"
Maceo! Blow your horn!" That's how
James Brown would dynamically signal his favorite horn player to take another stinging sax solo -- and
Maceo Parker never once let his boss down.
Parker's jabbing workouts in the midst of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "Cold Sweat" made him a household name among '60s
funk fans -- not bad for a kid fresh out of college who got the gig primarily because
Brown coveted his brother Melvin's drumming chops.
Now
Parker is a star in his own right. His Verve albums
Roots Revisited and
Mo' Roots impeccably spotlight his
soul-drenched alto sax on a sizzling hybrid of
funk,
R&B, and
jazz.
And he's brought along his ex-section mates from
Brown's band -- trombonist Fred Wesley and saxist
Pee Wee Ellis -- to stoke the almighty groove. The North Carolina product quit
Brown several times. Along with his bandmates,
Parker mutinied in 1970 to form
Maceo & All the King's Men, only to return to the fold three years later; later in the decade, he worked with
Parliament/
Funkadelic and
Bootsy's Rubber Band. But when
Brown was incarcerated,
Parker was there for him, releasing a
rap song that urged
the Godfather of Soul's immediate freedom. With his newfound solo fame, however, it's doubtful that you'll see
Parker back in
Brown's horn section anytime soon. Parker's solo albums include Us People (1974), Funky Music Machine (1975), For All the King's Men (1989),
Roots Revisited (1990),
Mo' Roots (1991), the seminal Life on Planet Groove (1992),
Southern Exposure (1993), FunkOverlord War (1998), dial:MACEO (2000), Made by Maceo (2003), and Schools In! (2005). ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
