Max says, "Performing has always been fun and a great way to connect with my fans and new listeners. However, composing will always be my first love". Max Vasquez has written music for the indie film October 22(Jay Mohr, Amanda Plummer), The 1999 SuperBowl, Levar Burton's Reading Rainbow, and most recently "Judging Amy"(Amy Brenneman) on CBS, and "My Name Is Earl", on NBC, and "Robbie Knievel's Stunt Show" on A&E. His song Jalapeno Girl was chosen to be the theme song for "Latin Lifestyles" on UPN. On each piece he composes, the styles are as varied as Rock, Jazz, Electronica, Classical, Country and Latin. He's been seen on MTV's "Abducted", local cable shows in L.A. and had his own hit cult favorite radio show in Panama, Central America, where he took the opportunity to educate a new audience in electronic music. A master producer, he is skilled in ProTools, Cubase, Wavelab, Nuendo, Reason, and many others as well as running the boards and playing his heart out.
As a "Rave" performer and promoter he played to tens of thousands at a time in huge Dance events such as Narnia and We Are One, and was part of a collective called Moontribe. This group was famous for throwing full moon desert raves in the Mojave Desert every month for twelve straight years! He also recorded, performed with and mentored Carl A. Craig, Treavor Walton, Bassland and several gifted others, as he feels it is important to pass the torch to other dedicated young artists. His last Boy Wonder was Tim White, and together they are "The Magnus Project". Their CD "Vintage Vibrations" came out in 2007.
His first release was on Priority Records' Vox Lumania "Luminescence" in 1994. He also released a few "white label" underground EPs for DJs in the Electronic Dance Movement of the 90s. "Pacific Rhythm" on Harthouse Records, Lord Runningclam's "Fun For The Whole Family" on Moonshine Records, Tribe Music.com's "Hell To Tha Heavens And Beyond" and Transition Music's Box Set enjoy his tracks and performances as well. His own releases, "Butterfly Garden", "Beauty All Around", "While The City Sleeps", "Dawning of the Light Ages" and "Return of the Phoenix" on www.maxxvaxxmusic.com have been received with praise. All the new releases can now be downloaded now on e-music and iTunes as well as many other download sites!
As event producer he had success with Moontribe events, "Area 51", "Beauty All Around", which was an Art Rave featuring over 400 artists and sculptors, and repeat performances at the legendary "Magic Wednesdays" weekly club in Hollywood. As a distributor he helped gain exposure for his friends The Crystal Method, Electric Skychurch, Uberzone(Q) and Rabbit On The Moon. Now, as a music publisher he has been placing his songs on TV,etc on a regular basis. Ten other writers have recently joined Maxx Vaxx Music (BMI) and the catalog is adding up to almost 300 original compositions!
Born in East Los Angeles in 1963, Max Vasquez, the artist formerly known as Maxx Vaxx, continues to run his business not far from his birthplace, Montebello.
This is a short animation I made using a recording my friends Mark Maxwell and Carl A. Craig in 1987 of a Beat Poem we wrote. Mark is ion the background playing alto. It's a 1 minute excerpt from the 4 minute piece which gets even crazier. I promise it'll be finished one day...
ABOUT ME
An Award Winning Composer(Los Angeles Music Awards Best Jazz Album and Best Lounge Artist 2006), since 1978, Max embraces all styles of music with a keen instinct for the nuances of each genre he excels in. At the age of nine, he performed with choirs, in musicals and plays, taught himself how to read and write music by the time he was 13, and by age 14 he worked professionally playing trumpet in horn sections of bands all over L.A. and bass with members of punk band Verbal Abuse, whom Rodney Bingenheimer loved He also played with Black Flag members Sam and Henry and met and hung out with The Doors Ray Manzarek and John Doe of X and others at the Whiskey Ago-go. He is somewhere in the mosh pit shots from Penelope Spheeris' "Decline of Western Civilization- The Punk Years". In 1984, Jim the Poorman and Swedish Eagol played his demo tape on KROQ when it was easier to give cool DJs your band's tape without needing to sign a mile of legal stuff! Legendary giant Doc Severinsen was amazed and encouraged him to pursue music. Upon having looked over Max's first orchestral jazz arrangement for Big Band, it astounded him that Max was only sixteen when he wrote it! With further training from some of the leading jazz educators/studio-men in Los Angeles, Max went on to play and study with Gary Foster, Clare Fischer, Alan Broadbent, Bobby Bradford, Freddie Hubbard, and even wrote for the Count Basie orchestra! Dick Grove School of Music and Berklee Music Institute taught him greatly the art of writing/arranging and recording engineering respectfully, and Max was among the first pioneers in MIDI and electronic music. In 1982, He joined a group of excellent musicians and called themselves "Water Colours", playing in all the Jazz venues of the day.
His performance strengths are trumpet, voice, keyboards, guitar, bass - and the studio, of course. An internship at Group IV Recording Studios led to working on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", The Abyss, and Back To The Future Pt 3 among many more sessions including Will Smith, Sly&Robbie, Joe Pass, Ray Brown, and Jon Hassell's Grammy nominated "Cityscapes". He has also performed with Oingo Boingo members, Mel E Mel&Whipple Whip(Grand Master Flash), The Jazz Crusaders' Stix Hooper and Joe Sample, War and tower of Power sidemen, etc. The list of luminaries Max has worked with is long and accomplished. Manhattan Transfer commissioned one of his pieces. The TV show "Latin Lifestyles" currently uses one of his pieces as its theme song. The latest shows my music is on is "My Name Is Earl"(thank you Mr. Garcia!), and the Spearmint Rhino Amateur Stripper Competition on Pay-Per-View, and TV1 History Special.
more on bio...
BOOKS
My Brush With Greatness (Miles Davis)
by Max Vasquez
I was working at a film-score studio Group Four when I met these young hip-hop writers on a session with Will Smith when he was still Fresh Prince. I was practicing my trumpet for an upcoming gig on a break and these guys were listening outside cause when I came back out they asked me to do a session for them. Later that week I show up at their studio and they tell me that one of the producers is Miles's nephew and they were doing a hip-hop jazz song, in the Amandla period groove style, as a present for his birthday and I was playing in this style at the time, having studied him intensely for 10 years..I was the only one they wanted on the recording out of a bunch of other horn players they knew. No, really, it didn't make me nervous at all! So I heard the thing, ran it once and they got me on the first take(there were two more after that but they liked the 1st!). Well, come his birthday, they showed him the tune and he said to Tim,his nephew - Wow this cat's stealin' my shit! Cool,cool..." Tim said he liked my playing and wanted to meet me, because Miles liked the fact that i was into his new stuff, which a lot of dumb purist jazz guys were still bitching about. But not me, I dug the hell out of it and now I'm even exploring jazz with drum and bass. So, they had made arrangements to meet with me and a week before we were to meet was the day he passed away. I'm still happy that he passed the flag to me in so many words. It truly inspired me to dedicate myself even more that I already was. He really was a truly great man.
MUSIC
too much to mention, but "Kind Of Blue" by Miles is at the top
MOVIES
Christmas Time Is Here
Night & Day
Through This Thing
My Funny Valentine
Come Rain Or Come Shine
Moon River
King Of Israel
HOBBIES
Many good and talented folks helped make these projects fun AND a reality. Jeff Stetson, Carl Anthony Craig, Jimmy Street, Treavor Walton and many others
Now, my Jazz Album, "While The City Sleeps" is on the same links below, so look out for it on the CD site
A variety of electronic music
Thanks to Jon K and Lotus Magazine for permission to use the photo on the cover!
Click on image below to go to download site:
WINNER!! BEST JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR by THE LOS ANGELES MUSIC AWARDS
This is an anthology of various diverse compositions ranging from Jazz to folk to pop and classical. Unorthodox as it may be, I wanted to display my eclectic writing moods. It is the follow-up to the Sound For Shadows project for music for screen. Nicely enough, it WON for Best Jazz Album of the Year 2006 by The L.A. Music Awards!
Click on image below to go to download site:
This Ambient/New Age project is a resurrection of works that were considered lost in "the big fire of '98(read blog)", until an unopened copy(from 1989!) surfaced in '04 from a family member's vaults. I immediately went to work on restoring, remastering and remixing the original material co-produced with my old partner Carl A. Craig, and I added newer material to lengthen the album, as it was done in the days before CDs(remember cassettes?). The original work was carefully crafted for relaxation, with the help of our old friends Dr. Marilyn Ferguson and Dr. Timothy Leary.
Click on image below to go to download site:
Eleven years in the making ('1994-2005), I consider this hommage to the electronic music (I so love to dance to out in the desert under the full moon) to be a small masterpiece, because of all the wonderful friends that contributed to it, especially Treavor Walton, Gary Lenk and Jason Johnson. It was the album I was working ..ing on the day of the fire and thankfully a few copies were given to my agent Brett O'Brien a few days before the tragedy,or it wouldn't exist today! One of the tracks, "Jahcai" is in the pilot of "My Name Is Earl". The original cover was created over five years by my best friend of over 30 years, Will Karnatz, who I consider a master.
Click on image to go to download site:
This is the newest Electronic Music project I put together this year.
Profile: Artist
