MACEO, MANCUSO: PARTY PEOPLE
The funky saxman and the pioneering DJ rocked parties in different ways
As egotistical as James Brown could be, the Godfather had no problem shouting out his creative comrades on his scintillating records. “Bobby!” as in the Famous Flame Bobby Byrd got mentioned. So did trombonist “Fred!” as in Fred Wesley. But his most joyous mentions were always for the saxophonist “Maceo!” Parker, who’se deeply funky play was an instumental echo of Borwn’s boisterous vocals. Aside from recording as a sideman on Brown’s classics, Maceo was in the JB’s (composed of other members of Brown’s razor sharp ensembles) and led Maceo & the Macks.
If that was all Maceo had done, he’d still be right there with King Curtis as the most important saxophonist in R&B. However, after exiting Brown’s orbit, Maceo jumped onto the Parliament-Funkadelic mothership, when George Clinton and another former Brown band member, Bootsy Collins, masterminded an cosmic extension of the funk. Whether playing with P-Funk or recording as a member of the Horny Horns, Maceo’s legend grew. Playing as key member of the JB’s and P-Funk would have been a big career for anyone, but Maceo was far from through. He played with Prince on and off from 1999 until the star’s death — all along connecting the musical dots from the soulful ‘60s to the synthesized ‘90s.
Well into the 21st century Maceo has recorded a number of albums as a band leader and toured around the globe. When I interviewed him for Finding the Funk, he was playing a festival in upstate New York. My unedited conversation with him has been chopped into four parts, the first of which debuts on my YouTube channel under ‘The Legacy’ playlist today. Parts two, three and four will drop Thursday and Friday.
Unless you’re a hard core student of dance music history the name David Mancuso probably means little to you. Maybe you’ve heard of the Loft, his party that was held in Noho and then later in Soho in the ‘70s and ‘80s. I first got turned onto Mancuso’s role as musical/cultural innovator by Jellybean Benitez and have studied his tapes and history ever since. It turned out that, unknown to me, I had an office right across the street from the site of his first loft party on Valentine’s Day 1970. Mancuso’s career suggest that hippie culture didn’t die but was transformed into disco hedonism. He called his party Love Saves the Day (aka LSD) and those attended say it was mind expanding. After you watch for Follow the Sound video, check out either of the two books below for more on Mancuso and his central role in American dance culture. There are also playlist from parties at the Loft all over the internet.
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Night-DJ-Saved-Life/dp/0802146104
https://www.amazon.com/Love-Saves-Day-American-1970-1979/dp/0822331985/ref=pd_lpo_sccl_2/136-0517881-4255230?pd_rd_w=qWixf&content-id=amzn1.sym.4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_p=4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_r=NXHPACZRWN5JQJA27N7K&pd_rd_wg=Fo2Hv&pd_rd_r=102979f4-ae43-432a-ac4e-86c0400bbf09&pd_rd_i=0822331985&psc=1