Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite

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“The Urban Theme,” the opening track to Maxwell's debut album, has no word. It's a nearly three-minute-long jazz jam featuring crisp drum, funky guitar, and sensuous saxophone lines that immediately sets the tone: This record is not just about the singer's voice or vivid lyrics but musicality as a whole, the sublime sum total of its individual part. It remains a triumph of craft and patience. Maxwell was only 23 when <i>Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite</i> was released in 1996, and it’s hard to overstate the courage and maturity it took to create such an album at that time. The subgenre that would come to be known as neo-soul (much to the chagrin of some of its proponents) was still nascent, and this sounded unlike anything else from its era—due, in no small part, to collaborators like producer-arranger Leon Ware, who had worked with Marvin Gaye on <i>I Want You</i>; guitarist Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin, a member of Motown house band The Funk Brothers; and Stuart Matthewman, a key player in Sade. “What I feel most proud of is that the record dictated to the masse, and the masses then responded to the record, and it had nothing to do with me,” the singer tells Apple Music. He gives additional credit to his diverse supporting cast as well as his A&R at Sony, who he says allowed him the space to make the record he wanted to make, free of expectations for commercial or radio viability: “That was completely unique and rare, because most artists don't get a chance to have a voice and their vision.” .

via Apple Music

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