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Shawn Maxwell
“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…
“Nobody writes like this.” – Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
Shawn’s albums have received accolades and airplay across the country and around the world, including two Downbeat Magazine “Best Albums of the Year” and four “Editor’s Picks”, reviews from Chicago Tribune, Jazz Times, Cadence Magazine, AllAboutJazz, and dozens of national and local music publications. His recordings have reached the Top 50 on JazzWeek and College Music Journal Jazz Charts.
“…jaunty, angular melodies, deceptive time signatures, and metronomic rhythm arrangements – sound as if inhabited by the ghost of Zappa...” – Neil Tesser (Alliance album notes)
His albums have featured a variety of working groups: several quartets, quintets like Shawn Maxwell’s New Tomorrow, and the ten-piece ensemble Shawn Maxwell’s Alliance. Expectation & Experience (Jazzline/Delta, 2021) featured remotely-recorded collaborations with twenty nine other musicians, including Howard Levy, Ernie Adams and Tom Sharpe.
“Because of his superlative musicianship, there are high expectations inherent to each Maxwell release… With each work, Maxwell’s already unique style becomes even more singular as his sound matures and his writing crystalizes.”
– Hrayr Attarian, Chicago Jazz Magazine (2020 Millstream)
As a Vandoren and Conn-Selmer artist, Shawn’s Master Classes and Guest Appearances are a favorite of students from college through elementary school, combining his pedagogical skills with a performer’s sensibilities.
Gear
Conn-Selmer Artist - Selmer Mark VI alto sax Vandoren Artist - performs on all Vandoren reeds, mouthpieces and ligatures
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Keri Johnsrud / Shawn Maxwell: C8H10N4O2
by Hrayr Attarian
Vocalist Keri Johnsrud is a master of subtlety. She delivers intricate songs with elegance and grace, making them sound deceptively effortless. Saxophonist Shawn Maxwell is one of the most innovative members of the Chicago creative music scene. Both are also accomplished composers. All these elements make their collaborative effort C8H10N4O2 (the chemical formula for caffeine) stimulating and delightful. A concept album, C8H10N4O2 represents a hectic day. Bookending it are two takes of “Peace," one labeled “720 AM" and ...
Continue ReadingShawn Maxwell: J Town Suite
by Jack Bowers
Saxophonist Shawn Maxwell is so fond of his hometown--Joliet, Illinois--that he has written the J Town Suite in its honor and dedicated an entire album to themes associated with his Joliet roots and upbringing. Problem is, those essays have meaning only to Maxwell--and perhaps a handful of others--so the album must be appraised musically, not thematically. Which is fine, as it is essentially a quartet date embracing contemporary straight-ahead jazz, not unlike many others that are produced ...
Continue ReadingShawn Maxwell: Story At Eleven
by Hrayr Attarian
On his 11th release, the aptly titled Story At Eleven, saxophonist and composer Shawn Maxwell leads his quartet through a four-part, cinematic suite. Utilizing electric instrumentation Maxwell endows the ambiance with a noirish undercurrent. The expansive pieces, thanks to Maxwell's writing, demonstrate ensemble cohesiveness without sacrificing the individual voices of the four musicians. Keyboardist Collin Clauson's hypnotic cascades and drummer Greg Essig's dark rustles open “Appointment With" with delightful intrigue. Maxwell's muscular and serpentine alto then sets the ...
Continue ReadingShawn Maxwell: Expectation & Experience
by Jack Bowers
On Expectation & Experience, his tenth recording as a leader, Chicago-based woodwind specialist Shawn Maxwell is accompanied by almost thirty musicians—but never by more than three on any of its seventeen tracks. Maxwell says the compositions were written during the global Covid-19 pandemic, and the musicians were mustered singly, most in their own homes. While each of the compositions has a “theme," none is readily apparent from its performance, and listeners should feel free to overlook that aspect and focus ...
Continue ReadingShawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow: Music in My Mind
by Dan McClenaghan
After a series of well-received mainstream recordings, Chicago-based alto saxophonist Shawn Maxwell moved into a “taking more chances" mode with Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow (OA2 Records, 2016). Much of the sound there fell into the exploratory, even avant-garde area. He delves further into that territory with Music In My Mind. With albums titled Originals (Self Produced, 2006) and Originals II (Self Produced, 2008) opening up his recorded resume, it's no stretch to say that Maxwell's focus is zeroed ...
Continue ReadingShawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow: Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow
by Dan McClenaghan
Chicago-based saxophonist Shawn Maxwell has produced an excellent run of straight ahead CD releases in the past decade, sets like his two self-produced discs, Originals (2006) and Originals II (2008), and Maxwell's House (Chicago Session LTD, 2010) before he changed his game up with Shawn Maxwell's Alliance (Chicago Sessions LTD, 2015), a shift away from mainstream quartet--sax and rhythm section--to a walk-on-the-mini-big-band wild side, with a group that includes French horns, vibes, a vocalist and additional saxophones. So what about ...
Continue ReadingShawn Maxwell: Shawn Maxwell's Alliance
by Ben Scholz
Fronted by an already well-established jny:Chicago area saxophonist, the Shawn Maxwell Alliance expands the concept of what a mixed ensemble can accomplish in the jazz realm. This debut album features a sprawling list of modern jazz composers and leaders including another jny:Chicago saxophonist, Chris Greene, vocalist Keri Johnsrud, vibraphonist Stephen Lynerd, and bassist Stacy McMichael. The group is augmented with a collection of featured players including guitarist Mitch Corso, double bassist Marc Piane, drummer Paul Townsend and Rachel Maxwell and ...
Continue ReadingJazz this week: Shawn Maxwell's New Tomorrow, The People's Key, and more
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features a couple of multi-artist performances of experimental music, an up- and-coming new contemporary jazz quintet from Chicago, plus some local favorites. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, August 2 This week's “Grand Center Jazz Crawl" has trumpeter T.J Müller at KDHX's Magnolia Cafe; the jam session with bassist Bob Deboo and friends at Kranzberg Arts Center; and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor at The Dark Room. Also on Wednesday, ...
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Enter the "Shawn Maxwell - Urban Vigilante" Giveaway at All About Jazz!
Source:
All About Jazz
Shawn Maxwell’S Ambitious Invention Puts a Bold Spin on Jazz Convention
Source:
Mixed Media Promotion
It’s both interesting and revealing that Shawn Maxwell has decided to coin his new sophomore effort similarly to his debut. He called his first album back in 2005 Originals, and he’s labeled his brand new set, Originals: II. The title choice is revealing and logical; Maxwell is indeed an “original,” and his second woodwind-based, multi-instrumental work is as unique as the first and about as original as contemporary jazz gets.
It’s not often that jazz fans come across this kind ...
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★★★★ - Downbeat Magazine “Bravo.” – Bobby Reed, Downbeat Magazine 3 time Editors Pick – Downbeat Magazine “Nobody writes like this.” – Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune “This is bold music. Maxwell isn’t afraid to try out new ideas and take chances….that risk-taking pays off—big time.”- Frank Alkyer‚ Downbeat Magazine I first encountered saxophonist Shawn Maxwell when a copy of his debut album came into my hands two years ago. My initial reaction was that this artist was rather cocky; his titling of his album as "Originals" seemed at first to be absurdly audacious; but upon listening to it I discovered to my pleasure that his braggadio was true: he was truly an original in that his music was singularly his own and unattached to any particular genre
Primary Instrument
Saxophone, alto
Location
Chicago
Photos
Music
Answer & Arrival
From: Story At ElevenBy Shawn Maxwell
Maxwell's House
From: Music in My MindBy Shawn Maxwell
Videos
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Shawn Maxwell
Location: Chicago
Instrument: Saxophone, alto
Born: November 1, 1976
Publicist: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
