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David Maxwell
Pianist
David Maxwell has been a part of the Boston blues scene as a sideman
since the late 1960s, but has only in the '90s begun leading his own
band and recording under his own name.
Maxwell took some of his early stylistic cues from the likes of Spann,
Sunnyland Slim and Pinetop Perkins, also listening to the recordings of
Big Maceo, Ray Charles and Memphis Slim; he became friendly with Muddy
Waters' longtime piano player, Otis Spann, in the late 1960s.
Maxwell went on to back many great players over the years, including
Freddie King, whom he worked with for two years in the early 1970s;
Bonnie Raitt, whom he worked with in 1974 and '75, while she was still
based in Boston; and James Cotton from 1977 to 1979. He toured Europe
and Japan with Otis Rush in the 1990s, and has performed over the years
with dozens of others, including John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rogers, Paul
Oscher, Hubert Sumlin, Bob Margolin, John Primer and Ronnie Earl. He
has joined many of these same people on their studio efforts, including
Cotton for his 1997 Grammy-winning Deep in the Blues. Maxwell also can
be heard on the soundtrack to the movie Fried Green Tomatoes with
longtime Boston musicians Ronnie Earl and Peter Wolf.
Maxwell's debut record for Tone-Cool, Maximum Blues Piano, is a
collection of instrumental tunes that showcase many of the Boston
scene's veteran players: Ronnie Earl and Duke Levine on guitars, Kaz
Kazanoff and Gordon Beadle on saxophones, drummer Marty Richards and
bassist Marty Ballou. Echoes of all of his influences can be heard
throughout the tracks, including Pete Johnson on "Down at A.J.'s
Place," and Otis Spann on "Deep Into It."
-Written
by Richard Skelly
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