Swiss composer and pianist and two time Soul Train Music Award winner Alex Bugnon hits the Atlanta area with performances Thursday at Acoustix Jazz Restaurant and Lounge, and then Saturday night at Jazzy Brown's in McDonough.
WCLK listeners will have the chance to win passes to both performances.
Bugnon, nephew of trumpeter Donald Byrd, grew up going to the Montreux Jazz Festival in his hometown in Switzerland. He attended the Paris Conservatory of Music for two years, then moved to the U.S. and went to the Berklee School of Music, meanwhile performing as an accompanist to gospel groups. He spent four years working as a session musician in New York, backing urban and jazz performers such as Patti Austin, Freddie Jackson, James Ingram, and Keith Sweat. Signed to Orpheus Records, he released his debut album, Love Season, in 1989. It reached the pop charts and the Top 40 of the R&B charts, as did its follow-up, 1990's Head Over Heels. Subsequent releases -- 107 Degrees in the Shade (1991), This Time Around (1993), and Tales From the Bright Side (1995), the last on RCA Records -- all placed in the R&B charts. After five years away from recording under his own name, Bugnon signed to the jazz division of Narada Records.
For tickets to Thursday's performance at Acoustix Jazz click here.
For tickets to Saturday's performances at Jazzy Browns click here.