Marion Meadows Born in West Virginia, saxophonist Marion Meadows - whose ethnic mix is Native American, African American and Caucasian - he grew 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. ...show more

Marion Meadows Born in West Virginia, saxophonist Marion Meadows - whose ethnic mix is Native American, African American and Caucasian - he grew 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. ...show less