LIVE: Soul Suite Presents... Twin Danger with Guest Host Maxwell

photos: @alxmyo

New musical collaborations are always exciting to read about because like everything else, we all love the concept of our favorite things being brought together as one.  Obviously these collaborations are many times debuted with varied results, but when the stars align we're blessed with a new band which brings its member's disparate musical influences together in an engaging way. This brings us to grammy award winning Stuart Matthewman (of Sade & Sweetback fame) and multi-talented songstress Vanessa Bley's newest "heroin jazz" composite, Twin Danger.  While there's enough talent between these two to rid you of any doubt to their musical prowess, what's special about this group is  how they bring together their unique backgrounds to form such a cohesive sound.  And speaking of talent, what more needs to be said when your special guest host to introduce your newly-formed band is none other than the neo-soul legend, Maxwell.  But then again, of course he would as Matthewman produced three (standout) tracks on Maxwell's grammy-nominated 1996 debut, "Urban Hang Suite."

Therein lies the beauty of Twin Danger, while their collective list of accolades run deep, when performing on stage these past achievements are checked at the door and they truly focus on nothing more than fusing together new and creative sounds for the sake of genuine music.  The only moment in their live set where past work takes center stage, was during an amazing rendition of the classic Sade record "Is It A Crime" where Vanessa displayed her deep vocal versatility, next to Matthewman on tenor sax.  After commanding the audience's attention with this crowd favorite, the group shifted seamlessly into the upbeat, and very well timed,  "I Ain't Drunk" to close out the night at Marquee.