David Maxwell's Maximum Blues at Regattabar

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David Maxwell's Maximum Blues featuring Alley Stoetzel. Friday, June 1, 7:30 pm. Tickets: $20, $15 for students. Regattabar at the Charles Hotel, One Bennett Street, Cambridge. Fresh from Memphis with a 2012 Blues Music Awards Acoustic Album of the Year Award under his belt, piano man David Maxwell, along with special guest vocalist Alley Stoetzel accompanied by Maximum Blues sidemen (Amadee Castenell, Troy Gonyea, Jon Ross, Per Hanson), returns to raise the roof. Maxwell's recent "Conversations in Blue" record is an innovative tribute to the late great Chicago blues keyboard king Otis Spann, who was Maxwell's musical mentor for nearly half a century. "The album is filled with musical and sentimental precision, and stands as a heartfelt tribute from student to master …" (Ashley Kahn, author of Kind of Blue: the Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece)

Further background information:

In 2010, Berklee-trained Alley Stoetzel and her band Soul Alley released their debut "Public Alley 421" album, produced by Bruce Bears (who has worked with Duke Robillard and Toni Lynn Washington). The single from that record "Tell Me You're My Guy" reached #9 in the nation on the Airplay Direct Download Charts. Stoetzel has been heavily inspired by such R&B icons as Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, and Etta James, as well as newer R&B artists Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, and pop artists Amy Winehouse and Joss Stone. In other words, Stoetzel's vocals are raw and honest. www.soulalleymusic.com

David Maxwell has amassed an enormous resume throughout the years playing piano with some of the greatest and well-known musicians in the blues. He plays many styles of blues, jazz and improvised music, but he is best known for his soulful virtuosity and unmatched ability to reach the heart of post-war Chicago Blues. Through his work, he has gained the respect of artists, critics and fans and has established a reputation as one of the finest blues pianists alive.

Maxwell took part in James Cotton's 1997 Grammy winning album "Deep In The Blues". He also has played on other albums nominated for Grammys, as well as many more that were nominated for WC Handy Blues Music Awards. His album "You Got To Move", featuring Louisiana Red, won the 2011 Acoustic Album of the Year Blues Music Award. Maxwell has been nominated nine times for the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year Award, as well. He has played with many of the greats including tours with Freddie King, Bonnie Raitt, James Cotton, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Rodgers, Charley Musselwhite, Johnny Adams and Ronnie Earl; and gigs with Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Levon Helm, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lowell Fulsom, Junior Wells and many others. He has been involved in well over fifty recording sessions and can be found playing keys on many blues albums that have been released over the last 25 years. Maxwell backed up Keith Richards and Eric Clapton for Hubert Sumlin's CD, "About Them Shoes" released in 2005.

Maxwell's music was used in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" and in the TV series "Touched By An Angel." He has performed on "Late Night With Conan O' Brien" and is on several videos playing with Freddie King in the early 70's (Rounder). His first CD as a leader "Maximum Blues Piano"(1997, Tonecool) received high critical acclaim.

Maxwell is often compared to the great blues pianist Otis Spann (of the Muddy Waters band), for his ability to resurrect the spirit and sound of the master of post-war Chicago Blues Piano. But Maxwell is no mere imitation. He has created a style and sound uniquely his own. His diverse experience, technical virtuosity, sense of timing and rhythm, and ability to complement other band members has earned Maxwell a reputation as one of the best keyboard players around.

David Maxwell was featured on "On Point, " hosted by Anthony Brooks. Give it a listen at www.onpoint.wbur.org/2006/04/20/playing-the-blues. For more information on David Maxwell go to www.davidmaxwell.com, www.myspace.com/maximummaxwellmusic and www.facebook.com/pages/David-Maxwell/29039162267.

"I don't think anybody could be tighter playing the blues on the piano
than David Maxwell. He plays the blues like it should be played.
He plays the low-down, dirty, funky blues. He's got it all together."
(John Lee Hooker)

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