Joyous Christmas scheduled for Dec. 9
The unique appeal of blending familiar holiday music with contemporary smooth jazz has become a holiday tradition on the Emerald Coast for the past 14 years.
WSBZ-FM The Seabreeze in Destin pairs up top national smooth jazz artists for a special evening of music, creating a positive, fun, and family-friendly holiday show sure to add that spark of holiday spirit to even the most extreme Scrooges. "Norman Brown's Joyous Christmas," featuring Bobby Caldwell and Marion Meadows, is set to continue this tradition at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville.
All seats are reserved. Tickets are $45 each for general admission and $80 each for special up-front seating. To order tickets by phone, call 850-729-6000, stop by the Arts Center Box Office in person, or purchase online at www.seabreeze.fm.
Grammy Award winner Norman Brown is a multi-talented guitarist, composer, and singer who offers tasty sonic tidbits of classic R&B and contemporary jazz leaving his fans melting into satisfied aural bliss with every succulent, jazz inflected note. He has earned both critical acclaim and chart-topping record sales, including his song "Stay With Me" landing at the top of Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart and his 2005 compilation, "The Very Best Of Norman Brown," the best-selling smooth jazz albums of that year.
Bobby Caldwell’s live performances are always electrifying. Drawing from his vast repertoire of R&B, intimate smooth jazz stylings, and big band songs, he has the ability to entertain at any venue.
As a singer, Caldwell has a successful career with numerous solo releases, which have earned accolades far and wide. His songwriting skills have also earned hits for Chicago, Boz Scaggs, Neil Diamond, and Al Jarreau. Caldwell’s timeless classic “What You Won’t Do For Love” has been recorded and sampled by more than 100 artists.
All combine, Caldwell’s songs and samples have contributed to more than 40 million sales with artists as diverse as Michael Bolton, Roberta Flack, Go West, and Boys II Men.
Smooth jazz-styled soprano saxophonist Marion Meadows was born in West Virginia and raised primarily in Connecticut. After adopting the classical clarinet at age 9, he moved to the saxophone as a teen, later studying composition and arranging at Boston’s Berklee College of Music.
A protégé of Joe Henderson and Eddie Daniels, Meadows later served a long stint as a member of Norman Connors’ Starship Orchestra. After a series of session dates and sideman gigs, he made his solo debut in 1990 with the release of "For Lovers Only," followed by "Keep It Right There." Resurfacing two years later with "Forbidden Fruit," he then released "Heads Up for Another Side of Midnight," "Next To You," and "In Deep."