Marion Meadows

Marion Meadows was born in West Virginia and grew up in Stamford,  Connecticut. He began playing the clarinet and studying classical music  at the age of nine. He started playing tenor sax in high school, and then  migrated to soprano sax. His passion for various types of music led him  down an eclectic musical path. He was intrigued by the styles of jazz  musicians, like Stanley Turrentine, Sidney Bichet, Johnny Hodges, John Coltrane, Sonny Stitt,  Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley, Coleman  Hawkins, Sonny Fortune, Joe Henderson, Grover Washington and many  others. After studying jazz at Rippowam High School in Stamford, CT 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. During his college years he  played in a number of bands including disco, R&B and various jazz  ensembles. 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, producer and TV  composer Jay Chattaway, who happened to be passing by on his way to the  train. Chattaway was so impressed with Meadows’ sound that he hooked  Meadows up with legendary keyboardist Bob James. Meadows and James collaborated on a recording that unfortunately 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, Bob Baldwin, Chuck Loeb, John Lee,  among many others.