EASE DOWN THE ROAD

Remember the late ‘90s? D’Angelo couldn’t keep his clothes on, Erykah Badu had more hair than the collective mop of everyone living in your apartment building, Lauren Hill won five Grammy Awards and Stevie Wonder was suddenly being name checked as much as Bob Dylan. Neo-soul, a marketing term drafted by the fine folks at Motown records, was a hot retro genre that worked as an updated version of the ‘70s soul sound perfected by artists like Donny Hathaway and Curtis Mayfield.

Maxwell was the most adventurous of the neo-soul crew: In addition to selling millions of records, he won Grammy Awards, had the No. 1 R&B single of 1999 with his “Fortunate” and covered songs by Kate Bush and Nine Inch Nails. But eventually, he cut off his famous dreads in order to retreat to the obscure life. “It was a good opportunity to go back and live the normal life,” Maxwell said in a recent interview when asked about the many changes in the industry — most notably digital music — since he last performed live.

Nowadays, after the kind of break that can kill a career, Maxwell is busy as ever. Sure, he’s touring again, but there’s more.

Considered by many to be an R&B auteur in the spirit of Prince or late-era Marvin Gaye, Maxwell has spent the better part of his absent decade working on a trilogy of albums titled Black Summers’ Night that he plans to release over the next three years, kicking off with album No. 1, Black, sometime in the next few months, his first release since 2001’s stellar Now.

His work has always been diverse. Just try to imagine a scenario where a late ‘80s David Byrne produced a soul album featuring a young and sexy Sam Cooke impersonating Prince and you’ll have an idea of what Maxwell is all about. His sound was and still is very buttery and produced sounding, always paying tribute to the legends, always translating to the stage in a very organic way.

Maxwell’s current tour is nothing if not an excuse for the newly rejuvenated artist to get out and share a sampling of his new songs — mixed in with all his standards, natch — with his old friends.

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