Keep up to date – sign up here – https://linktr.ee/gregoryburrus

Click Expand Enjoy 2021 Year End Recap Video

Over 46 events produced 586 programming hours in 2021

2021 What a fabulous, poignant, reflective year?  In the beginning we thought about it being a year of restart, recovery and renewal. I think we all lost some family, friends and in our case some fabulous musicians. Unfortunately the losses continued so definitely a challenging year and we all found a way to live again. For us the listeners, a live music concert is a pleasurable social event that is among the most visceral and memorable forms of musical engagement. It’s the same for the musicians with the added note that for many it’s not a side business, it’s their lifeblood and the thing that keeps them alive. With that in mind we soldered on thru the year making music and great memories.

Enjoy 2021 Year End Pictorial Recap

January 2021

• Well we thought we’d  start the year off back with our Jazz973 program at The Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies but no such luck. Still too many pandemic uncertainties so our favorite Jazz Venue Clément’s Place Jazz did not have any programming. 

February

• The Town of South Orange conducted an Access Road Dedication to Lee Boswell-May.
  Wonderful tribute on what was a cold but beautiful day. Read about Lee May here on New Jersey Jazz Society Live Music Advocate, Lee Boswell-May.
  
• Gregory Burrus Productions – provided an online musical tribute with a huge thank you to some great musicians who took the time and volunteered their performances. Please take a listen to them – Kyle Younger and the Howling Poets band, Clarence Conover and MPACK, Carl Scariatti, Dwight West and Lance Bryant and Caylen Bryant.
  
• Awarded February South Orange Villager of the Month Gregory Burrus- Very happy to receive this honor – Thank you to the town of South Orange, NJ.
  
• Sankofa: Honoring Our Stories – is a @South Orange Village Center project celebrating the stories of Black residents of South Orange, past and present, to create a meaningful narrative – Read Chapter Five – Gregory Burrus – Black History SOVCA

March 

• We celebrated Women’s History Month with a wonderful  online performance titled WHM2021 “Refresh in Progress”  by Ife Basim. Here’s a (RECAP) Fabulous WHM2021 “Refresh In Progress” Women’s History Month Celebration
  
• We also had a stirring and moving Cello performance by Caylen Bryant as we all Reflected Together For COVID-19 Victims at the lake in Meadowlands Park in South Orange, NJ.
  
• Jazzy Nights in 2020 had joined the South Orange Jazz scene right before the pandemic hit us and was indoors. Well in 2021 it turned into Jazzy Afternoons at The Fox and Falcon as we all ventured out again from being shut in. We had a truly swinging outdoor live R&B performance by MPACK at the Fox and Falcon. It was a big hit as folks starved for live music and folks came out like crazy. It was really a great scenario to experience.

April

• In April we honored Jazz Appreciation Month. It was a truly swinging set of Sunday afternoon performances which you can read more about right here Jazzy Afternoons South Orange Presents “Jazz Across The Generations” to Honor Jazz Appreciation Month 2021. Every weekend except one the weather was great, the music awesome and the vibe was truly jumpin. 

May

• James Scott and JAM Network TV produced a fabulous 2 Nights on the Newark Waterfront. Staring Nat Adderley Jr, George Gee, Kim Clark, Comedians, Rappers and more.

• Mothers Day – we highlighted our mothers and put a spotlight on the necessity to engage in conflict resolution with other women. Click to see this powerful In Celebration of Mothers video produced by @Ife Basim.
  
• South Orange Summer Saturdays – Our every Summer Saturday South Orange Downtown performances ran every Saturday for 2 performances a day kicked offed early this year on May 1st 2021 and runs to last week September. You can recap here https://www.facebook.com/gregory.burrus/videos

June, July, August

• City of Orange Farmers Market – We rolled through Summer Wednesdays with a jumping Wednesday afternoon R&B driven City of Orange Farmers Market. From 12-5 pm this program grew from a few attendees to a full house every week. 
  
• Cranford Summer Sounds – This year we were also honored to crank up live music for the town of Cranford. We enjoyed a really great set of  Downtown Cranford Summer Sounds performances every Thursday evening all summer long. 
  
• Jazz On Sloan – We kicked off some wonderful Jazz on Sloan Street performances at the South Orange Gazebo with Jazz Jams and we added a new genre – Opera and Classical Theatre events – which you can read more here and here.
  
• West Orange Arts Center -Celebrating Life via Art and Live Music at Juneteenth WOAC BLM Artist Exhibition Reception. Check it out – WOAC Celebrates Juneteenth
  
• Westfield Open Quimby – Folks also enjoyed some great live music bands we provided to the town of Westfield Open Quimby Live Music program.
  
• South Orange Village Juneteenth Celebration – We provided some fabulous bands in support of National Juneteenth Celebration on Floods Hill in South Orange, NJ.|

• Drag Queen Bingo – supplied DJ music for the June 27 in the Sloan Street Parking Lot – bingo and family friendly event with our New Jersey DJ Services- DJ Redline which was produced by SOVCA and South Orange Village Recreation Department

• Maplewood Community Music Concert Band was at the South Mountain Reservation on . Cherry Lane near the Paddle Boat House in West Orange. A beautiful annual celebration of over 60 musicians on the shore of the reservation with stunning views. Swing Town Big Band also had some wonderful Jazz performances in Maplewood, South Orange, etc.

August Annuals

• MAPSO Funk Fest –‘Funk Fest’ Coming Saturday to Maplewood – a free, family friendly event created to celebrate the diversity of MAPSO through food, music, and the arts. Read more Annual MAPSO Funk Fest is Food, Music, Great Vibes and More
  First-Ever MAPSO ‘Funk Fest’ Celebrates Black-Owned Businesses, Artisans, Music
  
• Patterson NJ Jazz Festival with participation by Carlos Frias and Circulo Social opening the Festival in Eastside Park .

Too many performers to mention here so click a link above and note that we did live stream most of these performances and depending on your choice of platform, you can relive these live music concerts at these links.

• YouTube Live Streams – http://24hoursoflivemusic.com 
• Video Replays –  https://www.youtube.com/c/gregoryburrus
• Facebook Lives  – https://www.facebook.com/gregory.burrus/videos

 September 

• Maplewood Porchfest – We started with the Maplewood Community Music’s Maplewood Porchfest which was a nonstop all day community fest of porch owners, honk paraders,  lemonade stands and what really makes it happen, awesome local music performers and enthusiastic attendees.
  
• Bloomfield Latina Festival – in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month  with music, art and food trucks at Millbank Park and Carlos Frias and Circulo Social had a great time.
  
• 24 Hours of Music Jamboree – Then after a July weather cancellation, thanks to South Orange Downtown we conducted the 5th Annual 24 Hours of Music Jamboree, adapted for our times. 
  
  • Saturday gave us 12 hours of music starting at 10 AM with Jazz Across the Generation performances from teenagers to octogenarians. We heated up the evening with an R&B Live Music performance followed by a DJ Dancing Party. 
    
  • Overnight Saturday to Sunday gave us various online musical performances including a wonderful performance from Japan by the Kumiko Tanaka Trio.
    
  • On Sunday hosted a Tribute to Darryl Clark. It was a glorious day headlined by the famous Nat Adderley Jr and his Trio, DC Fusion performance with members of Darryl’s former band. We opened with the South Orange Farmers Market Gazebo Jazz Jam performance. It was an all day, very sunny Sunday afternoon of beautiful music and great tributes. 

October 

• Jazz973 at Newark’s Clements Place – Finally saw the return of our beloved Clements Place Jazz Venue and while all the performances through December were fabulous, A few highlights were great performance by 87 year old Houston Person with Matt Chertkoff and another by 94 year old Bassist Bill Crow led by 19 year old Leonieke Scheuble  performing for us our Jazz973 program on Wednesday evenings.
  
• October Live Music Fest – This year the October Live Music Fest took over South Orange, NJ Spiotta Park and we had a really good time every weekend when the weather cooperated. 
  
• Autumn Sounds – Meanwhile the town of Cranford NJ reached 150 years old and MPACK was there to perform. 
  
• Pink Out Cranford – Also in October we performed for Pink Out Cranford Events. 
  
• Cranford Scarecrow Stroll – Finally we performed a few weekends for the wonderful Cranford’s 14th Annual Scarecrow Stroll which has some amazing scarecrows. 

On the Community Support

We honored to be selected to produce Behind Closed Doors – Domestic Violence Project Part 2

• Trinity Presbyterian Church of Montclair presented this virtual art exhibit called “Behind Closed Doors Part 2: Reflections of Domestic Violence.” Read and see details here Artists Creatively Using Art and Stories to Shine a Light On Domestic Violence (RECAP)

November 

• James Moody Scholars Celebration (RECAP – Thanks to Linda Moody, wife of famed saxophonist James Moody, we were Making History as Linda Moody Honored the  James Moody Scholars at 100 Blanchard Rd in South Orange, NJ A beautiful elegant night to remember. This was one swinging jamming experience .
  
• Smooth Jazz Maplewood -We then happily covered A Smooth Jazz Explosion Lights Up the Woodland in Maplewood. This event was very cool as it opened up with an exciting group of young musicians from our towns  the Baker Street Trio. Then we got to experience the fabulous Smooth Jazz performances of Yankee great Bernie Williams and the phenomenal Blood, Sweat & Tears, Guitarist Gil Parris and his band. It was definitely a really great performance to remember. 

December 

• Cranford – We concluded with our entertainer Lynette Sheard  joining Mr. and Ms. Claus on a Holiday Choral Walk around Downtown Cranford NJ. 
  
• South Orange – This year  we had a fun time performing in the return of the award winning South Orange Open Air Holiday Market. 
  
• Smooth Jazz Maplewood – We closed the month out in Maplewood where we enjoyed another great local performance where Local Resident Jacqueline Lee Opens For 2 Contemporary Jazz Stars and  fabulous off the chain performance in the Woodlands where Marion Meadows and Alex Bugnon  delivered an outstanding smooth jazz performance. 

Of course along the way we conducted a number of private events. For all venues and artists we continued producing and promoting live music events on various platforms and towns.

Venues Around Our Towns

This year consisted of multiple live music events, sometimes on the same day, conducted across multiple towns like South Orange, Newark, Cranford, Maplewood, City of Orange, Westfield, West Orange, Montclair and more. You can read more here.

Videography – Livestream

We documented these events via video and live streamed them on multiple platforms such as youtube, facebook, twitch and websites. You can read more below: 

https://www.youtube.com/gregoryburrus

https://vimeo.com/gregoryburrus

In The News

In addition, we continue to provide additional artists promotions via articles on local news sites, TAPinto Arts and Entertainment, Patch SOMA, Newsrecord and and blog posts across New Jersey via JerseyIndie and JerseyNYC.  

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/soma/ (search gregory burrus)

https://www.jerseyindie.com/ji-blogger-gregory-burrus

https://patch.com/users/gregburrus

Across Social Media

As we move through another year of unknowns, while we run through another – are we inside or outside life, please continue to stay in touch with all our live music events. We are programming events for 2022 so check out the links and signup to know when we will go live again. 

https://www.facebook.com/gregory.burrus

https://linktr.ee/gregoryburrus

https://www.instagram.com/gregoryburrus

https://twitter.com/gregoryburrus  

https://www.facebook.com/gregoryburruspromotions

Stay Safe, Stay Healthy and Stay Connected. 

Thank you again for joining us on this live music journey. 

Ready for 2022

About Gregory Burrus

Photographer – Patrick Hilaire @L1stener

Gregory Burrus spends his time as a  Live Music Producer, Promoter, Videographer, Photojournalist, Arts and Entertainment Writer, Blogger, Business Reviewer, and Community Events Reporter. Gregory develops, manages, promotes and documents live music programs in the Greater New Jersey and New York Area. 
http://gregoryburrusproductions.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregburrus

https://24hoursofmusicjamboree.com