Michael Eaton - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute

Many saxophonists inspired this project with their solo playing: Dave Liebman, John Butcher, Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Roscoe Mitchell, Gianni Gebbia, Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Mark Turner, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, and Branford Marsalis.

Michael Eaton - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute

Many saxophonists inspired this project with their solo playing: Dave Liebman, John Butcher, Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Roscoe Mitchell, Gianni Gebbia, Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Mark Turner, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, and Branford Marsalis.

A special thanks to Tom Walsh for assigning solo saxophone at Indiana University and to Dave Liebman for relating his experiences on the art of solo playing.

All improvisations or compositions by Michael Eaton except The Search for the Golden Raintree, which is composed by Jerry Morris.

"The Middle Passage" is loosely inspired by a book of the same name by James Hollis.

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Bob Stander at Parcheesi Studio.
Logo design by Austin Glassco.
Album art by Joel Cammarata.
Cover design by Heather Basile.

The Maximal Effect is the second release from Symbiotique, the electroacoustic duo of Michael Eaton and Seth Andrew Davis. The album consists of eight improvisations featuring Eaton on tenor and soprano saxophones and flute and Davis on laptop/electronics. The Maximal Effect follows up the duo's 2020 eponymous release, Symbiotique, which

The Maximal Effect is the second release from Symbiotique, the electroacoustic duo of Michael Eaton and Seth Andrew Davis. The album consists of eight improvisations featuring Eaton on tenor and soprano saxophones and flute and Davis on laptop/electronics. The Maximal Effect follows up the duo's 2020 eponymous release, Symbiotique, which inaugurated Mother Brain Records.

Since 2017, Seth Andrew Davis & Michael Eaton have been organizing and playing together in Second Nature Ensemble and Social Ecology Project, exploring group improvisation and composition. With “Symbiotique”, Davis & Eaton play as a duo. “Symbiotique” consists of 8 tracks where Davis & Eaton explore each other's compositional and

Since 2017, Seth Andrew Davis & Michael Eaton have been organizing and playing together in Second Nature Ensemble and Social Ecology Project, exploring group improvisation and composition. With “Symbiotique”, Davis & Eaton play as a duo. “Symbiotique” consists of 8 tracks where Davis & Eaton explore each other's compositional and improvisational voices, ranging from free improvisation to heavily processed electro-acoustic explorations.


“Symbiotique” is the inaugural release of Davis & Eaton’s record label Mother Brain Records. Mother Brain Records is a Kansas City based label focusing on improvised and experimental musics.

For his sophomore album, pianist Brad Whiteley delivers Presence, a set of artfully textured originals tailormade for his top-flight band featuring Michael Eaton on tenor saxophone, Tom Guarna on guitar, bassist Matt Pavolka, and longtime drummer Kenneth Salters, who also played on Whiteley’s debut, Pathless Land. That album, an Editor’s Pick for

For his sophomore album, pianist Brad Whiteley delivers Presence, a set of artfully textured originals tailormade for his top-flight band featuring Michael Eaton on tenor saxophone, Tom Guarna on guitar, bassist Matt Pavolka, and longtime drummer Kenneth Salters, who also played on Whiteley’s debut, Pathless Land. That album, an Editor’s Pick for DownBeat in June, 2014 in which critics dubbed Whiteley “an exciting young artist to watch” set the stage for the pianist as a composer and improvisor. Presence takes Whiteley’s artistry to a new level, demonstrating his ability to incorporate a world of influences into a warm, engaging whole, led by his hooked-filled writing and fluid pianism. The album is also somewhat of a Destiny Records family affair. Eaton, Guarna, and Salters have each released their own albums as leaders on the label, and Whiteley has filled the piano/keyboard chair on five Destiny albums aside from his own. Recorded at the world-renowned Avatar Studios (now the Power Station at BerkleeNYC) by Destiny’s own George Shalda, the outstanding musicianship of Presence shines with impeccable warmth and clarity.