MusiConversations Show Archives

Tom and Marion Discuss:

1. Marion's experiences growing up in Connecticut and the environments that shaped him and his music.
2. Marion's various music periods in his music career
3. Tom and Marion listen to a few of Marion's songs on various CDs
• Dressed To Chill 
• Player's Club
• In Deep

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About Marion Meadows:

Born in West Virginia, saxophonist Marion Meadows – whose ethnic mix is Native American, African American and Caucasian – grews up in Stamford, Connecticut, where he began playing clarinet and studying classical music at eight years old. His passion for different types of music led him to appreciate numerous jazz musicians, including Stanley Turrentine, Sidney Bichet, Johnny Hodges, Duke Ellington and Coleman Hawkins, and he naturally gravitated to the soprano sax in his high school years. Fortunately for the smooth jazz fans who have embraced his sweet and funky soprano sound over the last decade, Meadows decided to take a few very important trips to Europe during his junior and senior years. He had dreamed of being either a veterinarian or zoologist, and assumed he would enroll in college as a pre-med major. Playing the sax was just a hobby until he saw the way audiences reacted to him and his student cohorts 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 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,� adds Meadows, who perfected his craft studying with Joe Henderson, Dave Liebman and Eddie Daniels. “Not long after I finished school, (well-known jazz 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. Then one day, as the oft-told story goes, he was waiting for a train, pulled out his horn and began playing under the huge dome. His sweet sound caught the attention of fellow traveler, 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. He was performing in Japan when he got the call that RCA Records was interested in signing him to a solo deal, based on his first album which he had recorded and financed himself. Meadows 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, Arizona, Meadows signed with Heads Up International 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. All four Heads Up recordings have been well received by his ever-growing, always loyal fans. Dressed To Chill, scheduled for release on May 23, 2006, 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 begin to play. That’s where the ideas just start to flow. Everything else in my musical life comes out of that moment.�

         - Profile Heads Up International

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Tom and Michael Discuss:

1. Michael as a young artist and family in Denmark.
2. Michael's new Cigar line (www.MichaelLingtonCigars.com)
3. Michael's current music projects and artists he is working with in Brazil
4. Tom and Michael listen to a few of Michael's songs on various CDs
• A Song For You
• Stay With Me
• Vivid

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Michael Lington, Tom Schuman

About Michael Lington:

Michael Lington has demonstrated his contemporary saxophone chops with a steady stream of chart-toppers since his debut album in 1997.  His CD, Stay with Me, yielded three Radio & Records national jazz hits with “Show Meâ€? at # 2; “Two of a Kindâ€? at # 2; and “Pacificaâ€? at # 6.  Stay With Me also remained on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart for a total of 24 weeks. “Twice In a Lifetimeâ€? and “Sunsetâ€? from Vivid; and “Still Thinking of Youâ€? from Lington’s Everything Must Change all went Top 5 as well.  His duet with Bobby Caldwell on “Tell It Like It Isâ€? from his self-titled debut, ascended both the jazz and adult contemporary charts.

Now Michael is back with A SONG FOR YOU, his second Rendezvous recording.  In collaboration with Rendezvous , Grammy nominated arranger  and composer Randy Waldman and Grammy winning Engineer Woody Woodruff, Michael assembled a collection of new standards that range from the album’s first single, “It’s Too Lateâ€? and â€?You’ve Got a Friend,â€? both by Carole King;   to a dimensional “Fragileâ€? by Sting.  Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Nowâ€? is given an expansive, but respectful new spin;  while Michael Frank’s “Tell Me All About Itâ€? is a playfully laidback interplay, featuring guest and Rendezvous co-founder Dave Koz, with Brazilian sensibilities.

Leaning strongly toward the pop side of jazz, with classical, Brazilian, Latin, and gospel shadings, Lington plays a distinctive contemporary saxophone.  “It’s the kind of record that inspired me from the very beginning.  The songs on this CD are the core of what has driven me to become a musician,â€? says Michael.  “I wanted to go back in time, to when music had a strong emotional impact on people and songs really mattered -- but to do it with a new twist.  

Michael explains, “With this album, I really wanted to focus on the underappreciated, or underexposed standards of tomorrow -- mainly songs from the ’70s that have been rarely covered in a jazz instrumental format.â€?  He continues, “what I had in mind during the entire process, was to create a classic album, with a timeless feel that is as current today as it is 40  years from now.â€? 

Growing up in a suburb of Copenhagen, Denmark, Michael Lington is the grandson of Otto Lington, a jazz pioneer in their tiny country, and bandleader for Shirley Bassey, Josephine Baker and Fats Waller, amongst many others.   As a childhood fan of musicians like Vinnie Colaiuta, Dean Parks and Randy Waldman, Michael would replay his vinyl jazz recordings again and again, reflecting on the memories of his grandfather’s era.

Little did Michael know, that someday, his name would be nestled in the notes next to those of his childhood heroes in an album of contemporary classics.  The rich legacy of his grandfather’s jazz connection, his classical training, and a stint of touring in Europe, led him to the U.S. in 1990, and at 21, he began performing with Little Richard , Gary “U.S.â€? Bonds and Randy Crawford.  He also landed a four year gig touring with singer Bobby Caldwell , joining the list of imminent sax players associated with the singer, including Rendezvous co-founder Dave Koz, Richard Elliot and Boney James.

It was through this collaboration, that Michael landed his recording contract, which leads to present, and his new CD, in which there is an organic synergy between Lington, the songs, and arrangements, that lifts Song for You into the realm of the truly unforgettable. 

Michael believes covering songs that have deeply impacted listeners is far more demanding than recording his own material.  “People feel strongly about these songs.  It’s important for me to keep the integrity of the song, yet make it my own, so I’m not just repeating what’s been done before.  If you improvise too much, you lose your audience, but if you play it straight up and down, it’s not very interesting—it’s a fine line between staying true to the melody, and yet making each song interesting instrumentally.â€?

Lington has been a global touring presence for the past several years, and plans to continue with A Song for You.  In between his ongoing performances -- i.e. performing at the Royal Wedding of Denmark’s future king, Crown Prince Frederick -- and recordings, Lington proves to be a giving performer by lending his artistry to the  Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, which raises funds for children’s music programs and provides instruments to public schools all over the U.S.  Michael participates in Create Now, where he mentors troubled teens in Los Angeles and Acre’s of Love, a non-profit organization that provides comprehensive services;  and “Foreverâ€? homes for abandoned and AIDS children in South Africa.

The U.S. based, Danish-born Lington loves classic beauty and expression whether it comes in the form of a song, his vintage European automobiles, underwater landscapes, a child’s smile, or open sky viewed from behind the instrument panel of a helicopter.

A Song for You is undoubtedly a significant step in Lington’s ever-ascending career, and an invitation for everyone to dream. 

                     - Excerpts from http://www.MichaelLington.com

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Tom and Steve Discuss:

1. Steve's experiences as an young artist in the Chicago music scene during his development years through the 80's and early 90's.
2. Steve's youth as the son of a working musician in the clubs of Chicago
3. Steve's college education in business and how he uses it in managing his music career.
4. Steve's current music projects and artists he is working with both in the studio and on stage
5. Tom and Steve listen to a few of Steve's songs on various CDs
• True
• Stay Awhile 
6. Steve's work with the Sax Pack

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Steve Cole, Kim Waters, Tom Schuman

Picture of Jeff Kashiwa and Tom courtesy of Cary Gillaspie, Scenic JAZZ Photography Copyright 2007

About Steve Cole:

A native of Chicago, Illinois, saxophonist Steve Cole studied music at Northwestern University, and business at the University of Chicago.  Initially classically trained, Steve had the honor of performing as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of 18.  Despite his success in the classical realm, Cole opted to focus on his true musical loves, Jazz, Pop and R&B. Steve began gigging frequently on the local Chicago music scene as a session player, playing on countless national commercial spots, contributing to a number of soundtracks on the A&E network, as well as composing and performing music with keyboardists Bob Mamet and Brian Culbertson.

                     - Excerpts from http://www.SteveCole.net

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Tom and Cora Discuss:

1. Their 2003 collaboration on Tom's CD Schuman Nature 
2. Cora's work with Prince as his current drummer.
3. Cora's family life with a husband that gets to tour with her, the bassist for Prince's band.

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About Cora Coleman Dunham:

If there is one young musician that is currently representing the very character of creme - on the rise, it would have to unmistakably be Mrs Cora C Coleman-Dunham. Mrs. Cora began her musical journey under the tutelage of William Portis at Kashmere High School in Houston, Texas, USA with a comparably late start in 9th grade. Cora actively became involved in the marching band and concert band surpassing her peers as the section leader by her sophomore year. She began playing the traps in 11th grade and continued to forge ahead practicing and studying, graduating as valedictorian of her senior class. After graduation, Mrs. Cora continued to cultivate and hone her musical gifts, changing her major from Computer Science to Music in the middle of her freshman year at Howard University. The driving force behind Cora's progress and motivation was the very elements that allotted performance opportunities with The Washington Ballet, The Washington Symphony Orchestra, The American University Orchestra, The Howard University Marching Band, Concert Band, Percussion Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble. She has also performed with Marvin Stamm, Yusef Lateef, Greg Osby, Donald Byrd, Grady Tate, and Larry Ridley. Cora's growth and evolution as a drummer and percussionist merited her Howard University's first recipient of the Avedis Zildjian Scholarship for Outstanding Percussionist. She became section leader (first female) of Howard's Thunder Machine drum section and became a member of Sigma Alpha Iota Professional Music Fraternity for Women. While at Howard, Cora studied under Harold Summey, William Richards and the incomparable vocalist and drummer, Grady Tate.

Cora's relocation to Los Angeles only created a greater level of exposure to the music industry connecting her on her first night in LA with the multi-recorded guitarist Phil Upchurch, whom she played with for the first year of her stay in Los Angeles. She battled over 5,000 drummers nationwide in the Guitar Center's 2003 Annual National Drum-Off, where she placed 1st. Cora received several thousand dollars worth of equipment, custom Roland V-drums and a 2003 Jeep Liberty of her choice. Needless to say the first female not only to make it to the national level but leave with the annual title of the Nation's Best Amateur Drummer. Cora has also worked with the all-female group Angaza. She toured with Blues great Zac Harmon. While working with Zac Harmon & the Midsouth Blues Revue, the group climbed and surpassed the ladder of competitors for the title, Best International Unsigned Blues Band and sure enough walked away with the victory for 2004. In November 2004, (thanks to Raymond McKinley) Prince and Rechelle Ferell graced one of Frank McComb's shows in LA and Prince took a special interest in Cora. Cora soon found herself ordering a one of a kind incredible custom 8-piece, birch, spider-pine finish, gold-trimmed DW drum kits compliments of the Prince, himself! Talk about a Christmas gift!!!

Sooooo, upon returning from Japan with Frank, Prince put together a unit: Ashley Tamar Davis-vocals, Frank McComb-keys, Jairus Mozee-guitar, Cora on drums and what else could make things any more perfect than having your husband playing bass, Joshua Dunham. This unit became the "After Party" house band for The Grammys, Academy Awards, Oscars and NAACP Image Awards hosted by Prince. Lets see the Kats who sat in to jam were Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Kat Dyson, John Blackwell, Sheila E, Larry Graham, Alicia Keys, Raymond McKinley and Anthony Hamilton, Rechelle Ferrell to name a few.

 - Excerpts from http://www.CoraColemanDunham.com

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