Showing posts with label Shawn Maxwell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shawn Maxwell. Show all posts

Friday, May 25, 2018

Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow - Music In My Mind (ORIGIN RECORDS 2018)



Accompanied by his New Tomorrow band plus special guests, saxophonist Shawn Maxwell presents captivating original tunes on his latest release, Music In My Mind

Chicago-based reed maven Shawn Maxwell
takes listeners on a jazz journey with his brand-new CD, Music In My Mind

On Music In My Mind, saxophonist/clarinetist/flutist Shawn Maxwell presents an exciting mix of 10 new compositions, ranging from straight-ahead jazz to the free and far out to funk and fusion, all rendered with skill, taste, warmth and originality. This is the eighth album of originals for Maxwell, and once again he displays the talent, creativity and imagination that have built an enthusiastic international audience for this Illinois native son. 

 Joined by his band New Tomorrow on this latest CD, Music In My Mind,Maxwell presents an excellent sampler of his far-reaching capabilities as a bandleader, and highlights the stellar contributions of his musical cohorts. The saxophonist/clarinetist/flutist is joined by New Tomorrow stalwarts Victor Garcia on trumpet and flugelhorn, Matt Nelson on piano and keyboards, Junius Paul on acoustic and electric bass, and Phil Beale on drums.

 The core New Tomorrow band is supplemented on this fresh offering by special guests, including vocalist Dee Alexander, trumpeters Chad McCullough and Corey Wilkes, electric bassists Patrick Mulcahy and Tim Seisser, vibraphonist Stephen Lynerd, and drummer/percussionist Kalyan Pathak. 

 The Joliet, Illinois-born Shawn Maxwell was exposed to a wide variety of music from his youngest years; he recalls that hearing Pete Fountain made him want to play the clarinet. It was love at first note—as soon as Shawn picked up an instrument, he knew he wanted to pursue a life in music. As he discovered more about jazz in high school, he realized he’d found his musical home.

 Maxwell has been a mainstay of the Chicago jazz scene since his high school days. Critic Neil Tesser has described his tone in glowing terms: "His alto timbre sits in a lineage exemplified by past giants like Jackie McLean and Eric Dolphy, and by such latter-day players as Arthur Blythe and Steve Slagle." 

 But Maxwell can’t be pigeonholed as solely a Chicago musician. The saxophonist has steadily developed a broad following far beyond his Midwest roots, starting with the release of his first album in 2004. He maintains a busy national and international touring schedule, and has gigged and recorded with a quartet and a 10-tet, Shawn Maxwell’s Alliance, as well as with New Tomorrow.

 Maxwell has been lauded for his composing skills from the get-go, and he acknowledges finding inspiration in a diverse lineup that includes Guns N’ Roses, Duke Ellington, Art Pepper and Cannonball Adderley. Writing music always seemed like a natural creative outlet to the saxophonist, who notes, “As jazz musicians, we’re composers every time we take a solo.”

Music In My Mindhighlights include:

 “He Gone”: Introspective and mellow, grounded by the spare, intense drumwork and ethereal flute. “Our Princess is in Another Castle” is frisky and engaging, with a hypnotic beat. It’s a treat to hear how singer Dee Alexander shines in this setting.

 The title track, “Music In My Mind,” bursts with fun and creativity, hinting at classically inspired themes. Check out the leader’s exciting saxophone work, as well as Victor Garcia’s shimmering flugelhorn solo.

 With its brilliant writing, sax styling and energy, there’s something about “Glamasue” that evokes but never imitates Arthur Blythe on the cusp of the 1980s. There’s an engaging development of tension and tempo, driven by the depth of Tim Seisser’s electric bass.

 With Music In My MindShawn Maxwell proves once again that he is in the front line among today’s most versatile and creative jazz talents. Expect to be surprised and delighted by his music for years to come.
1 Our Princess is in Another Castle 5:15 
2 Music In My Mind 6:38 
3 Untitled Tune #1 1:45 
4 Maxwell's House 4:01 
5 Herding Happiness 4:28 
6 He Gone 4:34 
7 King Bill 4:00 
8 Another Monday 6:59 
9 Glamasue 6:31 
10 Snow Snow 4:34

Dee Alexander - Voice (1,2,4) 
Victor Garcia - Trumpet/flugelhorn (2,8) 
Chad Mccullough - Trumpet/flugelhorn (1,3,4,5,9) 
Corey Wilkes - Trumpet (6,10) 
Matt Nelson - Piano/rhodes 
Patrick Mulcahy - Electric Bass (6,10) 
Junius Paul - Electric & Acoustic Bass (1,2,4,5,7,8) 
Tim Seisser - Electric Bass (3,9) 
Phil Beale - Drums 
Stephen Lynerd - Vibraphone (5) 
Kalyan Pathak - Percussion (7)

Produced by Shawn Maxwell & Nick Eipers 
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Nick Eipers 
Recorded at Shirk Studios, December 12-14, 2017 
Assistant Engineer: Suzie Calarco 
Mixed & Mastered at Crann Darach, Chicago, IL 
Cover images by Franco Lovisolo & John Bishop 
Cover design & layout by John Bishop



Upcoming Events
May-June 2018

May 25 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Glendale Jazz Festival, 424 Sappington Rd 
St Louis, MO 63122 United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow performs at the Glendale Jazz Festival

May 26 @ 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Westsylvania Jazz & Blues Festival, N 7th St 
Indiana, PA 15702 United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow performs at Westsylvania Jazz & Blues Festival

May 31 @ 8:30 pm - 11:00 pm
Constellation, 3111 n. Western 
Chicago, IL 60618 United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow celebrates the release of their new album on the Origin label.

June 2018

June 7 @ 8:30 pm - 11:30 pm
Black Dolphin, 1813 Grand Blvd 
Kansas City, MO 64108 United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow celebrates the release of their new album at Black Dolphin in Kansas City

June 8 @ 8:00 pm - 10:30 pm
Cafe Paradiso, 101 N Main st 
Fairfield, IA United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow performs celebrating the release of their new album.

June 9 @ 8:00 pm
The Washington, 306 Washington Street 
Burlington, IA 52601 United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow celebrates the release of their new album at The Washington

June 15 @ 9:30 pm - June 16 @ 1:00 am
Andy’s Jazz Club, 11 E Hubbard St 
Chicago, IL 60654 United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow celebrates the release of their new album at Andy's Jazz Club

June 16 @ 9:30 pm - June 17 @ 1:00 am
Andy’s Jazz Club, 11 E Hubbard St 
Chicago, IL 60654 United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow celebrates the release of their new album at Andy's Jazz Club

June 20 @ 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm
An Die Music, 409 N Charles St 
Baltimore, MD 21201 United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow celebrates the release of their new album at An Die Music

June 21 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
New York City, NY United States + Google Map
Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow performs celebrating the release of their new album

Media Contact
Jim Eigo
Jazz Promo Services
272 State Route 94 South #1
Warwick, NY 10990-3363
Ph: 845-986-1677 
Cell / text: 917-755-8960
Skype: jazzpromo
"Specializing in Media Campaigns for the music community, artists, labels, venues and events.”
Posted by Republic of Jazz a la dirección 6:00 AM
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Saturday, September 17, 2016

Shawn Maxwell - Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow ( 2016) OA2 RECORDS



I's it possible for a jazz quintet to craft music that's melodically intriguing, harmonically alluring and rhythmically numbing?

Yes, indeed, judging by Thursday night's performance from Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow, the latest ensemble fronted by a Chicago saxophonist-flutist who already has proved that he knows how to write compellingly idiosyncratic scores.

When he led Shawn Maxwell's Alliance at the Jazz Showcase two years ago, he offered listeners a welcome respite from the rigid stylistic boundaries that hem in many ensembles. The well-named Alliance presented compositions that refreshingly fused elements of jazz, classical, pop and a hint of funk, sometimes shifting from one to the next within the span of a couple of measures. Plus how often do you encounter music penned for two saxophones, two French horns, two stand-up basses, wordless vocals, guitar, drums and percussion?


Maxwell's New Tomorrow showed him pursuing a different direction. In every way, New Tomorrow — which Maxwell will be taking into the recording studio next week — represented a tighter, leaner sound and concept. Even with just five musicians, however, the band conjured a range of color and texture, with several of the musicians doubling up on instruments.

Once again, Maxwell affirmed that he knows how to wield a pen, his intricately detailed scores bristling with surprises. Among them: highflying duo passages for Maxwell's saxophone/flute and Victor Garcia's trumpet; serpentine ostinatos for Matt Nelson's piano and electronic keyboard; ample room for Junius Paul to stretch out on acoustic and electric bass (especially the latter).

Better still New Tomorrow featured compositions built on unexpected chord progressions, stop-start rhythms and other quirky devices that continually caught listeners off guard. This was the handiwork of a composer not content to settle into predictable musical.


Why Maxwell would want to cast these terrific original ideas against the nearly relentless, sledgehammer backbeats of drummer Phil Beale stands as something of a mystery. Nearly every composition Maxwell's New Tomorrow played featured leaden, earthbound, hammered downbeats of a sort you'd expect to encounter in a dance club where hundreds of revelers want to move to the same thumping, pounding, pulsing rhythm.

Other threads of Maxwell's scores, however, aspired to something more sophisticated and engaging, which caused a push-pull tug-of-war between drummer Beale and everyone else. If the idea was to make Maxwell's high-toned writing more palatable to an audience that needed easily an digestible musical element, the effort was counterproductive. For as much as one tried to savor the melodic lines that Maxwell and Garcia were producing or the chordal structures that pianist Nelson and bassist Paul were devising, there was no escaping those overwrought, rhythmically inflexible blows on drums.

That said, other elements of Maxwell's new compositions were worth admiring, especially in the way he and several of his colleagues handled them. The ever-shifting rhythmic syntax Maxwell and trumpeter Garcia articulated in "Embraceable Excuses" piqued interest, while Garcia's irrepressibly inventive, airborne solos ennobled the entire venture. Paul's low-note flurries on electric bass and Nelson's intensely chromatic keyboard riffs kept matters interesting in "Work in Progress." And the virtuoso duet breaks for Maxwell and Garcia in "Progressive Regression" were inspiring to hear.

Is it not possible to tone down and loosen up the pummeling of the drum set?

Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.


01. Embraceable Excuses
02. Work In Progress
03. Responsibility Run
04. Inside Back
05. Whole Hearted Half The Time
06. Unexpected Heel Turn
07. Progressive Regression
08. Saturday Morning Dance
09. Carbird Seat
10. Three Kinds Of Heat
11. Throw Away Tune #2
12. Eustachian Tube Dysfunction
13. Hitting Streak
14. Bye For Now.

Shawn Maxwell: alto sax, flute
Victor Garcia: trumpet (1, 4, 5, 10)
Chad McCullough: trumpet (2, 3, 6, 8 13, 14)
Corey Wilkes: trumpet (11)
Junius Paul: acoustic and electric bass
Matt Nelson: piano, rhodes, Wurlitzer
Phil Beale: drums



Posted by Republic of Jazz a la dirección 9:19 AM
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