Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Shawn Maxwell: Originals II

324

Shawn Maxwell: Originals II

By

View read count
Shawn Maxwell: Originals II
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 odd song titles here), and the group has a mood of freshness and good time spontaneity behind Maxwell, whose alto tone has a loose, honking and rather rough-hewn feeling to it. This, and much of the set, gives a '60s Blue Note Records vibe, pushed into the new century.

"Duck Snort," in spite of a title that might imply otherwise, swings easy, and pianist Mike Nelson solos with an impressive gusto. "Year Three" features Maxwell on flute, blowing light, frosty lines around Graham Czach's bowed bass and the spare tinkle of Nelson's piano, on a pensive and classical-sounding break in the bop atmosphere.

"Grimlock" gets a glow of electric keyboards and a tight groove, sounding a bit Yellowjacket-ish, and on "Working Dog" guest trombonist Johanna Mahmud opens the tune with bold tones before Maxwell moans in on bass clarinet in front of an organ simmer. Vim and vigor is the name of the game with "Leather," fronting the band with a dark, woody tone on clarinet, while Nelson steps light and breezy on the keys, and on "Sodor," Maxwell blows with a Paul Desmond, dry martini sound.

Originals II, a spirited set of jazz sounds, proves itself an outstanding follow-up to Shawn Maxwell's debut.

Track Listing

Rice; Duck Snort; Insert Title Here; Year Three; Grimlock; Working Dog; Mr. Strongbow; Leather; Storm; Sodor; Zoned Out; Fifth Quarter.

Personnel

Shawn Maxwell
saxophone, alto

Shawn Maxwell: alto sax, flute, clarinets; Matt Nelson: piano, keyboards; Graham Czech: bass; Brad Dickert; drums; Aaron Koppel: guitar (3); Johanna Mahmud: trombone (6).

Album information

Title: Originals II | Year Released: 2008 | Record Label: Self Produced

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.