Prince's signature song, 'Purple Rain' has become a pop anthem, and is #143 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the Greatest 500 Songs of All Time.  Here's my smooth jazz version of this timeless classic. 

Prince said about the meaning of 'Purple Rain': "When there's blood in the sky – red and blue = purple... purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/god guide you through the purple rain." 

The play-along backing track for this version of 'Purple Rain' can be found here. Enjoy!

I recently realized, with some shock, that there was no smooth jazz version of the Game Of Thrones theme song (I've since learned that Dave Koz recorded one before me).  Imagine my dismay!  Well, being the enterprising smooth jazz arranger and recording artist that I am, I created one.  And here it is:



I also documented the in-studio creation process, from start to finish.  Here's that video:



I also recorded a video of myself performing the song in the studio: 



You can learn more about my smooth jazz version of the Game Of Thrones theme song, including how to download the play-along backing track and the sheet music to my version.

Wow, imagine - it was 35 years ago! that John Lennon was killed.  I remember that evening vividly, and it changed by life. Radio stations started playing his and The Beatles' songs non-stop and it rekindled my life-long love for their music.  The Beatles' music is a passion and a hobby for me that lives in heart to this day.  

Here's my sax tribute to John Lennon, my version of his anthem, Imagine.  Enjoy.

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As I was completing an upbeat arrangement of this classic early Beatle's song, I played it for Roberta Maxwell and she said, "No, it needs to be slow and slinky." So of course I did it over. As usual, she was right.  Here's the final, better version.  Enjoy!

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Fallin', the Grammy award winning song from Alicia Keys, is a perfect song for the saxophone - soulful, sultry, emotional - it's got it all.  Here's my live version of this beautiful haunting masterpiece.

This song, "Fallin'", is from my album Saxual Healing and can be found here: http://markmaxwellmusic.com/saxual-healing .  If you're a instrumentalist and you like to perform this song yourself, the play-along version can be found here: http://markmaxwellmusic.com/smooth-jazz-play-alongs

By the way, this is a song that my wife, Roberta, insisted that I record and, as usual, she was absolutely right!

I’ve recorded something like 25 albums, and I stream over 2,000,000 tracks a month, but this song, “Ain’t No Sunshine”, is always my best selling track.  There's something really sexy and smooth about it that people love.  (By the way, it was my wife, Roberta, who insisted we record this track; as usual, she was right!)

So here’s me recording my sax over the rhythm section tracks from the original recording session.

Enjoy!

One of the songs on my album And I Love Her is the great classic, This Masquerade. 

Everybody knows the George Benson version, because it was a world-wide hit and won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1977.  

But most people don't know it was written some years earlier by Leon Russell.  The song appeared on the B-side of Russell's 1972 hit "Tight Rope".  His version was also part of the soundtrack for the psychological thriller film Bug.

Here's a video in If you can struggle through the intro, the original version of this great song is beautiful - much more haunting than Benson's version:

Most people don't know that the song Spooky, made famous by the Classics IV, was actually originally recorded as an instrumental by saxophonist Mike Shapiro in the mid 60s.

It was later rerecorded by the Classics IV in 1967 after guitarist James Cobb and producer Buddy Buie added the lyrics. Apparently, Mike Shapiro had the same publishing company as Cobb and Buie, who heard the tune, liked it, and put lyrics to it.

The classic element of this story is that Shapiro ended up playing the great sax solo on the Classics IV version. I've always loved the tone and style of that solo, kind of jazzy and slightly edgy.

Here's a version of the original recording of Spooky featuring Mike Shapiro (they called him Mike Sharp on the album) on the tenor saxophone:

I had to great thrill and honor of auditioning with Tower Of Power about 20 years ago.

I remember quite clearly one of the songs we played was Soul Vaccination. I was reading the lead tenor chart and, man, all those syncopated notes just looked like dots flying by; it was really hard to read. I should have just played it from heart; after all, I've heard the tune about 10,000 times.

I still love listening to it! Everybody get in line!



That's Norbert Stachel playing lead tenor. I think he's the guy that got the gig on that audition. If so, I can see why they hired him - he's smokin'!

Check out his use of the flat 13 at about the 2:15 point. That's not the way Lenny Picket played it but I love it!

Enjoy!

I'm on a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy ride! Sing along with me now...