Maceo Parker at Musical Instrument Museum

It is common knowledge that Maceo Parker has played with every leader of funk music. His start with James Brown was “like being at university,” Parker described. He then jumped aboard the mothership with George Clinton and most recently toured with Prince. He is the living, breathing pulse that connects the history of funk in one golden thread, the cipher that unravels dance music down to its core.
“Everything’s coming up Maceo,” concluded DownBeat magazine in a 1991 article at the beginning of Maceo Parker’s solo career. At the time, Parker was celebrated by aficionados of funk music as mostly a sideman, appreciated mainly by those in the know. For the last two decades, Parker has been enjoying a blistering solo career, building a new funk empire, one that is both fresh and stylistically diverse. He navigates deftly between James Brown’s 1960s soul and George Clinton’s 1970s freaky funk, while exploring mellower jazz and the grooves of hip-hop....

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It is common knowledge that Maceo Parker has played with every leader of funk music. His start with James Brown was “like being at university,” Parker described. He then jumped aboard the mothership with George Clinton and most recently toured with Prince. He is the living, breathing pulse that connects the history of funk in one golden thread, the cipher that unravels dance music down to its core.
“Everything’s coming up Maceo,” concluded DownBeat magazine in a 1991 article at the beginning of Maceo Parker’s solo career. At the time, Parker was celebrated by aficionados of funk music as mostly a sideman, appreciated mainly by those in the know. For the last two decades, Parker has been enjoying a blistering solo career, building a new funk empire, one that is both fresh and stylistically diverse. He navigates deftly between James Brown’s 1960s soul and George Clinton’s 1970s freaky funk, while exploring mellower jazz and the grooves of hip-hop.
He has collaborated with numerous artists over the years, including Ray Charles, Ani DiFranco, James Taylor, De La Soul, Dave Matthews Band, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Maceo Parker’s timeless sound has garnered him a fresh, young fan base.
“Hurricane Maceo blew through, delivering a multi-hour, non-stop barrage for an audience that danced itself into a frenzy before the second song was over.”—Austin American-Statesman

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