maceo parker made by maceo (Inertia)

Funky Soul

Made by Maceo (Inertia)
A process which started in the 50s and saw fruition in the 60s was the communalisation of popular black blues to a gospel based style called soul. The godfather of soul was and still is James Brown.

In the 60s the singer was at the centre of a powerful new musical development called funk. Drawing on African polyrhythms and over the top gospel-jazz testifying it proved to be more than just a passing trend. However if you think that JB acted alone then perhaps the following quotation from Rickey Vincent, author of the definitive book on the subject "Funk", will put it all into a more realistic perspective. "The first 'funk' that we know and love began when Maceo Parker joined JB's band and the two began performing."

What funk fan could forget Maceo's squalling sax lines that so energised such 60's black music anthems as "Cold Sweat" and "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"? The latest release by Maceo Parker, Made By Maceo was recorded last year when the great saxophonist was 59 years of age, yet there's no sign of slowing down...MORE

His unbelievably emotive alto still burrows its way out the back of your head, raising the nape hairs as it races down to the hips, the way it did almost 4 decades ago. For those who didn't already know, Maceo can whoop and holler with the best of them as he so ably demonstrates at the beginning of "Come By And See" in between stratospheric flights on sax.

"Off The Hook" goes into a jazzier funk terrain and is even more intense. Kudos to the swinging bunch of singers whose great choruses here and throughout the album add a nice groovy focus to Mr Parker's hell-for-leather testifying. The breadth of the saxophonist's vision embraces funk-rap on "Those Girls", where vocalist Corey Parker demonstrates that there are no barriers when it comes to real musical expression, an incandescent version of the standard "Moonlight In Vermont" or the mighty blues-jazz swing of "Lady Luck" which has a great stratospheric trumpet break. There isn't a dull moment on this release.

If "Made By Maceo" shows one thing it's that Maceo Parker keeps rolling on like a mighty river regardless of fame or fashion. He is after all a movement unto himself. Funk didn't just have a far-reaching influence on pop music however, but also on jazz musicians in general, quite understandably as its prime mover MP was a superlative old school improvisor himself. RJ July 2003.