Maceo Parker

All respect for Bootsy Collins, but saxman Maceo Parker might just be the most broad and enduring musical voice to have matriculated at the James Brown school and gone on to complete a P-Funk post-doc. A simple resumé glance could make the case, but for tangible proof, dig this double-disc set from Heads Up. Recorded live last year during a tour with Cologne, Germany’s righteously respected WDR Big Band, disc one of Roots & Grooves settles into bluesy swing with Tribute to Ray Charles, while the second disc gets Back To Funk with crisp nuggets from Maceo’s own catalog. Parker has a well-established voice on alto horn, but his vocal delivery on Charles numbers like “You Don’t Know Me,” “Busted,” and “What’d I Say” is steeped in the stew of blues and soul that has simmered for generations. Longtime BP columnist John Goldsby shows what he knows on his day job, colluding with drummer Hans Dekker to serve up solid, swinging support beneath the Big Band’s tight and flashy horn arrangements.

For the second set, they yield their seats to P-Funk alums Dennis Chambers and Rodney “Skeet” Curtis. Though the band sometimes feels more studied than sweaty, Dennis, Skeet, and Maceo keep it hot and funky. Skeet’s licks dance fearlessly on the funky high wire, with a breakdown moment on “To Be Or Not To Be” showing that his death-defying licks are no mind tricks. Maceo almost ruins the moment by jubilantly introducing Skeet as Gary “Mudbone” Cooper (the P-Funk percussionist/vocalist whose honeyed tones adorn Bootsy Collins’s early albums). But the funk must go on, and nothing could breach the musical connection and vibe Maceo maintains with both band and audience.
- Bill Leigh