The six-piece ensemble Maxophone was founded in Milan in 1973 by three students with classical music training, Mauruzio Banchini (hn, tp, perc, vib, voc), Sergio Lattuada (p, keyb, org, voc) and Leonardo Schiavone (cl, fl, sax), as well as Alberto Ravasini (voc, b, g), Roberto Giuliani (g, p, voc) and Sandro Lorenzetti (dr), who had a solid rock background. Riding the wave of progressive rock that had been popular in Italy since the early 1970s, the band worked for years on self-written material for a future LP. Nearly two years later, the time had come and they signed a record deal with the small Italian label Produttori Associati. From February to April 1975, they recorded their self-titled debut album at the renowned Ricordi Studios in Milan with the support of four studio musicians and produced by Sandro Colombini. In order to enable the band to pursue an international career, an English-language version was also released in the same year, which was exceptional at the time. Despite all these efforts, their first and only LP unfortunately went largely unnoticed as it was released too late. The prog scene was generally coming to an end and they could no longer compete with the established Italian prog rockers of the time. A year later, the band broke up.

Today, they are one of Italy's most respected prog rock bands, and their eponymous album is widely regarded as a masterpiece and one of the most important Italian prog rock albums. And for good reason: outstanding multi-instrumentalists with a dual musical orientation – classical and rock – play sophisticated compositions in unusual time signatures, with unexpected dynamic changes, in a dense atmosphere and with an astonishing attention to detail. They switch effortlessly between gentle, pastoral moods and energetic, guitar- or keyboard-dominated outbursts. The variety of instruments used, such as saxophone, flute, trumpet, violin, harp, cello, vibraphone, clarinet and horn, present sound textures that are astonishing, highly entertaining and varied. Symphonic prog at its finest!