| Connecticut-based four-piece Stanley Maxwell plays original
music that blends (among many other influences) jazz, funk and rock
with tight arrangements and intricate group improvisation. They
are a no-nonsense, conservatory-trained group of musicians who share
a love for playing soulful music together and making people dance.
The band has built a grassroots name for themselves throughout the
Northeast since 2001, from colleges and
festivals to nightclubs and local bars,
as a “must see” experience. Aesthetically, they combine
both the virtuosic and the simple into a visceral concoction.
Stanley Maxwell’s independently-produced debut album Don't
Wake The Baby! was recorded in Bristol, CT by Dan Silvia of
Hillgrove Recording (a company
based in West Roxbury, MA) and mastered by Anthony Lattarulo of
the LattKave Recording Studio in
Yonkers, NY. The album includes Mousetrap, an eleven-bar blues
influenced by Thelonious Monk. The band’s recording of the
composition by pianist Evan
Green has attracted international attention including:
- Mousetrap winning "Best Jazz
Song" in the 7th Annual Independent
Music Awards, an international program that helps indie artists
and releases overcome mainstream obstacles and reach wider audiences
by providing year-long promotion, marketing and distribution opportunities
that place those selected in front of more than 15 million music
fans and industry decision makers around the world in 2008.
- Winning the
Relix Magazine November 2007 "JamOff" contest for
unsigned artists, with Mousetrap featured on the November
Relix CD sampler, included with over 100,000 issues of the internationally
distributed magazine, dedicated to jam bands and improvisational
music.
Notable Stanley Maxwell performances and events include:
- Featured performances at annual festivals
and prestigious venues including
- College
tours including Brandeis University, Bryant College, Colby
Sawyer College, Curry College, Fairfield
University, Framingham State, Maine Maritime Academy, University
of Massachusetts, Vassar
College, Williams College, and Yale
University.
- Serving as the house band at the upscale Zen
Bar in Farmington (2004), the trendy Backroom
Lounge @ Bottega in New Haven (2003, 2004), and the weekly
New York City comedy show "Stand-Up Stew" in Chelsea (2002).
- Chosen out of thousands of acts to showcase at the Northeast
Regional Conference of NACA
(National Association of Campus Activities) in Marlboro, Massachusetts
(2002).
- Selection as the band to play for thousands at the ESPN X-Trials at Lake Compounce Amusement
Park (2001).
- Honored by the National Spinal Chord Injury Assocation for support
at their benefit concerts two years in
a row
Although Stanley Maxwell is mostly an instrumental group, they
typically sing a bit at shows and have special guests sit in who
sing, rap, and perform spoken word. Some memorable shows have been
with The New Deal, Cyro
Baptista & Beat The Donkey, The Breakfast, Ryan Montbleau,
DJ Le Spam & The
Spam Allstars, Dub
Is A Weapon, Hypnotic
Clambake, Addison Groove Project, Mountain of Venus, Seth Yacovone,
Raisinhill, and members of Max Creek.
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