CM I’ve loved your alto sax sound ever since I first heard it on P Funk by Parliament when that album first came out. I was 16 years old and I’ve lost count of the thousands of times I’ve sung that and whistled it – so I’m a card-carrying funk fan – that’s where I’m coming from.

Now, I know that you’re one date into a 24-date tour that’s going to take you across the USA and Australia and to my home country England. What kind of a show is it that you’re taking out now Maceo?

MP Well, this is my band and what we do is a mixture of some of the James brown stuff, a hint of some of the George Clinton/Bootsy Collins stuff and my stuff and a little bit of Ray Charles – that’s it.

CM OK, so this is a tour that’s going to take you, I think, into May this year and that’s a lot of miles to cover. And I also read that some of your shows are over two-and-a-half hours long. How do you make preparations for a tour that’s so physically demanding as that?

MP Well, I have to try to keep myself in shape. (Laughing) I go into training, almost like an athlete. Once I knew my gigs were going to start 2008, around 16th or 17th December, we’d been off a long time. And when you are off, you have a tendency to lag and get behind, so January 1 I just started playing again. Hour and a half to two hours per day to sort of get back in form, first of all playing saxophone but then also do the treadmill every so often trying to get my body back in. So, I had to prepare, to get back in shape, to get ready for travelling and all that stuff.

CM OK, now I’m excited to be calling you today because today, I think I’m right, is the US release of Roots & Grooves, which I just got through doing a full review of, and I’ve listened to it twice today. Could you tell me how this hook-up with the WDR Big Band in Germany came around?

MP Yeah, well, first of all that big band, out of Germany, Cologne to be exact, they are their own group so to speak. My understanding is that they rehearse and perform almost all the time. It’s almost like a job for them – they rehearse and then they go tour, throughout the year. And often, to break the monotony, they’ll have somebody come in to front the group. And I was just lucky enough to be one of those that they selected to work with them and headline for them so to speak. It was very exciting for me to be one that they thought interesting enough to come and work with them.

CM OK, now looking from the outside in I can’t tell whether the primary intention was to work with a big band like you said or whether it was to offer a tribute to Ray Charles. Which of the two was the primary motivation for you?

MP Well, when I perform, I try to find moments to salute Ray Charles anyway since I was really into him at a very early age. If I got a stack of albums and I’m not really, really sure what I was feeling today or at this moment, I’d somehow pull out a Ray Charles. Or if somebody would limit me to one album it would be some kind of Ray Charles thing – and it’s always been like that. And I do normally one or two tunes when I perform anyway.

So when it got to me that perhaps we were going to do a big band thing, I thought “oh, big band, here’s the chance for me to do my Ray Charles, extended version of some stuff”. When they call my name, I walk out, I have my Ray Charles glasses on, then take them off. I do one or two tunes of Ray Charles and put them back on. I walk out with my glasses on, but with this big band thing, this time I decided not only would I wear the glasses but I’d do the Ray Charles swagger, do the walk like Ray Charles and sort of pat my leg and all that stuff like he does. You know, really, really into the Ray Charles thing.

Saxophone in my left hand, walk out, put the saxophone in the stand and walk back to the piano, still doing that Ray Charles kind of thing and then play a blues like Ray Charles would do at the piano. And that’s what I did and people sort of liked it… (laughs)

CM It certainly comes across on the record that the audience are, maybe they’re surprised by what they get in the first half of the show but they really seem to love it.

MP Yeah, yeah, it was surprising for a lot of them because they probably knew of the big band and thought “let’s see what Maceo’s going to do with this”. It was great, it was really, really great. And, if we get back to the process that we used – a lot of these songs I don’t do. Which means that I had to get the lyrics of the song. I had to really, really learn the lyrics to the ones that I don’t do. And then I got to find what key I’m going to sing these songs in, I’ve got to go to the piano and try [different keys] and at the same time I’ve got to know that I’ve to be really right because I know how much my voice can change. So if I do an arrangement of “Hit the Road Jack” or “Margie” in whatever key, I’ve got to be where I can sing it three weeks from now, or a month from now, because they have to write that music and do all the scoring and all that stuff and it would be mad to give them the wrong key. If my voice was right two weeks ago but not now. So the whole process was kind of touchy but it was fun at the same time.

CM And it must be quite nerve-wracking to be fronting a band on vocals like that which people might not expect, especially when they’re almost certainly going to compare the sound of your voice and Ray Charles’ voice…

MP Yeah, but you sort of leave them with “it is what it is”. You know – what you see is what you get or what you hear is what you get. When my voice is right I’m really kinda close. You know, I mean nobody can be really, really on top of Ray Charles, but when my voice is right I can get close, especially with the mannerisms and all that stuff. I enjoy doing it.

Now, since he’s passed, now I think of it as a way to keep his music alive. And I always give a big salute to him anyway because he did an album called Genius + Soul = Jazz and ever since then, we and all the writers and critics thought of him as a genius. And that for me is a big bow, a salute, putting-him-up-on-a-pedestal kind of a deal, for me when you come down to Ray Charles.

CM I read a comment anyway that Michael Abene had said that he was amazed how close your voice was so…

MP I didn’t even know that (laughs)

CM … it sounds like you did a great job on the first disc of this CD. When I was listening to it this morning I spotted something that I didn’t hear first time round. Some of the vocal moves that you do, some of the inflexions that you do almost sound like the sax, which made me start to think, do you consciously use the sax like a voice sometimes?

MP Well, I try to phrase like I hear, like the phrase should be. And when I play it’s the same thing. I play and phrase like I think it ought to be. And all of that’s coming from the same spot, so there’s got to be some similarities in there somewhere I would think.

CM Now, I started out by saying I was a card-carrying funk fan and that’s really true and when I put the second disc on I remembered how much of a funk fan I was. While I was researching I’ve read a lot about the work you did on baritone and tenor sax with James Brown. Do you ever use the baritone or tenor sax on recording or live dates these days?

MP No! (laughs) I’ve got to the point where I don’t like the sound I get on tenor, though I haven’t tried in five years or something like that. I have a brand new tenor saxophone at home, but last time I tried I didn’t like the sound. First I’ve got to satisfy me – and if I don’t like the sound I’m not going to throw that on someone else. If I had the time to try this mouthpiece, and that reed and really take the time, maybe I could come up with a sound that I like. Maybe.

I’m just trying to see if I can make that alto sound better (laughs). That’s my primary function now. I listen to some of those early recordings and I think “wow, that really sounds OK” – I’m not quite sure if I can duplicate that sound today, like I did 8, 9, 10 years ago. I do know this, the mouthpiece that I was playing back then died on me. I’ve been searching to find another one. The one I’m playing now is close but it’s not really in and the only way I can really tell is by listening to those old recordings.

What happened was, during one of my concerts, I don’t know why, I took the saxophone apart and set the two pieces down on the tone cabinet of the organ. At the time, the guy was playing a smooth thing and it didn’t vibrate. I was over on the other side of the stage, and the guy changed his stuff and the Leslie cabinet started to vibrate and I saw the mouthpiece making its way to the edge. I saw there was no point trying to get over there and, bam, it hit the floor! Ever since then, I must have gone through hundreds and hundreds of mouthpieces to duplicate the sound. I can’t do it but I’m close.

CM Are there any other horn players whose sound you really like?

MP I like listening to that old Lee Morgan stuff and sometimes Freddie Hubbard – don’t know why I’m into trumpet players, I always have been. (Maceo starts to sing) Gerald Albright, yeah, he did this tune by Luther Vandross…

CM “So Amazing”

MP Yes, you’re right and I’ve always dug that. Then I found out he likes my sound, my style and I didn’t know that ‘til I met him. He comes to mind.

CM He’s fantastic.

MP Mike Phillips plays with us a little bit, with friends, and he’s very exciting to work with too, playing a lot of fresh stuff. Joshua Redman – and I’m going to tell you who I really, really, really enjoy – Michael Brecker!

Yeah man, we played a lot of festivals together. I mean, top, top, top, top notch! He did, I think with Dennis Chambers, “In Time” by Sly Stone and I recorded it too on one of my things. I’d love to have done that with him because he (laughs) was really something.

CM Well, he just won two awards at the Grammies this year – that was really a fitting tribute.

MP Yeah, yeah – he was OK.

CM Can I ask if there’s anyone that you’ve wanted to work with but the opportunity hasn’t presented itself yet?

MP James Taylor.

CM Yeah??

MP Yeah. James Taylor, he does funky stuff from time to time (laughs) and I’ve always liked him. Maybe one of the reasons is he’s from North Carolina too. But he came in… we put out the word to see who could come and help us out at the studio and James Taylor’s daughter, I think, heard about that and we just happened to be in New York at the same time. She called him and said Maceo’s [in town] and he came down and did background on one of my songs. He said I can’t do a lead thing but I can definitely do a background thing. He did a sing-a-line behind me and it was simply amazing. I was in the studio thinking “James Taylor’s doing one of my tunes, doing background”. So I’d really like to do something with him – he kind of left the door open for me too – he said “I like the way you write – maybe we could do some stuff together”. So, you never know.

He just came to mind when you said that – Stevie, maybe Janet Jackson but definitely James Taylor.

CM That really leads me onto my last question Maceo. It’s really about the label that you’ve joined now in the ‘States, the Heads Up label, which has got a very exciting talent roster and lots of things happening this year. Do you have an eye on what your next recording project with them might be?

MP No. No, I don’t even think bout it. I didn’t even know about the big band thing until it came up. What we try to do is be flexible enough to go where feel that we need to go. So, I have no idea. I haven’t even thought of it, especially like you said this thing has just been released today, or this week. But this must be [album] ten or eleven, quite a few out there now. But at the same time, there’s all kinds of stuff that we could do, you know, we could “Maceo plays Country and Western” like Ray Charles did, spiritual stuff or a Christmas album, whatever, all kinds of stuff. Maybe some kind of live thing – although the big band was live wasn’t it? “Maceo plays mood music” – music to sleep by, I don’t know (lots of laughter). But all the concepts are wide open – that I do know. I’ll tell you this – you’re the first one I told this…

CM OK…

MP I saw David Newman on Letterman about two weeks ago and I thought “boy, wouldn’t it be kind of interesting while we both can still play a little bit… if I could do something with him”. So maybe I just might invite him to come in – that should be kinda nice and, who knows, I might sing one like Ray Charles and I just might have him play (laughs).

CM Fantastic – Maceo, you’ve given me half an hour of your time, which I’ve really, really enjoyed. I hope that I get to see a show when you come over to England in April, but on behalf of everyone who reads this I’d like to wish you the best of luck with the tour and with the CD release…

MP Let me throw this here, like I try to remember to do all the time. Lots of people ask me “what keeps you going, what keeps you fuelled?” and I answer “a big old bowl of L-O-V-E”. I’ve always loved performing, loved music, the stage – all that. Then I found out a good performance can kinda give people something, give them a strength, sort of fuel them to do what they have to do, week after week, in their daily lives and when I do perform live, more than once you’ll hear me say “on behalf of all of us – we love you”, including you for making this call.

CM Maceo Parker, thank you very much for your time!

MP Thank you!!