David Maxwell (March 10, 1943 – February 13, 2015) was an American blues pianist, songwriter, and singer. He has been acknowledged as one of the finest blues pianists in his lifetime for the many different styles of blues, boogie-woogie, jazz, world and improvised music. He played with some of the greatest and well-known musicians.
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 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 finest blues pianists of all time.
Maxwell was born in Waltham, Massachusetts and grew up in Lexingon. He started studying classical piano at age nine and later was educated at the University of Rochester and Eastman School of Music. He became friends with Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson in high school, and they played together at several local engagements. Maxwell became part of the local blues scene in Boston in the late 1960s, having been initially inspired by the piano stylings of Otis Spann, Sunnyland Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Big Maceo Merriweather, Ray Charles and Memphis Slim. He also met and befriended Spann about this time.
In the early part of the 1970s, Maxwell came to the attention of the guitarist Freddie King and supplied his piano accompaniment for a couple of years. He worked backing Bonnie Raitt in 1974 and 1975 and James Cotton from 1977 to 1979. In the 1980s he returned to Boston and formed David Maxwell and the Blues Wizards. He toured and recorded with Otis Rush in the 1990s, having built up his reputation by further interim work with other musicians, including John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rogers, Paul Oscher, Hubert Sumlin, Bob Margolin, John Primer and Ronnie Earl (from 1990 to 1992). Maxwell played on Cotton's 1997 Grammy Award–winning album Deep in the Blues. Maxwell earlier performed on the soundtrack to the film Fried Green Tomatoes (1991).
Here’s “Walk The Walk” from the album Maximum Blues Piano.
Maxwell’s debut solo album, Maximum Blues Piano was released by in Tone-Cool Records in 1997. It included backing by Ronnie Earl and Duke Levine on guitar. In a review of the largely instrumental album, AllMusic noted that "Echoes of all of his influences can be heard throughout the tracks, including Pete Johnson on "Down at A.J.'s Place," and Otis Spann on "Deep Into It. His follow-up recording, Max Attack (2003), was re-released on 95 North Records in 2005. Maxwell appeared at the Ottawa Bluesfest in 2009.
Collaborative work with Louisiana Red and Otis Spann resulted in You Got to Move (2009) and Conversations in Blue (2010), respectively. Maxwell won Blues Music Awards in the category Best Acoustic Album for both of these recordings and was nominated for another in 2015 in the category Pinetop Perkins Piano Player. His final recording, Blues in Other Colors (2012), received acclaim for the fusion of traditional blues using non-Western instruments, along with elements of world music.
There are all types of personalities in Blues. David Maxwell was a top shelf gentleman and extraordinarily talented piano player. His great deep voice brought his songs to the Blues community with creativity and humour. David brought Blues to people in many languages and his boogie woogie piano transcended all levels of appreciation to bring the people to their feet.
Maxwell died in Massachusetts General Hospital after an eight year battle with prostate cancer in February 2015, aged 71.
(Edited from Wikipedia, The Blues Audience, The Rocktologist & Legacy)