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About Shawn Maxwell
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
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by Hrayr Attarian
Woodwind player and composer Shawn Maxwell's Shawn Maxwell's Alliance on the Chicago Sessions label is a carefully orchestrated suite with a subtle yet distinct dramatic sense. Although the description in the liner notes makes mention of a group of friends experimenting with new styles and sounds the disc is not a blowing date nor it is meant to be one. The fantastical “Iynes Crayons" opens with a stately, almost baroque theatricality as French horn players Rachel Maxwell and ...
read moreShawn Maxwell: Shawn Maxwell's Alliance
by Dan Bilawsky
In the liner notes for Shawn Maxwell's Alliance, the Chicago-based multi-reedist is transparent as can be. He makes note of the fact that this project was born out of a conscious desire to do something different and pull away from the commonplace quartet and quintet formats that are so prevalent today. He also notes that he initially had no intention of recording this group, and that some of these numbers are “sketches," not fully fleshed out compositions. ...
read moreShawn Maxwell Quartet: Maxwell's House
by Dan McClenaghan
Chicago-based multi-reedist Shawn Maxwell's third disc as a leader, Maxwell's House, follows in the footsteps of his Originals (Self Published, 2006) and Originals II (Self Published, 2008). All three sets possess a solid mainstream quartet sound, with the piano/bass/drums rhythm team fronted by the leader's tangy-toned alto saxophone.The disc opens with the highly-caffeinated title tune. Maxwell spits sharp notes into the stop-and-go rhythm that gives way to fluid and intensely-pretty piano turn by Matt Nelson. The leader then ...
read moreShawn Maxwell: Originals II
by Dan McClenaghan
Multiple reedist (alto saxophone, mainly) Shawn Maxwell titled his fine debut CD Originals (Self-Produced, 2005). It was an apt tag for a set of all original tunes, played by Maxwell and an excellent backing unit fronted by the leader's distinctively tart and intrepid horn sound. His sophomore outing, Originals II, is more of the same, and pushes his modern approach--with a strong rooting in the bop tradition--forward a notch or three.The set opens with “Rice" (there are some ...
read moreShawn Maxwell: Originals
by Dan McClenaghan
Multiple-reedman Shawn Maxwell's debut is entitled Originals, since he penned all the tunes on the disc. He could just have well entitled it “original voice," given his edgy, high-energy, unique approach to jazz--not quite mainstream, not quite free, not quite like anyone else I hear out there these days. The closest comparison might be the late alto saxophonist Jackie McLean. Maxwell has a similarly strung-tight, tart, piercing voice on his saxophones, and his compositions--like McLean's--are full of sharp edges and ...
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