Heather Maxwell

Heather Maxwell

Maxwell with Inner Rhythm at Gravity Lounge
Background information
Born (1965-09-12)September 12, 1965
Genres Malian, jazz, world, AfroPop, R&B, alternative rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, musician
Instruments Piano, percussion
Years active 1990–present
Labels Samassa, Random Chance, EMI
Associated acts Inner Rhythm

Heather Maxwell is an American singer-songwriter and radio host. She sings jazz standards and composes original works on piano, kamalen n'goni, balafon, and percussion. She has performed worldwide, especially in Africa, with musicians such as Robert Jospé, Victor Dvoskin, Bassekou Kouyate, Manuel Wandji, and Mighty Popo. She produces and hosts the award-winning radio and TV program Music Time in Africa for the Voice of America.[1]

History

Maxwell was born Flint, Michigan and began singing at age 7 with her family's gospel band, as they toured and competed in talent shows throughout the state. In high school, she won a scholarship to study voice at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where she received formal jazz and classical training. She continued her music studies in voice at the University of Michigan's School of Music. During this time she became fascinated with African music and took a semester abroad to study traditional music and dance at the University of Ghana, Legon-Ghana, West Africa. She returned to Michigan and received her degree in 1988.

Heather returned to West Africa with the Peace Corps and observed vocal styles, this time in Mali and Ivory Coast. She released two commercial cassette recordings on the West African label Samasa and EMI and toured in West Africa. She returned to the U.S. with an Ivorian jazz pianist to build on the Afrojazz fusion developed in Ivory Coast but were met with limited success. In the late-1990s Maxwell changed course from performance to academe. She entered the ethnomusicology program at Indiana University and devoted a decade to the study of African music. By 2003, she earned her master's degree, returned to Mali for more music research, and completed her Ph.D. in Malian music. She took a teaching position in ethnomusicology at the University of Virginia where she established her own Afropop ensemble, Africa Soul, and joined drummer Robert Jospé and his group Inner Rhythm.

Maxwell appeared on two Inner Rhythm releases, Heartbeat (2006) and Inner Rhythm Now (2008), singing original compositions and standards in English and an African language, Bambara. She toured Virginia and neighboring states for three years. In 2010, her self-produced CD of original Afropop fusion, Afrika Soul, was released, which took her on bigger tours, such as the World Music Festival Chicago and Festival on the Niger in Mali.

Maxwell interviewing a musical group from Benin on Voice of America

In 2011 Maxwell won a Fulbright Scholar Award to teach voice and American music in Bamako, Mali at the National Conservatory of Music. A coup d'état broke out in Bamako on March 22, 2012 and she left the country. In May of the same year, she joined the Voice of America in Washington, D.C. as host and producer of the worldwide radio and TV program Music Time in Africa. The Mali coup inspired her 2014 single "Mango Tree", an original pop ballad that she composed during curfew lockdown in her Bamako home. In 2014 she toured in Africa (Cameroon and Rwanda) and the Dominican Republic, performing jazz concerts and workshops with the Arts Envoy program of the U.S. State Department. She returned to singing classics and released a cover version of the song "All of Me".

Discography

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the Voice of America.

  1. ↑ http://blogs.voanews.com/african-music-treasures/2013/06/03/vodoo-rhythms-and-angelic-harmonies-beninese-brothers-jomion-and-the-uklos/
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