Marion Meadows & Alex Bognon An Explosive Live Music Performance

On Dec 17, 2021 Smooth Jazz History was 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 CD101.9 radio station. Co-Hosting the show was former CD101.9 radio personality Steve Harris along with Maplewood, New Jersey, Mayor Mr. 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 CD101.9 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.

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.

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, David Sanborn and Rohn Lawrence on guitar who has played with Najee, Freddie Jackson, Diane Reeves and Jonathan Butler.

https://vimeo.com/659116166

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 Song “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”.

Artist Meet and Greet

Enjoying the Night - top-l Roxanne Burrus, Top Right Gregory Burus, Roxanne Burrus DJ Roc, Patricia Harrison and Virgil Harrison - Bot L - Al Clarke Bot - R 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 artist showed up, chatted with audience members, and we purchased their CD’s and event merchandise. All of us had a great time.

You can read more about Local Resident Jacqueline Lee Opens For 2 Contemporary Jazz Stars here at https://patch.com/users/gregbu... .

Watch More

You can enjoy more clips about opening set and show videos at the links below :

• https://vimeo.com/gregoryburrus
• http://24hoursofmusicjamboree.com
• https://www.youtube.com/gregoryburrus

About The Author

Gregory Burrus with Alex Bugnon and Marion Meadows

Writer Gregory Burrus is also 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, Northern NJ and New York Area. Read more with Gregory Burrus at https://www.jerseyindie.com/gregory-burrus

>