It’s par for the course for a music star to sing the praises of the next city on their tour. But the adoration that Grammy winner and R&B/soul staple Maxwell has for St. Louis is real – and deep.
As he talked about bringing his Serenade Tour with Jazmine Sullivan and October London to Enterprise Center on Sunday (October 13), it was clear how much he loves us by how well he knows us.
“I’ve got a lot of folks that I know from St. Louis and they are always good people – the love, the kindness, the loyalty,” Maxwell said. “But you have to come correct when you are dealing with somebody from ‘The Lou.’ As long as you don’t play in their face, it will be alright.”
Truer words have never been spoken.
His intimate connection with our region is rooted in music, including his. Native son Shedrick Mitchell is Maxwell’s musical director.
“Wait, how long is this article,” Maxwell said about Mitchell, implying that the word count wouldn’t be enough to fully express his gratitude for their musical partnership.
“He supports me and supports what we are trying to do,” said Maxwell. “He’s the one person that can kind of tap you on the shoulder and say, ‘hey bruh, I think it needs to be more like this.’”
Mitchell and Maxwell have been collaborating since the first album of the “BlackSummers’Night” trilogy.
“That was 2007 probably – and when I saw what he did, we lost our minds,” Maxwell said. “He is one of the greatest B3 organists alive, of his generation and after his generation. There is so much I could say about him. It’s more than just a friendship that’s based on the fact that we work together on a creative level. He’s a brother. He’s a family member. He is a protector and he brings stability to the situation.”
Maxwell has also worked with St. Louis native top tier musicians such as fellow Grammy winner Keyon Harrold and bassist Jon Jon Webb Jr.
“My drummer is from there too,” Maxwell said, referring to East St. Louis native Charles Haynes. “I just can’t get away from y’all.”
He’s been coming to St. Louis since the days of the late great Mississippi Nights, where he played as a then unheard of artist with a debut album that went back to the basics of R&B.
“I looked at the people I loved and respected. And love still,” Maxwell said “When you look at what it took for them to do what they did to touch my generation. That sacrifice. Walking in to do a show and having to walk through the back door or through the kitchen because as a person of color you weren’t allowed to walk through the front door. These are real efforts that the ancestors and the forefathers –
and ‘foremamas’ – did for us.”
St. Louis’ own Donny Hathaway is among them.
“When you listen to a song like ‘A Song For You,’ Maxwell said. “I’ve known about that song since I was 15. And I can listen to it at 51 and it still sends the same chills that it did then.”
At the peak of the “New Jack Swing” era in the late 1990s, his “Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite” demonstrated the timeless power of a groove that goes much deeper than inspiring a rump shake – and being intentional about every aspect of the music.
“When I started in the industry, I don’t think people really knew where to put me or how to categorize me,” Maxwell said. “My mom is from Haiti. My dad is Puerto Rican. I’m not from the south, so it was like, ‘What do I know about R&B? What do I know about whatever.’ To be taken in by the community in that way because they could feel that I was connecting with them is the greatest award ever.”
It might be the greatest, but it was far from the only one. In the nearly 30 years since he came on the scene with a slow burn that ultimately helped ignite a new era of R&B, he has racked up three Grammy Awards and 13 nominations among many others. And he’s gone from intimate clubs to packing out arenas.
“There are children being born right now that will listen to the stuff that we do as a collective on this tour and they will make decisions to continue with it,” Maxwell said. “People feel like they are being given something that is serving their emotional and spiritual intelligence and it is just an incredible experience, and I am grateful and thankful that I get to be a part of that.”
He’s excited to be using the tour as a platform for the current and future generation of soul artists.
“Jazmine Sullivan is the Simone Biles of singers,” Maxwell said. “She’s also an amazing writer. And October London, I feel like Marvin’s spirit is up in here [when he performs]. It’s unbelievable to listen to them and see that it is not over – the soul, the R&B and the musicianship is still alive.”
He is eternally grateful to God that he has been blessed with his perfectly tailored musical journey.
“I’m doing my best to keep the torch burning as far as the R&B and soul situation– keeping the lost art of singing and musicianship alive,” Maxwell said.
And I’m just grateful that I am getting to kind of do it on my own terms. And thankful that I also am able to bring not only the joy that music brings me each day, but hopefully the joy that I can bring to other people’s lives.”
The Serenade Tour starring Maxwell with Jazmine Sullivan and October London will take place at 7 p.m. on Sunday, October 13 at Enterprise Center. For tickets and/or additional information, visit www.enterprisecenter.com
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