Marion Meadows is a saxplayer with a special fluid. Sound, style and appearance of this remarkable artist are impressive. You won't forget this musician after a show. Like on his previous albums "Players Club" and "In Deep" Marion Meadows continues his joint venture with keyboardist/producer Michael Broening. Michael is also keyboardist and producer of Steve Oliver's just released album "Radiant".

"The more music Michael and I write together, the more we realize that we're evolving into a great creative team", comments Meadows. "It's one of those  things you kind of know right away when you're collaborating with someone. We had a lot of songs that we had written for "Players Club" that we had planned to put on this new record. But at the last minute, we rewrote most of this material. It was labor-intensive, but in a good way. We had already raised the bar with the last record, and now it was time to raise it again and take the music to a new level."

Starter of this album is the title song Dressed To Chill. Marion Meadows considers this one as his favorite. "It turned out to be a little more uptempo than what I' m used to," he says, "but I got pretty exited about it when we were laying it down in the studio, and some of that energy just made its way onto the track." Besides Michael Broening (keys) did Mel Brown (bass) and Freddie Fox (guitar) an excellent job. They are the player team on this professional album.

Remember Me has an appealing melody line on soprano and tenor sax featuring guitar legend Chuck Loeb. A typical West Coast drive song.

It's the known thread about the relationship of generations: Dance With My Daughter, a slow tempo tune on a relaxed rhythm.

Miss Know It All pays tribute to a lady of unmatched sophistication. The song is interpreted by vocalist Will Brock. He’s also one of the most in demand keyboard players in Philadelphia. Will already performed with The Stylistics, Miles Jaye, and many others. Certainly a musician we'll hear more about in the future.

Bounce is a beautifully balanced tune with a nice romantic intro and some reggae flavor. Freddie Fox adds funky wah-wahs and Mel his dark deep tones. Marion Meadows is one of these sax players with an admirable breath technique.

I Believe I Can Fly is a cover of Robert Kelly's original gospel-soul composed for the Michael Jordan movie "Space Jam" (1996). This song was produced by Chris Big Dog Davis who also plays keyboards and programming on this tune. Randy Bowland adds some guitar riffs and the whole tune is well-garnished by the lovely vocals of background singers Vanessa Williams, Lori Williams and Raymond Reeder.

Coco Flow is a bit unusual because Marion Meadows plays on this tune flute besides his saxophones. Freddie Fox does not only play guitar but also flugel horn.

Just My Style is obviously a tune Marion Meadows promises by writ. Meadows comments: "This is especially a time when today's listener is diversified in their musical choices - not unlike the way we were brought up as musicians of our generation listening to all the different styles. We listened to be-bop, jazz and smooth jazz and we also listened to R&B, and there's nothing wrong with that." 

Acoustic guitarist Thano Sahnas provides Spanish flavor to Scent Of A Woman. Thano Sahnas is lead guitarist and founding member of the Phoenix, AZ-based contemporary/fusion band Turning Point ("Matador"). 

Steppers ... Let's Do This is Chris Big Dog Davis' second contribution to this great album. A very catchy tune. Chris Big Dog Davis recently produced and performed on Najee's new album "My Point Of View". This highly in demand player also performed with Hall & Oates ("Our Kind Of Soul"), Will Downing ("Soul Symphony"), Maysa ("Sweet Classic Soul"), Kim Waters ("All For Love") and more. He has the vibe in his veins. 

1000 Dreams is featuring humming singer Caji Da Bahia. He is born in the culturally rich city of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil which explains his name. A city of an eternal carnival which is very infective (every visitor can assure this). Michael Broening has the first time to expand a piano solo and show more of his skills. Thano Sahnas' short acoustic guitar solo also deserves an applause.

To Love Her is juxtaposing Meadows soprano sax and bass clarinet against the atmospheric electric guitar work of Freddie Fox. A cool song for a cocktail bar.

"I think when you hear all the tracks as a whole, the title of the album makes perfect sense," says Marion Meadows. "We're taking a very relaxed, very cool approach to the music. We're doing a lot, but in a style that's very subtle and understated." Is this an album only for the warm days? Certainly not. Give this album some spins!

 

 

 

 

  • Title: Dressed To Chill
    Artist: Marion Meadows
    Year: 2006
    Length: 0:56:33
    Genre: General Jazz
    Label: Heads Up International


    Tracks: 
    01 Dressed To Chill [4:01]
    02 Remember Me [4:18]
    03 Dance With My Daughter [4:44]
    04 Miss Know It All [4:35]
    05 Bounce [4:33]
    06 I Believe I Can Fly [4:36]
    07 Coco Flow [4:20]
    08 Just My Style [4:32]
    09 Scent Of A Woman [5:21]
    10 Steppers... Let's Do This [4:05]
    11 1000 Dreams [6:10]
    12 To Love Her [5:18]