Saxophonist Marion Meadows is hiding something. Like a deft sleight-of-hand artist, there’s always something up his sleeve – something he’s not showing you outright – that ultimately reveals itself when the music starts. Somewhere in those mysterious spaces between the notes – at the convergence of melody, harmony and rhythm – the simple treasures and universal truths are laid bare for those whose ears and minds and hearts are open to discover them.
Meadows uncovers some of these hidden mysteries on Secrets (HUCD 3150), his new recording on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, set for worldwide release on April 28th, 2009.
For Meadows, the secrets within the music reveal themselves on a subconscious level – a place where higher reasoning takes a back seat to instinct and intuition. And for as much as Meadows may be the keeper of the secrets, they are often just as much a revelation to him as they are to the listener. “Secrets are things that are kept hidden beneath the surface of our own intellect, our own decision-making,” he says. “They’re these treasures that are often right in front of our eyes and yet we don’t even see them or know they’re there.”
Discovering these unseen treasures requires a more organic approach to the music, says Meadows. “I wanted to incorporate a more live sensibility into the recording process in the making of this record,” he explains. “I wanted to use musicians who have also been part of my live performances. Contemporary jazz artists can get a little caught up in the more stylish side of the recording process, with computers and drum machines and other cutting-edge technology. For as good as all that stuff can sound, there’s an organic element that gets lost. If you move too far in that direction, I think people start to take musicians in this genre – and the genre in general – less seriously as a result.” read more
Track Listing: 1. Secrets
2. Let the Top Down
3. You Lift My Heart
4. Soul Sugar
5. The Child in Me
6. Sand Dancers
7. Playtime
8. Flirt
9. Friends
10. Urban Angels
11. The Shade Tree
12. Here To Stay
Saxophonist Marion Meadows is hiding something. Like a deft sleight-of-hand artist, there’s always something up his sleeve – something he’s not showing you outright – that ultimately reveals itself when the music starts. Somewhere in those mysterious spaces between the notes – at the convergence of melody, harmony and rhythm – the simple treasures and universal truths are laid bare for those whose ears and minds and hearts are open to discover them.
Meadows uncovers some of these hidden mysteries on Secrets (HUCD 3150), his new recording on Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, set for worldwide release on April 28th, 2009.
For Meadows, the secrets within the music reveal themselves on a subconscious level – a place where higher reasoning takes a back seat to instinct and intuition. And for as much as Meadows may be the keeper of the secrets, they are often just as much a revelation to him as they are to the listener. “Secrets are things that are kept hidden beneath the surface of our own intellect, our own decision-making,” he says. “They’re these treasures that are often right in front of our eyes and yet we don’t even see them or know they’re there.”
Discovering these unseen treasures requires a more organic approach to the music, says Meadows. “I wanted to incorporate a more live sensibility into the recording process in the making of this record,” he explains. “I wanted to use musicians who have also been part of my live performances. Contemporary jazz artists can get a little caught up in the more stylish side of the recording process, with computers and drum machines and other cutting-edge technology. For as good as all that stuff can sound, there’s an organic element that gets lost. If you move too far in that direction, I think people start to take musicians in this genre – and the genre in general – less seriously as a result.”
Because of this commitment to authenticity, Secrets is the real deal from the get-go. The set opens with the title track, a mid-tempo piece that showcases not only Meadows’ expressive sax work but also the shimmering lines of keyboardist and longtime collaborative partner and producer Michael Broening.
Trumpeter Jesse McGuire steps in on the followup track, “Let the Top Down,” and adds a layer of counterpoint to Meadows’ saxophone. The track follows a subtle but consistent backbeat engineered by guitarist Freddie Fox and bassist Mel Brown.
“You Lift My Heart” is a stirring ballad with a spiritual dimension delivered by the seasoned pipes of lead vocalist Charlie Karp. “Charlie is a vocalist who comes from the old school,” says Meadows. “He’s originally a rock singer, but he sings a more spiritual type ballad here alongside a jazz saxophone. This is the kind of track that makes this record – like all my records – an eclectic experience.”
“Sand Dancers” takes on a more exotic sensibility, thanks in large part to the numerous layers of percussion provided by Orly Penate and Tony Verdejo. Meadows’ horn work is augmented on this track by saxophonist Anthony Church and trumpeter Ted Zimmerman.
Vocalist Brian Chartrand steps in on “Friends,” a nostalgic Bobby McFerrin piece interpreted here by a team of players that include old friends as well as newcomers to Meadows’ ever-expanding circle of colleagues: producer/bassist Chip Shearin and keyboardist Rachel Eckroth, guitarist Brian Morgan, trumpeter Jesse McGuire and drummer Steve “Jabari” Kersey. “What an incredible voice Brian has,” says Meadows. “Discovering him was a very special surprise and a treat – another secret that came to the surface in the course of making this record.”
“Urban Angels” owes its ethereal sensibility to the interplay between Meadows’ cascading sax runs and vocalist Philip Hamilton’s atmospheric vocals. All of it rests atop the steady undercurrent set up by Broening’s keyboards and programming.
The same crew on hand for “Friends” – plus guitarist Perry Hughes – reconvenes for the decidedly funky closer, “Here To Stay.” Chip Shearin’s solid bass line is the engine that propels Meadows’ extravagant sax work with enough energy left over to support a laid-back but finely crafted guitar solo from Hughes.
For all of the capable hands on deck, Secrets is ultimately about the army of ears on the other side of the musical equation, says Meadows. “When we put these records out, we tend to forget about the fans’ initial response to them,” he says. “We live with these projects from their conception and birth all the way up to the final details of post-production and pressing. In a lot of cases, once it’s done and out the door, we need some distance from it for a few weeks. But at that same time, it’s a fresh new experience for the fans who buy it. They’re saying, ‘What’s this thing going to sound like?’ For them, it’s still a secret. It’s something that has yet to be discovered and explored.”
Listen closely and catch the wisdom in the whisper of Secrets.
Born in West Virginia, saxophonist Marion Meadows grew up in Stamford, CT, where he began playing clarinet and studying classical music at age 8. He naturally gravitated to the soprano sax in his high school years, and his passion for various types of music led him to appreciate numerous jazz musicians, including Stanley Turrentine, Sidney Bichet, Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins. Fortunately for the smooth jazz fans who have embraced his sweet and funky soprano sound over the past 15 years, Meadows took a few very important trips to Europe with his high school band during his junior and senior years. Originally planning to enter a college pre-med program (he had aspirations to pursue a career in veterinary medicine or zoology), he considered the saxophone a hobby until he saw the way audiences reacted to him and his fellow student performers in Holland, Italy and Austria.
“The first trip was with my high school band and the second was a graduation gift to me and a few other guys playing over there in a big band setting,” he says. “It was exciting seeing positive newspaper articles about my playing in Italy, receiving all sorts of accolades and feeling the excitement of interaction with the crowd. It was a tremendous rush, and it lit the fire.”
After studying jazz with Anthony Truglia, Meadows attended Berklee College of Music, where he majored in arranging and composition. He later went to the SUNY Purchase School for the Arts, where he studied under Ron Herder. “I got a lot of sideman jobs in college, and I have always said I got a graduate degree playing clubs,” says Meadows, who perfected his craft studying with Joe Henderson, Dave Liebman and Eddie Daniels. “Not long after I finished school, (drummer) Norman Connors recorded my song ‘Invitation’ and then asked me to join his band. I later produced his Passion album with him. 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 and TV composer Jay Chattaway, who was so impressed that he hooked Meadows up with legendary keyboardist Bob James. James signed Meadows to a deal with his TappanZee label, and though Meadows’ first recording 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 and Native American flute player Douglas Spotted Eagle, among many others. In the late ‘80s, Meadows stretched his usual pop/jazz boundaries as a member of a New York avant-garde band called the Aboriginal Music Society. The ‘90s marked the beginning of his solo career when he signed with RCA on the strength of his unreleased first album. He became a staple of the smooth jazz format with his subsequent recordings, which include Keep It Right Here (1993), Forbidden Fruit (1994) and Body Rhythm (1996).
After moving from his home in Connecticut to Phoenix, AZ, Meadows signed with Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, and released Another Side of Midnight (1999). A contemporary tribute to city life, his label debut was considered by critics to be his strongest work to date. His subsequent Heads Up discography has been equally successful on an artistic as well as commercial level: Next To You (2000), featured a mix of R&B-influenced jazz coupled with sensual Latin rhythms; In Deep (2002), a neo-soul blend of jazz, R&B and hip-hop, brimmed with sophisticated arrangements and impressive tenor/soprano playing; Players Club (2004) paid tribute to Meadows’ fellow musicians with a seamless mix of contemporary jazz and soulful R&B; and Dressed To Chill (2006) was another fine showcase for the joint songcraft of Meadows and keyboardist/producer Michael Broening. All five Heads Up recordings have been well received by his ever-growing, always loyal fans. Secrets, scheduled for release on April 28, 2009, is the latest chapter in Meadows’ satisfying tradition of cool sophistication.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of projects, both my own and group efforts,” says Meadows, “and my main objective is to keep growing as an artist and engage the fans who have invested so much emotion in my music and my career. Aside from that wonderful sense of live communication, the real magic for me happens in the studio when I put on those headphones and start playing. That’s where the ideas just start to flow. Everything else in my musical life comes out of that moment.”
