Results for "Shawn Maxwell Quartet"

Michael Barton

Michael’s career as a bassist began in the suburbs of Chicago, performing with college ensembles while still in high school, and frequenting clubs in the city before having a driver’s license. These early experiences led him to the University of North Texas, where he earned a Bachelor’s (1998) and Master’s Degree (2000) in Jazz Studies. There he learned the language of music, composition and arranging – and experimented with audio recording and production. After graduating, he continued working as a session player and sideman in Dallas.

In the college library, Michael had studied not only music but the images that surrounded it. Returning to Chicago in 2002, he began to expand his art beyond music, to visual creation and photography. In less than a decade, he progressed from receiving his first camera, to full-time photographer, to decorated Master of Photography. His work has seen publication in numerous international photography magazines, been displayed in galleries across the United States, and garnered a long list of awards and accolades. With his accomplishments as a photographer, he became an in-demand educator, teaching throughout the United States. In 2013, he became the youngest-ever recipient of a Fellowship from the American Society of Photographers. Following this achievement, Michael began seeking ways to reconnect his love of visual art with his obsession for music.

Shawn Maxwell

Born: November 1, 1976

“This is bold music. Maxwell isn’t afraid to try out new ideas and take chances…” – Frank Alkyer, Downbeat Magazine

From his youth in the school music programs of Joliet, IL, through the Music B.A. program at

Millikin University, to 25 years of performing on the Chicago music scene and touring the United States, Shawn Maxwell has developed a unique voice on the saxophone.

“A spirited free-thinker and committed non-conformist” – Bill Milkowski (Millstream album notes)

From his first album of original compositions in 2005, to the 2026 release of his fourteenth album Frenetic Domain, he has forged a distinctive style of writing and arrangement. The traditions of jazz form the foundation for Shawn’s music; he builds on that with inspiration from the music he grew up with – rock, funk, hip hop, R&B, classical. Though his compositions have been compared to Frank Zappa, Philip Glass, the Canterbury Sound, and Bach…

Shawn Maxwell Quartet: Maxwell's House

by Dan McClenaghan
March 18, 2010

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 ...

Shawn Maxwell Quartet: Maxwell's House

by Matthew Warnock
January 26, 2010

Maxwell's House is a hard-swinging, deep in the pocket release by Chicago- based alto saxophonist Shawn Maxwell. The maturity displayed by all four musicians on the album is both refreshing and exciting. Instead of building energy and interest with long-streams of notes, Maxwell and pianist Matt Nelson favor shorter lines, longer-held notes and a strong focus ...