8 and a Half Years Later: Great Things Come in 3's
Written by Misha
Maxwell Rivera from Brooklyn, New York appeared on the scene in 1996 at the age of 23 (though he'd been writing since he was 17) with the album Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite and the seemingly innate ability to create baby making music. Before Usher had to tell women it was time to trade places, Maxwell was making music that made women want to do a little Sumthin Sumthin' 'Til the Cops Come Knockin and Whenever Wherever Whatever. The album Grammy nominated album was followed by Embrya (another Grammy nominated album) in 1998 and Now in 2001. Then Maxwell disappeared. We got word a few years back that he had cut his hair and some kind of collective question mark rose in the air as to whether his career was over and he was another artist gone crazy or whether he was just biding his time and riding out his eccentricity. Thankfully the latter was the case and on July 7, 2009 the first album of a trilogy will be released. For Maxwell the time off was time to perfect his craft as "it's always hard to sort of outdo yourself," he admitted in a press conference on April 28th about the album.
BLACKsummers'night is the first album of the trilogy and there are no dates for the release of the second two albums. This BLACK has recently leaked and please believe that Maxwell is back. He hooked up with his old friend Hod David to do the co-production and arrangements along with collaborations on songwriting. The first single of the album Pretty Wings, "a bittersweet love song about meeting the right girl at the wrong time," is a ridiculously beautiful song that lets the audience know that Maxwell took a break but he didn't really go anywhere.
In Pretty Wings and the other tracks on the album, the complex drum patterns and familiar horns blended with the range of Maxwell's voice solidifies the continuation of brilliance in Maxwell's work. And BLACK is easy to relate to, it isn't dripping with metaphors that you have to dissect with a pen and pad and it can "communicate to people who are living 9 to 5 lives." Maxwell previewed some tracks from the album at concerts he did before his hiatus, though he didn't do many for reason by his own admission, of not wanting to "bombard" the audience with all new music. And according to Tavis Smiley who experienced one of these concerts, those few new songs fit in well with the old ones and I'd have to agree. The album is short and sweet with only 9 tracks that leave you fiending for more and as with all Maxwell albums there is a balance between the ballads and upbeat songs. It's like real life, which, according to Maxwell is the point. "You need to live life to be inspired by music so a lot of my absence was just based on going out to get life experience" and then applying that experience to Black.
Upcoming Tour Dates
June 2009
20 - Milwaukee, WI
23 - Seattle, WA
24 - Vancouver, British Columbia
26 - Las Vegas, NV
28 - Los Angeles, CA
29 - Phoenix, AZ
July 2009
1 - Austin, TX
3 - San Antonio, TX
4 - New Orleans, LA
12 - Nashville, TN
13 - Louisville, KY
15 - Columbus, OH
16 - Cleveland, OH
18 - Pittsburgh, PA
19 - Buffalo, NY
21 - Albany, NY
24 - Atlantic City, NJ
25 - Mashantucket, CT
27 - Norfolk, VA
28 - Savannah, GA
30 - Tampa, FL
August 2009
1 - Miami, FL
2 - Orlando, FL
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