Some rooms carry their history in the walls. Step inside the clubhouse at Shady Rest Country Club in Scotch Plains, and you are standing where Ella Fitzgerald sang, where Duke Ellington and Count Basie led their orchestras, and where Billie Holiday drew crowds from across the region during an era when Black audiences and artists were shut out of so many of the country’s finest venues. On Saturday, November 7, 2026, that legacy gets a fresh, joyful chapter. Old School Vibes, an evening of live jazz, R&B, soul, and funk, will fill the historic club from 8:00 PM to 11:30 PM, headlined by the Nat Adderley Jr. Trio and the high energy ensemble MPack Music, with Scot the DJ keeping the dance floor moving all night long.

Produced by MPack and Gregory Burrus Productions, the evening is designed as a true night out in the classic sense, with music for listening, music for dancing, good food, local vendors, and a relaxed, grown folk atmosphere. Tickets are just $25 per person, and the event follows a BYOBB policy, so guests are welcome to bring their own bottle and beverages. In a moment when a night of live music often comes with a steep price tag, this is a rare chance to experience world class musicianship in one of New Jersey’s most meaningful historic settings without breaking the bank.

Nat Adderley Jr.: Jazz Royalty With a Soul Pedigree

Few musicians anywhere can claim a résumé quite like Nat Adderley Jr.’s. He was born into jazz royalty. His father was the great cornetist and trumpeter Nat Adderley, and his uncle was Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, the alto saxophonist whose bands and recordings rank among the most beloved in the history of the music. Together the Adderley brothers helped define soul jazz, a warm, gospel tinged, irresistibly grooving style that brought jazz to a broad new audience in the late 1950s and 1960s. Growing up surrounded by that sound, young Nat seemed destined for a life on the bandstand.

His path took a fascinating turn. While a student at New York’s famed LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, Adderley met a young singer named Luther Vandross, and the friendship that began there would shape both of their careers. After earning his degree from Yale University, Adderley joined Vandross as his music director in 1981, the same year the singer’s debut hit made him a star. For more than two decades he served as Vandross’s pianist, arranger, composer, and eventually producer, the musical architect behind one of the most elegant catalogs in the history of R&B. His songwriting credits with Vandross include “Stop to Love,” “Wait for Love,” and the Grammy nominated “Give Me the Reason,” and his arrangements gave shape to countless performances that remain staples of quiet storm radio to this day. He produced the Grammy winning album Dance with My Father, arranged Vandross’s Grammy winning duet with Beyoncé on “The Closer I Get to You,” and produced the singer’s final project, recorded live at Radio City Music Hall.

After Vandross’s passing in 2005, Adderley turned back toward the music of his family, and in recent years he has stepped forward as a jazz pianist and bandleader in his own right. His long awaited debut recording as a leader, Took So Long, made with his trio, announced him as a distinctive jazz voice whose playing blends the harmonic sophistication of the Adderley tradition with the melodic instincts of a man who spent decades crafting songs for one of the greatest singers of his generation. He has also worked alongside artists including Aretha Franklin, Johnny Gill, and Kirk Whalum. Adderley makes his home in West Orange, which means this weekend’s performance is something of a hometown showcase for one of the Garden State’s most accomplished musicians.

The trio that joins him is built on deep experience. Bassist Belden Bullock is a veteran of the New York scene known for his rich tone and unshakable time, and drummer Steve Johns brings decades of work at the highest levels of jazz, with a touch that can shift from whisper quiet brushwork to driving swing in an instant. Together, the three musicians play with the kind of conversational ease that only comes from players who listen closely to one another, making the trio’s set the perfect sophisticated opening to the evening.

MPack Music Turns Up the Groove

When the trio’s set winds down, the energy rises. MPack Music takes over for the second half of the night, expanding the sound into high powered R&B, classic soul, and funk designed to pull every guest out of their seat. Led by Clarence Conover, the ensemble features lead vocals from Conover and Pat Walton, a pairing that brings both power and polish to the old school repertoire. Behind them, pianist Glenn Merritt adds jazz influenced keyboard styling that ties the group’s sound back to the evening’s jazz roots, creating a natural bridge between the trio’s sophistication and the dance floor heat that follows.

That blend is exactly the point of Old School Vibes. Jazz, R&B, soul, and funk have always been close relatives, sharing musicians, harmonies, and grooves across generations. Nat Adderley Jr.’s own career is living proof, stretching from the soul jazz of his father and uncle to the silky R&B he helped create with Vandross. Bringing those traditions together under one roof, in one night, honors the way so many of us actually grew up listening to music, with Cannonball on one record and Luther on the next.

Scot the DJ Keeps the Party Going

Between the live sets and right through to the final minutes of the night, Scot the DJ will spin classic old school favorites, ensuring there is never a quiet moment on the dance floor. The result is a seamless evening of entertainment, with live music and recorded classics flowing into one another, so guests can dance, mingle, enjoy dinner from the on site food options, and browse the local vendors without ever losing the groove.

Shady Rest: Where History Still Swings

The setting alone makes this an evening worth attending. Shady Rest Golf and Country Club is recognized as the first Black owned and operated country club in the United States. Its story began in 1921, when the Westfield Golf Club moved on to form what became Echo Lake Country Club, and a group of Black residents and investors organized as the Progressive Realty Company acquired the Scotch Plains property. Shady Rest opened that July with nearly two thousand people on hand to celebrate, and within a year it counted roughly two hundred members. For the growing Black middle class of New Jersey and the greater New York region, it quickly became far more than a golf course. It was a social and cultural center, a place for tennis, dining, dances, and community gatherings at a time when segregation closed so many doors.

The music that filled its clubhouse is the stuff of legend. Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Count Basie all performed or were welcomed there during its golden era, and the club drew distinguished guests from across American life, including the scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois. In the world of sports, Shady Rest was home to John Shippen, the first American born golf professional and the first Black golfer to compete in the U.S. Open, who served as the club’s pro and groundskeeper for roughly thirty years beginning in 1931. Tennis great Althea Gibson also played there. The club hosted one of the earliest national golf championships for Black golfers in 1925, cementing its place in the history of the sport.

Financial pressures eventually led the township of Scotch Plains to take ownership of the property, and in 1964 the course opened to the public under the name Scotch Hills. For decades, much of its remarkable story faded from public memory. That began to change when local residents rallied to protect the historic clubhouse, which was restored and now houses a small museum honoring Shippen. In 2021, on the club’s centennial, the township restored the Shady Rest name, and the property is now listed on the national and state registers of historic places. Today the clubhouse is available for special events, which is how Old School Vibes comes to life inside its walls. For an evening devoted to jazz and soul, there may be no more fitting stage in the entire state.

Plan Your Night

Old School Vibes takes place Saturday, November 7, 2026, from 8:00 PM to 11:30 PM at Shady Rest Country Club, 820 Jerusalem Road in Scotch Plains. Admission is $25 per person, and guests are encouraged to bring their own bottle and beverages under the event’s BYOBB policy. Food will be available on site, along with a selection of local vendors. The evening is geared toward a grown and sophisticated crowd, so dress to impress, bring your dancing shoes, and plan to stay until the final song. Tickets and registration details are available through the event’s Eventbrite page, and more information on upcoming events can be found through Gregory Burrus Productions.

Nights like this one are a reminder of why live music matters. It connects generations, honors the places and people who made our musical history possible, and gives a community the chance to come together and celebrate. With a living link to the Adderley legacy at the piano, a band built to make people dance, and a setting where the giants of jazz once performed, Old School Vibes promises to be one of the most memorable evenings on the New Jersey music calendar this fall.