It was hardly the only time Maxwell would play to the fairer sex.
Women erupted in spontaneous shrieks of delight as he set the mood early with “Sumthin’ Sumthin’.” As the 10-piece band vamped, Maxwell suavely strolled out in a three-piece suit and sunglasses. Shortly after sunset, a silhouette appeared on the screen behind the band. Sunday night at Starlight, neo-soul stars Maxwell and Jill Scott set a romantic mood with three hours of slow jams designed to linger long after the last note expired. If the local birth notices are unusually high late next February, we’ll know why. (Above: Maxwell performs “Fistful of Tears” in Dallas on the fall 2009 arena leg of the tour.) Powerful songs help move protest music back in mainstream Social Distancing Spins – Day 21, featuring Margo Price, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Prince and delta blues More often than not, the basslines in these performances are funky enough on their own to get your feet involved, while your head ponders the parallels between that time and the present day, and the horn players ricochet melodies and grooves off each other. The music in this double LP is just as strident and uncompromising as one would expect from the title, but it’s far from a purely academic exercise. As a genre, jazz was also under siege from R&B groups like Sly and the Family Stone and James Brown. This collection rounds up 10 performances from a time when America’s civil rights leaders were being killed and more militant factions, such as the Black Panthers, were gaining a voice. From “Strange Fruit” in the 1930s, to Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown and Beige” suite in the ‘40s, to Sonny Rollins’ Freedom Now album in the 1950s, protest music has long been at the heart and core of jazz.