To the Max: Maxi Jazz

To the Max

Maxi Jazz was the charismatic lead singer of Faithless, Nick Reilly explores how he gave a generation of ravers Insomnia

“This is my church, this is where I heal my hurts,” comes Maxi Jazz’s stirring message on ‘God Is A DJ’ – the seminal trance anthem from Faithless which continues to unite ravers across the world to this day.

On one level, it’s a powerful reflection of how the man born Maxwell Fraser first found his home in the South London clubs where he cut his teeth as a DJ in the 1980s.

But on another, it’s entirely representative of the artist who – as his bandmate Sister Bliss explained after Jazz’ untimely death in 2022 – gave “proper meaning and a message” to the timeless music of Faithless.

A captivating performer, Maxi Jazz knew how to hold the attention of the audience ©Damon Hope

A captivating performer, Maxi Jazz knew how to hold the attention of the audience ©Damon Hope

A great deal of this meaning and message, you sense, stemmed from the fact that Jazz was a committed follower of Soka Gakkai Buddhism. Despite what the band’s name might have suggested, there was plenty of faith to be found in their music. It was always hard to shake that feeling that as the group’s central face, Jazz was able to bring his own sense of personal zen and wellbeing into dance music – making it a far more interesting place to be for fans and musicians alike.

It was reflected in their transcendent live shows with Maxi Jazz too. “I can’t get no sleep,” came his message during the band’s 2002 Glastonbury set, those five words immediately igniting thousands of fans down on Worthy Farm into a rave-fuelled frenzy. Now the musician's fans and followers can relive those moments by acquiring one (or several) of the guitars that Maxi Jazz played from Bonhams' online sale of the Maxi Jazz Collection running until 13 June.

It’s no particular revelation to say that Faithless were pretty good at performing that song – their classic house anthem ‘Insomnia’ – but that Glastonbury moment showed exactly how Jazz was effortlessly able to cast thousands of ravers under his spell.

In footage that is well worth seeking out online, Jazz shows off an astonishing sense of serenity that allows him to become a sinewy, god-like figure decked out in a black suit. Some music icons might rely on high kicks and histrionics to rile up their audience, but Jazz was able to do that with little more than his soft, hypnotic vocals, an occasional gentle jump on the spot and a telling, throwaway flick of the hands.

“The way Maxi held the crowd was absolutely inspired,” Sister Bliss told Mixmag in an interview shortly after his death.

“And Maxi didn't just drink that up in the crazed ego way you’d expect from the frontman, he always gave it back and there was this cyclical energy of the audience giving it to us and us feeding it back to them.”

Maxi Jazz was a performer who bumped up the crowd and matched their energy ©Damon Hope

Maxi Jazz was a performer who bumped up the crowd and matched their energy ©Damon Hope

Those aforementioned early gigs in South London, meanwhile, were among the first times that Jazz played to an audience, before he set up Soul Food Café, a Brixton hip-hop collective that gave fledgling rappers the chance to provide their own vocals over the sounds of his own genre-spanning vinyl collection. When it often transpired that the personal problems of the rappers were getting in the way of delivering the lyrics, Jazz took it upon himself to pick up the pen.

“It was like: ‘If I don’t start writing some lyrics myself here, I’m never going to get anywhere,’” he recalled in one interview.

His lyrical style was always raw and from the heart – even if it risked the ire of TV censors.

“That first line – “Deep in the bosom of the gentle night” – is not me channelling Dylan Thomas,” he once told The Guardian of ‘Insomnia’.

“That was forced on us by MTV because they felt the original first line – ‘I only smoke weed when I need to’ – was too graphic.

There was the unapologetically carnal side of that track too. “Making mad love to my girl on the heath / Tearing off tights with my teeth”, he offered.

With Faithless – who he formed in 1995 with Rollo, Sister Bliss, and Jamie Catto – he was part of presenting a uniquely driven image of hedonism that ravers lapped up.

That aforementioned refrain of “I can’t get no sleep” may have struck a chord with clubgoers who were frequently up until the wee hours, but Bliss once explained how it reflected a sense of jetlag she had developed after spending all day in Rollo’s garden shed studio, before DJ-ing all night.

“...this was Maxi Jazz all over – a man who relished the experience of life in all its complicated glory – before channelling it into some of the finest pieces of dance and electronic music that the UK has ever created.”

But this was Faithless all over, ruthlessly committed to the cause and armed with a voice of social conscience quite unlike anything else at the time. On 2004’s ‘Mass Destruction’, Maxi showed that it was possible to package up a stinging riposte against the Iraq War in the form of a dancefloor filler that would become one of their most popular hits.

“Whether long range weapon or suicide bomber,” came his powerful, defining cry. “Wicked mind is a weapon of mass destruction. Whether you're soar away sun or BBC One, misinformation is a weapon of mass destruction.”

That song found fans in high places too – Dave Grohl once described as “perfect” when asked by Q Magazine to name the one song from the last 25 years he wished he’d been responsible. A fine choice indeed.

But this was Maxi Jazz all over – a man who relished the experience of life in all its complicated glory – before channelling it into some of the finest pieces of dance and electronic music that the UK has ever created.

“Maxi spoke so eloquently about what it is to be a human being and navigate this very tricky thing called life,” Sister Bliss said after he died in his sleep in late 2022.

“Through his Buddhist practice he had a real blueprint for living a kind and abundant life and understanding that we are all one and he experienced it very profoundly and wrote about it.”

It’s testament to the power of Maxi’s work and writings that Faithless are now gearing up for their first shows since his passing – including an emotional return to Glastonbury and a selection of sold out shows across the continent this summer.

The great man might no longer be with us, but his memory and legacy continues to live on stronger than ever. It’s thanks to Maxi that nearly thirty years after Faithless formed, those restless ravers still can’t get no sleep…

Nick Reilly writes for Rolling Stone.