Maceo Parker just might have pop music’s best resume. As a saxophone player, he’s been intricate parts of bands for James Brown, George Clinton, and Prince and his career spans at least fifty years. It’s not hyperbole to call him pop’s greatest sideman. But he also has been a prolific solo artist, putting out his first album in 1970, and his most recent in 2012.

From Thursday through Sunday, Maceo Parker will be holding things down at Jazz Alley with a series of shows that span the (extended) weekend – six shows over four nights.

I had a few precious minutes to talk with Maceo Parker about his recipe for success, what fans can expect from seeing one of his live shows, and how he came to begin working with James Brown, and what kind of doors that opened for him. Honestly, I wish I could’ve listened to him talk for hours.

What can people expect from seeing one of your shows this weekend at Jazz Alley?

Well, what I have built up to this point is sort of a fan base, where people know who I am. It’s really rewarding being in this position where people can know you’re appearing someplace close by and playing. From day one, I’ve learned that if you have fans, they don’t really care what you do. It’s sort of like they like being in close proximity to you.

But I came up with the formula a long time ago that we do two percent jazz and ninety-eight percent funky stuff. That holds true today. I came up in the James Brown category, so to speak, and that’s what people sort of expect. I also did a little bit of George Clinton, P-Funk All-Stars, still in that funky vein. People who know me, or if they know someone who may not know me but sort of recommend to their friends or family… “We’re going to see this guy who used to play with James Brown at blah blah blah, I think you’ll like it…” Sometimes that happens, too. It’s a mixture of that, and I’ve always liked Ray Charles and put in a little bit of that and some ballads, to break the monotony of everything being funky, funky, funky or everything being fast, fast, fast.

It’s a lot of fun for me to weave in and out of what we do. I was reflecting on last night’s show and thinking “this is a lot of fun,” it’s like being in a studio where you’re at the controls and you bring in this or pull up that, and I do all of that with the band. It’s great. I really enjoy doing what I do. Right there, feeling what the people feel. I can kind of tell when they’re enjoying what we’re doing.

It’s a mixture of my James Brown stuff, my George Clinton stuff, some Ray Charles stuff; I try to feature everyone doing something. 2% jazz and 98% funky stuff.

I have been a fan of your work for a long time, and basically everyone you’ve every played with, like James Brown, George Clinton, Prince, etc. I’d feel remiss if I didn’t ask if you’d talk a little bit about how you came to play with James Brown.

I was sort of introduced to the world through James Brown because he started calling my name on a lot the records during sax solos, like “C’mon Maceo!” or “Hey Maceo!” As people heard the James Brown stuff and heard my name, they must have thought, “This guy’s okay because James Brown likes his style, or something!” or “Who is this Maceo guy?” I think people liked James Brown so they focused in on me because James Brown called my name all the time.

He actually met my brother first. We were college students and I was a year ahead of my brother. We were in a college town in Carolina. I was playing in a group out of state and my brother was playing in town. James Brown was playing in town. James finished first and did not want to leave and he just wanted to relax, so he went to where my brother was playing. My brother played drums and offered him a job right then, but he was a college student and said, “Well, if you ever want to work with me, five years from now, a couple of months, whatever, I’ll remember this handshake and if you ever want a job, you can have a job working with me.” About a year, year and a half later, we decided both of us to get out of school and went to seek a job with James Brown.

We saw him back in Greensboro, NC, where we went to school. My brother approached him at the coliseum. What we decided to drive around the coliseum and wait on the limousine. When we say the limousine, we pulled right in behind it. When he came out, he approached him and said, “Mr. Brown, Mr. Brown, I’m the drummer you met almost two years ago, or whenever it was, and I’m not a student anymore so I’d like to have that job.” “OK, fine.” He was very excited that this drummer he met could start to work with him.

Somewhere in that conversation, my said, “This is my brother, he’s a saxophone player. He’d like to have a job too.” That’s how we were hired by James Brown.

Wow, that is such an amazing story!

One other thing: as soon as my brother told James Brown I wanted a job too, he asked me if I played baritone sax. I went, “uhh…” I can’t answer no, because then if I say no, he turns around and focuses on my brother. You can only answer questions yea or nay. I answered with a long, “uhhh…yes, sir.” He asked me, “Do you own a baritone sax?” I had this smirk-y smile on my face and again said, “uhh… yes sir.” He said, “Tell you what, if you can get a baritone sax, I’ll give you two or three weeks or whatever it takes” and reaches out to shake my hand like he shook my brother’s. That’s the way the whole thing started.

Later on, the guy who was assigned the tenor sax solo became ill and had to be away for a while. That’s when I spoke up and said, “Mr. Brown, this is what I do. I can play a baritone sax, but I think I’m okay at playing the tenor solo stuff.” “Oh you do? I kind of like the way you play.”

…And can I assume that playing with James Brown opened the door to playing with George Clinton and others?

As I was saying, everybody is crazy about James Brown and he sort of put me on his shoulders, so to speak, and put a crown on my head. If you’re really, really into James Brown, you’re really into Maceo, and Fred (Wesley) too. There weren’t too many others then. You may have heard of Pee Wee (Ellis) because he did a lot of scoring and arranging and writing, and that kind of thing. As far as playing, James played organ, Fred played trombone and I played a lot of the saxophone stuff. By being into James Brown, you were automatically into us.

So George had an opportunity for us to come in and do some stuff with him, so we took it. We had a lot of fun, but that was the reason. He wanted some of that “magic,” or whatever people thought, with him. It was the same thing with Bootsie (Collins) or with Prince.

I met Eddie Murphy while I was with George Clinton because he wanted to meet Maceo. He had done something on “Saturday Night Live” with James Brown in a hot tub. He wanted to meet me when I was in town.

Michael Jackson was the same way, when I was in Vegas with Prince, he was there. When he was ready to leave, he turned around and the whole band was there. I had met Chris Tucker and they were together but Chris was in front and when we all got ready to leave, Chris opened the door and looked me dead in the eye. I could see him mouth the words, “Oh there’s Maceo” and when he did, Michael turned around and walked straight back to me and shook my hand. When he finished and I got off the floor from fainting, I guess (laughs), everyone was like, “Did you see that? Michael Jackson came back here and walked straight to Maceo!” I’m floored too, my mouth was wide open; never thought to come down from wherever I was zooming from because of that moment to say, “Somebody take this picture!” It happened like that.

Again, if it’s like if you’re into James Brown, there’s no way you cannot be into me.

I completely agree with that!

I promised your manager I wouldn’t take up too much of your time, so…

I just want to say that I really, really enjoy what I get to do, like any other person who gets to do whatever they’re into. It becomes really, really easy and really enjoyable going through life doing what you love doing. A really long time ago, as a college student, thinking I might end up as an instructor, but decided I really liked to perform and get to travel around the world and just play. Now that I do that, the joy is still there, but I meet a lot of people and see a lot of people, I try to push the word “love” as much as I can. I just say “love, love, love” and hope that all of this crazy stuff in the world diminishes a little bit. There’s a lot of crazy stuff you can’t imagine happens. All I mean is, it’s okay to say “good morning to a stranger,” or it’s okay to help someone you see with $10 here at the gas pump, or slow down and let someone in. Just a little bit of common courtesy is what I try to push through love. It may have something to do with my being born on the fourteenth of February, I don’t know.

That’s my life. I go around the world and bring joy and happiness to people throughout the world.