Maceo Parker

Maceo Parker - saxophone, composer, recording artist, bandleader

His name is synonymous with Funk Music, his pedigree impeccable; his band: the tightest little funk orchestra on earth. Maceo Parker is known by aficionados as a James Brown sideman; appreciated mainly by those in the know. More than a decade and a half later Maceo Parker has been enjoying a blistering solo career. He navigates deftly between ‘60's soul and ‘70's freaky funk while exploring mellower jazz and the grooves of hip-hop.

Maceo Parker was born and raised in Kinston, North Carolina. His uncle, who headed local band the Blue Notes, was Maceo’s first musical mentor. Maceo grew up admiring saxophonists such as David "Fathead" Newman, Hank Crawford, Cannonball Adderley and King Curtis."I was crazy about Ray Charles, his band, and particularly the horn players". The three Parker brothers formed the Junior Blue Notes. When Maceo reached the sixth grade, their uncle let the Junior Blue Notes perform in between sets at his nightclub engagements. It was his first experience of the stage that perhaps goes some way to explaining a love affair with performing that has increased rather than diminished with time.

In 1964, Maceo and his brother Melvin were in college in North Carolina studying music when a life-changing event took place. James Brown, happened on to an after hours club in which Melvin was drumming a gig. Brown hired the Parker brothers about a year later, and Maceo recollects that he and his brother thought they’d play with JB for about six months and then head back to school. Maceo laughs, “We stayed a lot longer than that.” To most musicologists it’s that fertile group of men who are recognized as the early pioneers of the modern funk. Maceo grew to become the lynch-pin of the James Brown enclave for the best part of two decades, his signature style helped define James' brand of funk, and the phrase: "Maceo, I want you to Blow," passed into the language. He’s one of the most sampled musicians around because of the unique quality of his sound.

There would be other projects and short hiatuses during his on-off time with The Godfather, including a brief spell overseas when he was drafted, and in 1970 when he left to form Maceo and All the Kings Men with some fellow James Brown band members.

In the mid '70's Maceo hooked up with Bootsy Collins and George Clinton, and the various incarnations of Funkadelic and Parliament. He now had worked with the figure heads of Funk music at the height of their success, from the breathtaking shows of James Brown to the landing of the Mothership; Maceo has been as close as it gets to some of the most exciting moments in musical history, contributing his sound as a constant point of reference.

In 1990 the opportunity came for Maceo to concentrate on his own projects. He released two successful solo albums entitled Roots Revisited (which spent 10 weeks at the top of Billboard's Jazz Charts in 1990) and Mo' Roots (1991). But it was his third solo album, “Life on Planet Groove,” recorded live in 1992 which soon became a funk fan favorite.

Maceo began his relentless headlining touring, bringing his top notch, road-tight band and three hour plus shows all over the world. "I feel it's my duty as an artist to go as many places as I can, especially if the people want it." The soft spoken North Carolina native doesn't come out on stage in a diaper or a velvet swirling cape, no giant spaceships or 50 person entourages, nothing except the core of his musical soul which he lays open every time he blows his horn.

In 2003, after several years as Band Leader for the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Awards Maceo received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation for his contribution as a sideman to the genre of R & B.

In 2004 he joined up with Prince, where his participation on the Musicology Tour, received huge critical acclaim, especially his tribute to the late Ray Charles with a performance of “Georgia on My Mind.”

Maceo's three releases “Funk Overload,”(’98) “Dial M-A-C-E-O,”(2000) and “Made by Maceo,”(2003) entered the top 40 in the European charts upon release. He put out “My First Name is Maceo,” in 2004. On his album “School’s In,” (2005) Maceo succeeds in creating as close to a live sound as is possible in a studio setting. His most recent release is “For All the King’s Men,” (2007) on the 4th and Broadway label.

At the beginning of 2007 Maceo had a chance to fulfill one of his dreams in working with Grammy winners the WDR Big Band, broadcasting and performing a live series of shows paying tribute to Ray Charles and putting Maceo’s own funky music to a Big Band setting. The success of these shows is leading to talks about future projects, in the meantime Maceo with his own die-hard band continues to tour around the world.
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Maceo Parker: Soul Food: Cooking With Maceo

Read "Soul Food: Cooking With Maceo" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
August 15, 2020

After a trio of albums with the WDR Big Band, funk legend Maceo Parker returns to the more familiar, small ensemble terrain. It can be a challenge for any artist whose natural turf is the live arena to reproduce the same electricity in a studio setting--and for almost six decades Parker has been a road animal with James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic, Prince, and his own bands--but with Soul Food: Cooking With Maceo, the seventy-seven year old saxophonist comes pretty close. Like ...

396

Live Review

Maceo Parker in Denver

by Geoff Anderson
April 19, 2010

Maceo Parker Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom Denver March 12, 2010

Maceo Parker doesn't just play funk. He IS funk. He's one of the innovators, being there not just for its conception and birth, but for the child-rearing, shaping and development of the musical form. After extended stints with James Brown starting in the mid-60s, and later George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and Parliament/Funkadelic through the 70s, he's been leading his own band and touring extensively since ...

296

Album Review

Maceo Parker: Roots & Grooves

Read "Roots & Grooves" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
February 18, 2008

There's something about the WDR Big Band of Cologne that when you see that name on a recording, you know you?re in for a treat. In recent years, this German-based ensemble has turned in some magnificent performances alongside some jazz heavyweights, including Randy Brecker and the late Joe Zawinul. Now the WDR Big Band has joined alto saxophonist and vocalist Maceo Parker for Roots & Grooves, a two-disc set recorded during a European tour in February and March 2007.

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Extended Analysis

Maceo Parker: Roots & Grooves

by C. Michael Bailey
January 18, 2008

Maceo Parker Roots & Grooves Heads Up International 2007

In jazz, the term “swing" is used to describe that special “thing" that makes jazz jazz. Elusive to definition, swing may best be thought of as that physical propulsion providing the music momentum from one bar to the next. Or as critic Martin Williams wrote more poetically, “any two notes played in succession by (bassist) Paul Chambers." “Funk" is another word in ...

338

Album Review

Maceo Parker: School's In

Read "School's In" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins

by Woodrow Wilkins
January 6, 2006

Shakespeare was never so funky. “To Be or Not to Be, Maceo Parker's funky tribute to the playwright, is an attention-getting opener to School's In, a curriculum of funk education. And who better to do it than Parker? Over the course of his career, this alto saxophonist, percussionist, and vocalist worked with the Godfather of Soul in the 1960s and the masters of 1970s funk, George Clinton and Bootsy Collins, among others.Parker was born in Kinston, North Carolina. ...

Recording

Saxophonist Aaron Liddard (Prince, Amy Winehouse & Maceo Parker) releases 'Nylon Man' on October 7, 2022

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations
August 9, 2022

October 7, 2022 Release Date: Nylon Man Nylon Man is the new album by saxophonist-keyboardist-arranger-composer Aaron Liddard, released on 7th October on the British independent label Havis House. Featuring a plethora of guest contributions from the likes of Carleen Anderson, Omar Puente and Miss Baby Sol, Nylon Man is 12 tracks of jazz by a UK-based artist, influenced by music of Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean and Africa. In his prolific and wide-ranging career, saxophonist-keyboardist-arranger-composer Aaron Liddard has ...
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Video / DVD

Roy Ayers + Maceo Parker

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
July 30, 2020

Roy Ayers and Maceo Parker are two of my favorite jazz-soul and jazz-funk artists. Both recently released new albums. And both musicians started out as jazz players but invented new R&B forms during their careers—Ayers as a neo-soul vibraphonist and Parker as a bump-and-funk alto saxophonist. Their new albums are moody, funky and chill. Ayers is probably best known for his 1976 album Everybody Loves the Sunshine. Parker emerged in the 1960s as a saxophonist for James Brown and then ...
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Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: Maceo Parker, Barb Jungr & John McDaniel, Ryan Keberle, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
January 24, 2018

This week's calendar of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis features one of the godfathers of funk saxophone, cabaret interpretations of the music of the Beatles, the return of a popular free concert series, and more. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, January 24 Saxophonist Maceo Parker opens a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Parker made his reputation in the 1970s and '80s as a member of James Brown's band, the JBs. He ...
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Book / Magazine

Saxaphone Legend Maceo Parker Releases Autobiography

Source: Chris M. Slawecki
January 27, 2013

“Maceo, I want you to blow!” cried James Brown and the name of one the world’s greatest living saxophonists was written into musical history. Maceo Parker recounts his warm and astonishing story in his new autobiography 98% Funky Stuff: My Life in Music (Chicago Review Press, February 2013). Maceo has had an unequaled career playing for hundreds of thousands of adoring fans all over the world and his motto of “2% jazz, 98% funky stuff” has never been more evident ...
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Event

SFJAZZ Gala To Stream Performances From Ahmad Jamal, Sfjazz Collective, Maceo Parker, Friday, May 4

Source: Marshall Lamm Promotions & Public Relations
May 2, 2012

The 2012 SFJAZZ Gala on Friday, May 4, 2012 will be streamed on sfjazz.org live and direct from San Francisco’s Bimbo’s 365 Club, beginning at 7:00pm PST. The Gala — which celebrates the near completion of the $63 million “The World is Listening” capital campaign for the landmark SFJAZZ Center opening on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 21, 2013 — will honor the legendary pianist Ahmad Jamal with a performance by the jazz great himself. Newly appointed SFJAZZ Poet ...
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Performance / Tour

Maceo Parker | Santa Barbara | Review | Pics

Source: JamBase
May 4, 2011

By L. Paul Mann Maceo Parker made it clear early on in his set at UCSB on a sleepy Sunday night that he plays funk music not jazz. In witty banter with the audience, he jokingly said, “I love jazz, especially when I am reading a book or washing a car." Then to accentuate his point, the feisty saxophonist launched into a soft jazz duet with his brilliant pianist Will Boulware, which he interrupted with the quip, “We don't do ...
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Performance / Tour

Kdtu and Maceo Parker: Fall Tour

Source: JamBase
September 21, 2010

“REVOLUTION OF THE SOUL" TOUR STARTS NOVEMBER 17 IN BOSTON, MA Karl Denson's Tiny Universe will be joining up with legendary James Brown sideman Maceo Parker for the “Revolution of Soul" Tour this fall. The tour will feature a full set by Maceo Parker and his band followed by a set of KDTU and an all star mini set with both acts. Four dates are onsale now through fanclub ticketing at www.karldenson.com with more to come. KDTU presents Heroween! at ...
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Performance / Tour

Maceo Parker Debuts at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Source: Michael Ricci
November 4, 2009

Maceo Parker Debuts at Jazz at Lincoln Center November 13 & 14 The Allen Room Maceo Parker, perhaps best known as the second-in-command to the legendary James Brown, helped define funk from its origins. A long-venerated saxophone master, he will be playing and singing music he recorded with James Brown and classic R&B tunes from his recent salute to Ray Charles. Since 1964, Parker has played with James Brown, Parliament, ...
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221

Festival

Maceo Parker, Zappa, STS9 Anchor Jam Cruise Lineup

Source: Billboard Magazine
May 8, 2009

Now in its eighth year, the popular Jam Cruise will embark January 3, 2010 with a host of funk, techno, and roots-rock related acts on board. STS9, Maceo Parker, Zappa Plays Zappa, and the John Medeski/Robert Randolph/North Mississippi Allstars vehicle The Word are some of the top acts scheduled to play. The five night concert voyage leaves from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and makes stops in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Other acts scheduled include the new-funk groups Galactic and Karl ...
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Birthday