And didn't James offer Maceo ( and the others JB Horns) to work back with him again?
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[This message was edited Tue Jul 1 14:48:31 PDT 2003 by jn2]

Damn! Maceo must be impossible to get along with. I hear that he and James Brown had a falling out too!

OneMoJam said:

jn2 said:

Sorry, jn2. It's not often that I get a delivery on such a beautiful silver platter.

I had a moral ORG-bligation to respond as I did.

It was the language barrier.

I think same thang as what happend between D'Angelo & ?uestlove-GROWING!

Harlepolis said:

What happened there is that D'Angelo came to his senses and realized that ?uestlove is a sucky-ass drummer.

Thanks but that doesn't help me where is Mistermaxx when he's needed?

I was about to reply to this post in heavy terms and say what makes you assume Maceo is the difficult one???
where did that come from???
Back some years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Maceo (for a student magazine) and talking to Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis who were then working with Maceo...
Basically Maceo was a real gent as we say over here, he spoke with respect of James and talked a little about the various times he'd gone back to work with him... but when James went to prison and was as far as the stories go pretty crazy at that time Maceo started his solo career and felt that this was the way to go, nothing like being the captain of your own ship... Fred and Pee Wee were more open less diplomatic if you like, and basically said JB was the most looney person to be around...which seems backed up
as far as I can tell from all that has been written.

If you want the lowdown from a more gossipy perspective read Fred Wesley's autobiography Hit Me Fred, or the Cynthia Rose book where she interviews a ton of people (although James claims he fired Maceo and all other documentation contradicts that, it seems Maceo left a few times off his own bat)...
Since meeting Maceo and attending those shows back in the early days, I've just found myself a devout fan or supporter of Maceo... he is such an approachable person, and puts on such damned good shows, genuine down to earth funky stuff ... there's no pretensions you don't get the feeling that he's anything but a great guy. Over time too I talked with his manager, a Londoner (!) who was very approachable and let me come and say hi to Maceo and the band a couple of times everyone was so friendly and real, and it's all of this that engendered my research into the funk heroes and somewhat unsung heroes who were sidemen but incredible musical entities in their own right.
I remember attending with great anticipation JB's first London show after his incarceration and it was so Vegas showbiz in it's delivery that I came away hugely disapointed.
Don't get me wrong, I hold JB as a one-off person who changed the face of music forever and influenced just about everyone since, but at the height of his genius he relied on great bandleaders and MD's such as Maceo, Fred and Pee Wee... Fred and Pee Wee co-wrote a lot of the greatest JB songs including Cold Sweat and Funky Good Time...
If you want more in depth answers to your questions then read those books ... even Nelson George in "Death of Rythmn and Blues" says he's heard so many JB stories that he wouldn't even make a comment about JB... probably most of the stories are true... what impressed me that first time in meeting Maceo and anything I read since is that he wasn't about dishing the dirt on JB, and he must know some!!!- he seemed more interested in giving a good show to his crowd, and has pretty much done that ever since whenever I've seen him...I can't imagine that he would ever want to go back not after working with Prince, who is doing great shows and has a musical edge, and certainly not after having his own band for so long, ... the man never stops working...
so OnemoJam wherever you heard whatever you heard sounds funny to me... unless you are going back to the early 70's when Maceo left and formed All the Kings Men, which included just about eveyone who also left, but did leave the door open for a bass player named Bootsy Collins to join JB, help maybe we've gone into a time warp...LOL
(and I have no idea about D'Angelo and ?uestlove...
... this is an intersting but strange strange thread...to me anyway...

Thank you FelixtheCat

James probably asked him about his background one time, and Maceo went into an extremely boring, rambling, never-ending, slow, (did I say boring?), pointless, lifeless story about his life and times, and after 2 hours was only up to joining the Jr. High band and playing club gigs in high school.



At least, that's what went wrong with me & Maceo at the Celebration 2002, during his workshop.

Well Aaron superior...goodness gracious ... okay we got your point trouble with you lot in MN is that you have only seen Maceo when you are waiting for Prince... read my post again or maybe for the first time(???)
the man's a legend, in his own right, if you want to diss someone then pick on someone worthless enough not one of the greats... Maceo's shows in London have been some of the best shows I've ever seen, and our little fan base in Europe is at least somewhat appreciative of some the great American musicians who seem to fare so badly on their own turf... (it was true for Duke Ellington and the early Jazz cats coming to Europe so I guess not much has changed)
If you listened to the musicianship of what goes on in Maceo's shows you might even discover something... anyone who has swiped the P-Funk legends such as Skeet and Greg Boyer, SOS band members like Bruno Speight and former Prince band member Morris Hayes must have a little something that I suggest you just might be missing...
Not that Maceo needs me to defend him!!!
Can't you slightly appreciate someone like this on some level, what do you want???

FelixtheCat said:

man, get a life! everybody's entitled to their own opinion. Maceo solo is just boring, I mean how many different versions of 'Wants to get funked up' can you stand during one concert?

Maceo, like a large number of very talented young musicians (uncluding his brother Melvin, a drummer) back in the 1960s, has devoted more than two decades of his life to the musical legacy of James Brown.

Although some of these men, like Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, Nat Jones, Bobby Byrd and Charles Sherell, have received musical recogniction for their work over the years, for none of them it has been truly financially rewarding as it has for their boss.

When Mr. Brown went to prison in the late 1980s, many of the artists mentioned above moved on to take their own musical direction. Maceo is the most successful one of them.

Although Mr Brown frequently is asking his old companions to join his band again, none of the now independent musicians is willing to go back to work for him. Why? Because nothing has changed. Mr. Brown still exploits his bandmen, pays them little, makes them travel under bad conditions. Why would a successful solo artist like Maceo go back to that?

Where is IrishGecko at? He seems to be a huge JB fan,I bet he could shed some light on this situation.

Is it safe to say that Maceo is at least as big in his own right these days as James? He's closing the North Sea Jazz Festival next sunday! I don't see why he'd want to go back to getting fined by James Brown. Also, his recent solo albums and band ar far superior to JB. Now Maceo rejoining the P-Funk Allstars, THAT's something I'd love to see!

hectim said:

Maceo will never reach the fame or musical importance that James Brown holds. Maceo is a graduate of the James Brown School of Music. Yes, he is closing festivals, but so is Mr Brown. His former boss still draws bigger audiences than Maceo, and I am sorry to say that, but his current band, the JB Soul Generals, are one of the tightest bands he has ever had and it still beats those of Maceo.
You are correct if you claim that Maceo sounds more funky today than Mr Brown does -- which is a matter of musical arrangements. You are also correct to say that Maceo's current releases are by far better than Mr Brown's latest material. But no "Dial Maceo" will ever beat "Popcorn", "Its a Brand New Day", "Aint it Funky now" or "Payback".

James Brown still is the master, and Maceo will always remain the scholar. And both are very aware of that.

Of course you're right that, historically speaking, Brown's legacy dwarfs Maceo's solo stuff. But consider that Parliament, JB, the JB's, Bootsy and even Prince (ONA tour!)were all at their funkiest with Maceo around. I think they all picked up a thing or 2 from Maceo, too!

hectim said:

Of course they all got a personal note of Maceo's playing. But I wouldnt call him a major musical influence. Maceo still sounds like he did back on "All the King's Men" (1971) or "US" (1974) -- which sound like James Brown.
[This message was edited Fri Jul 11 5:20:13 PDT 2003 by Ubiquity]

Ubiquity said:

EXACTLY, I DON'T THINK MACEO COULD SELL OUT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL; I JUST CALLED THE VENUE AND THEY SAID THERE ARE ONLY 10 SEATS LEFT AT THE TOP,TOP, OF THE VENUE FOR JAMES BROWN. JB HAS SUCH A WIDE APPEAL, IMAGINE MACEO CLOSING V99 OR V98 OR OPENING WOODSTOCK 1999 AS BROWN DID.

I'm with Ubiquity and Heavy Funk...and definately
Hectim, and as to getting a life, thank you Abierman, that's my point. ... if all you are hearing is Get Funked UP then get some ears man...
Maceo ain't stuck up or competing with anyone... I'm only suggesting listening to and looking at who was on the classic recordings and yes none of them have gone back with JB...
and yes everyone's a bit more funky when Maceo is around, and if you really think the current JB band is a patch on Clyde Stubblefield, or Fred Wesley, or Jimmy Nolen then hmmm sorry about your ears... but I am enjoying this thread getting a little out of loop... hasn't Maceo closed the North Sea a few times and if that is one of the biggest jazz festivals around than that's pretty cool and anyway if crowd had to do with quality ... Miles wasn't drawing that hugely at times in his life does that make him less? Prince is doing smaller shows come to that... I presume we all rate him high... but what's the point of comparisons? If music were all the same and every artist a homogeny then wouldn't it all be boring...

Felix sweetie, you don't have to rant like this, altho' you're right it's kinda fun...
Maceo is simply a truly remarkable horn player, and gives a lot of spirit in his shows and the sad thing about M. Brown is that he doesn't dance or really sing any more so for some of us who only heard the songs we find something missing at the shows...but sad tho' it may be we can still go to great Prince shows (when he tours) especially when Maceo is there and we can see great Maceo shows ...
end of the day this site always starts comparing people and sometimes gets a bit negative but as you say nice to see some interesting heat about one of my fav people...
sometimes I wonder do we just appreciate people when they're gone??? are we that bad in the US??? should I take a trip to London
oh and I'm jealous you met all those people... LOL

North sea Jazz Festival is one of the most prestigious in the world, JAZZ is interesting, Maceo performs a lot on those festivals in Europe, and that must say something maybe that he really is now a new generation of older peoples to replace those who have gone... anyway Candy and Maceo on Sunday I'll be there...