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Maze rolls out summer dates

Veteran soul/quiet-storm outfit Maze featuring Frankie Beverly has mapped dates through summer, including the band's traditional slot at New Orleans' Essence Festival.

The eight-member ensemble--featuring Beverly on lead vocals and rhythm guitar--continues its current outing tomorrow night (5/29) in Tallahassee, FL. The annual Essence Festival appearance takes place July 5, and the group is also slated to perform at the Pro Football Hall of Fame's annual induction ceremonies, to be held this year Aug. 15 in Canton, OH. Details are included below.

The most recent full-length Maze studio set is 1993's "Back to Basics," which hit No. 3 on the US R&B chart.

In 2004, the group released the 18-track "Greatest Hits," which the band's record label billed as "the most comprehensive collection of Maze hits ever compiled onto a single CD."

Beverly founded the group in Philadelphia in the early '70s as Raw Soul. After relocating to California in 1971, the band was introduced to Marvin Gaye, who took the group under his wing and brought it on tour with him. At Gaye's urging, Beverly changed the name of the group to Maze in 1976, and the band released its self-titled debut album the same year.