Urban Vigilante

2011 – Shawn Maxwell

“highly attractive to progressive ears”
– Mark S Tucker, Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange

“almost magical…an excellent performance”
– O’s Place Jazz Newsletter

“… clearly his best work yet. For starters, there’s Maxwell’s sound––it’s unique for an alto, where everyone tries to sound like Bird or Cannonball. And if you don’t sound like Bird or Cannonball, someone will tell you that you sound like Jackie McLean. Maxwell sounds like none of the above, and actually gets a fairly heavy sound out of the alto––it sometimes hints at Kenny Garrett, but at this point even the Garrett influence (that Maxwell himself would call his most obvious) is becoming obscured. These days, Shawn Maxwell sounds like Shawn Maxwell, and that’s a great thing… People liking their jazz acoustic, straight-ahead and in the pocket will have lots to love here.”
– Paul Abella, Chicago Jazz Magazine

“…runs the gamut from the dark, noirish “Monster Shoes” to more upbeat fare like the forcefully swinging “Juggernaut”, the buoyant, Latin-flavored “Starscream” and the brightly appealing title track… The common thread running through this varied program is the sound of Maxwell’s potent, facile sax lines, which comfortably straddle old-school and contemporary jazz camps.”
– Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times Magazine