com/gregoryburrus

In The News

In addition, we continue to provide additional artists promotions via articles and blog posts on local news sites, TAPinto, Patch, Newsrecord and across New Jersey via JerseyIndie and JerseyNYC. You can read more below:
https://www.jerseyindie.com/ji-blogger-gregory-burrus
https://patch.com/users/gregburrus

Social Media

As we move through another year of unknowns, while we run through another - are we inside or outside life, please continue to stay in touch with all our live music events. We are programming events for 2022 so check out the links and signup to know when we will go live again.

https://www.facebook.com/gregory.burrus
https://www.instagram.com/gregoryburrus
https://twitter.com/gregoryburrus
https://www.facebook.com/gregoryburruspromotions

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy and Stay Connected.

Thank you again for joining us on this live music journey.

About Gregory Burrus

Photographer - Patrick Hilaire @l1stener

Gregory Burrus spends his time as a Photojournalist, Live Music Producer, Promoter, Videographer, Arts and Entertainment Writer, Blogger, Business Reviewer, and Community Events Reporter. Gregory develops, manages, promotes and documents live music programs in the Greater New Jersey and New York Area.
http://gregoryburrusproduction...
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregburrus
https://24hoursofmusicjamboree.com