By Gregory Burrus | Posted Friday, April 22, 2022
Tapping into the region’s top live music talent, Jazzy Nights hosts live music performances from big-name local artists drawn from all over Northern New Jersey and nearby New York City, Produced by Live Music Ambassador Gregory Burrus of Gregory Burrus Productions.
Jazzy Nights is not just about jazz but all genres of jazzy live music. It's jazz, it's R&B, and it's jazzy. The Jazzy Nights Live mission is focused on keeping the community of summertime live music lovers enjoying live music throughout the Fall, Winter and Spring, whenever possible.
Following is a post about how Jazzy Nights made it to this season. Back in the day, just a few years ago, the South Orange live music season would run June ‘til September and stop. However, so many local folks and attendees from around the various towns wanted more and more. So, we extended the end of the 2019 season by going indoors and kicked off Jazzy Nights Live at The Fox & Falcon restaurant to keep the wonderful vibe going that was established all summer long. Following is a year-by-year recap of previous years up until this year.
2019 November Jazzy Nights at The Fox & Falcon
2019/11/14 Inaugural Season Kickoff in the Essex Room with DC Fusion Band.
The 2019 Jazzy Nights Live Music season was led by our buddy and bassman Darryl Clark. We ran monthly live music sessions from November to April with the wonderful DC Fusion instrumental band led by Darryl Clark on Bass, Howard Hall on piano, and Bill Bang (Mauricio de Souza this night) on drums. We augmented each event with special guest singers (Shadiyah and Joy Topping-Mann this night), folks came out strong, and we packed the Essex Room of The Fox & Falcon. We were moving along nicely each month right up ‘til April 2021 and then the COVID Pandemic shut the world down, including our Jazzy Nights.
In tribute to our buddies.
Sadly, this season was also marked by the passing of many musicians including two of our friends from our Live music community. Community champion and jazz lover Lee Boswell May aka Boz passed before the South Orange Summer Season started. After the 2020 Summer season in November, our beloved Jazzy Nights Bandleader and Bassman Darryl Clark passed on. May they both RIP in musical heaven.
Jazzy Nights (Afternoons) 2021 South Orange NJ
2021 March Season Opener — Outdoor COVID Sessions.
Enter 2021, and because we were all still under a Pandemic watch from 2020 we started the Summer Season early on a beautiful sunny day in 2021 on March 21st. With a live music community starving for entertainment, we came back out in March of 2021, and due to COVID Pandemic Social Distancing guidelines, the world had moved outside and so did Jazzy Nights as “Jazzy Afternoons.”
Jazzy Nights Presents MPack Band at The Fox & Falcon
Thanks to The Fox & Falcon restaurant owner, Jazzy Nights Live became Jazzy Afternoons Live in the Sloan Street Parking Lot on March 21. We moved from Thursday nights to Sunday Afternoons.
As you can see, lots and lots of people came out with family and friends to enjoy the live music of the MPack Band and the community.
We continued our performances throughout April, which is Jazz Appreciation Month. We planned for live music every weekend. Weather canceled one weekend, but we did produce some very well-attended and swinging live music weekend performances.
Mike Lee Trio with Billy Drummond and Mike Kane in Jazz Appreciation Month 2021.
Radam Schwartz Trio with Gene Ghee Sax in Jazz Appreciation Month 2021.
The season continued throughout the Summer, we extended it and worked to extend the live music through October.
October Live Music Fest 2021
Also in 2021, after the Summer Live Music Season we produced the October Live Music Fest.
Take a listen to this event. Performances were 2 times a day every Saturday and Sunday throughout the month.
You can read all about it here: South Orange, NJ October Live Music Fest Takes Over the Sounds In Spiotta Park and Jazz On Sloan Street.
We created live music sessions all year from March thru October, so 2021 was a good year.
Jazzy Nights 2022 at South Valley BBQ & Lounge
Enter 2022, and this year we are back and in a new location and already have produced two extremely successful Jazzy Nights events.
2022 Feb. 18 Jazz Season Opener in the Blue Room.
South Valley BBQ and Lounge Presents John Lee and Friends
We are starting off the 2022 Jazzy Nights Live Music Scene in a really nice new location, and we started earlier this year with our first event on Feb. 18th in the new South Valley Lounge. In their newly remodeled Blue Room, we kicked off the season with world-renowned bassist John Lee and his awesome friends.
2022 Apr 9th R&B Season Opener in the Blue Room.
Jazzy Nights Presents MPack Music Live at South Valley BBQ and Lounge
We started off the Jazzy Nights R&B Live Music Scene in the new South Valley Lounge on April 9th in the newly remodeled Blue Room. We kicked off the season with the extremely popular R&B Band MPack.
Our first Jazzy Nights R&B performance was literally off the chain!!! Folks came to dine and dance and had fun all night long.
Jazzy Nights — Next Steps
For 2021, all of these veteran professionals came to perform and they delivered big time. So, a great start over 3 years through a pandemic, and we are continuing on throughout 2022.
At Gregory Burrus Productions, we always have something going on to get you, your family and your friends involved, so take a look at our events calendar and come join in the live music party.
Check Out Our Upcoming Events Calendar! We'll See You Soon.
About the Writer Gregory Burrus
Gregory Burrus is a local live music ambassador, event planner, live music ambassador and community partner that curates, manages and promotes live music events in the local Northern NJ and New York Area.
Gregory Burrus sits on a number of local boards and committees and is currently serving as a Board Member of Maplewood Community Music and is a Board Member of Harlem World Magazine Advisory Board.
Year-round Gregory Burrus also curates, books and produces: the Jazz973 live music jazz series at Clements Place Jazz for the Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies, the Jazzy Nights Live Music performances, and Cranford NJ Summer Sounds.
In addition to producing events, Gregory Burrus Productions also showcases, photographs, videotapes events annually such as the annual NYC John Jay College Friends of Myrna Bain Scholarship Fundraiser, the Orange NJ Farmers Market, numerous local bands at various local venues. Gregory Burrus has a passion for making live music happen anywhere and everywhere he can whether locally around town or around the world while living life every day to the fullest. Learn more at: Gregory Burrus - Gregory Burrus Live Music Ambassador
