For those unaware, Shawn Maxwell has issued a dozen jazz albums under his own name. For this one, he chose a different tack. “At heart, I am still the classical clarinetist I was since fourth grade,” he admits. “I didn’t even start playing saxophone till after high school.”

That makes him — well, not unique. A healthy proportion of jazz artists start out by studying the classical repertoire; it’s the canon for Western music history as well as the initial instruction manual for most instruments.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that the 20th century — the jazz century — saw a number of attempts to forge a bridge with classical music. Some were considerably more serious than others. In his orchestra of the 1920s, Paul Whiteman aimed for “symphonic jazz” (and included a bevy of violinists to prove his point), even though he didn’t seem to know all that much about either; three decades later, Stan Kenton aimed a battalion of brass, and some extraordinarily intrepid composers, at the same target.

Every now and then, some combo tasks a jazz bassist and drummer with making Bach or Fauré “swing,” or else superimposes Mozartian cadences on a perfectly good jazz tune. The sincerest such experiments populate the “third stream,” which seeks to combine the two disparate traditions at their roots and then build something separate and unique from there.

Maxwell had something like that in mind when he conceived Frenetic Domain. Continuing the account of his early training, “I know I don’t sound like a typical classical guy anymore,” he says. “But I still wanted to use those skills. So I thought about some of the classical clarinet showcases I’d played and decided to compose some pieces with sections that had to be played as written, while still leaving room for a good amount of improvisation.”

Frenetic Domain stands apart from other such attempts in at least one detail, however. It is likely the only jazz-classical hybrid inspired by a 120-year-old manufacturer of reeds for woodwind instruments.

1. Cats Are Gods [05:57]
2. The Last 10 Kilometers [07:13]
3. 8 Bit Sounds With a Plumber [06:41]
4. Reed Tire Earth [05:55]
5. Frenetic Random Activity Periods [05:55]
6. Profound Thoughts at 3AM [02:53]
7. Public Domain Hit in 2138 [03:01]

Up first is the stirringly dulcet, threaded early on with an aching yearn that borders wistful one minute, engaging and hopeful the next, latterly turning into the all-out rhythmically charged gem Cats Are Gods and then we get the veritably cinematic in scope The Last 10 Kilometers, the sumptuously smooth 8 Bit Sounds With a Plumber, before the dutifully regimented melodies of Reed Tire Earth are upon us, the new set rounding out on the all-embracing sounds and notations that blend together for the organically-hued Frenetic Random Activity Periods, the playfully languishing balladry of Profound Thoughts at 3AM, coming to a close on the forthrightly expressed, emotively exuberant Public Domain Hit in 2138.

This press release draws on Neil Tesser’s liner notes.

Musicians:
Shawn Maxwell • alto and soprano saxophone, clarinet
Chika Inoue • alto saxophone
Mark Nelson • fender rhodes, piano, wurlitzer
Michael Barton • electric and upright bass
Greg Essig • drums
Nils Higdon • percussion on Cats Are Gods

Official Purchase Link

www.shawnmaxwell.com

Shawn Maxwell @ Facebook