Rock and Roll; Interview with Maceo Parker [Part 1 of 2]

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Transcript

Parker:

You're, you're exactly right, ah, this is not really my answer but

you're right about the thousand times only. Funk to me is an attitude,

a, ah, when you're playing funky music there's a certain, ah, ah,

procedure, a certain, ah, ah, a certain feeling, ah, that you have to

have, ah, and the feeling is within. You hear the syncopated side of

the music, the syncopated side of the beat. And I think as, as a funky

musician or as a so-called funky musicians are, we have a tendency to

sort of come together or, or form groups because we week, ah, you know

each other. It's, it's, to be, to be able to play funky is, is sort of

like a, ah, group of honorary, ah, cats or musicians, you know, that

can play and it's like a, ah, to be able to play funk is like a badge,

you carry a badge around, that says, hi and hello, listen to this I can

play funky music.

Interviewer:

Tonight you had a party on the stage. What is that feeling? It seems

like this communal thing, about dance, it's about shaking your booty,

what is it in spirit that makes you do the funk?

Parker:

It's again, ah, I, I feel good. I feel comf... comfortable in

performing funky music. I feel good in performing especially funky

music. Again it's, it's a at ease feeling that I have that's, that's

within. Ah, I really enjoy entertaining and I think, you know, as a

whole there are not a lot of people that can, that can, you know, get

on the stage and, and perform and entertain. But we as a whole, as a

people we are liked, we like to be encouraged. It's almost like a Simon

says, you know it's, it's okay for me to, to, you know, raise my hand

and clap my, clap my hands and you know sway from side to side because

Simon says do this. It's not really me, you know, ah, ah, my everyday

self is maybe in the office or in a school or whatever. But now I'm in

this particular club or this particular spot to have a good time and

it's still not really me but I have been commanded, you know, to sway

from side to side, to clap my hands to raise my, you know, both my

hands in the air this kind of thing. And since I've been commanded to

do it I've done it and in doing it I'm having a good time, I'm having

fun.

Interviewer:

Could you give me a demonstration of what "Cold Sweat" would sound like

if it weren't funky and what the funk is in "Cold Sweat". Could you

give me an unfunky "Cold Sweat" and a funky "Cold Sweat". Could you do

that?

Parker:

I, if I played, if I played drums I could sort of demonstrate the

difference in a, ah, say like a jazzy "Cold Sweat" as opposed to a

funky "Cold Sweat" because it lies down, first of all when you had a

group the, the funk, or the funky, funky, funkiness somehow starts with

the rhythm section. You got to have a funky drum pattern, funky bass

pattern, guitar pattern, guitar licks. And then, you know, then all the

funky horns. But it, it all starts with the rhythm section. You know

if, if the drummers plan ting, ting, ti-ting, ting. That's sort of

jazzy 'cause it's straight, you see. And then to play with it you have

to that ting ting straight 4 feeling, ting, ting, ting. Then you're

playing [horn] which in a sense is what jazz is. Jazz is like a

straight [sings]. But now opposed to that funk, you got [sings] which

is like a syncopated, you still got your pulse going doon, doon, but

you got uh ah, uh ah, uh uh ah. And right away your attitude is better,

your attitude is lightened and you get, you know, a happy, I want to

dance feeling in your neck you get to move to it. And then when you get

that [sings] and then with that in mind you go. So that's really the

difference. The difference lies in the, the rhythm section. If you can

get the rhythm section to, you know, play funky. It doesn't, ah, it's,

it's always nice to know of and can be sort of recognized, when you can

recognize other funky musicians because, oh they got, oh I love the way

he, he plays. This is like all pertain to funk, funk, funk, funky music

same thing lies with jazz. You know we have a tendency to, to seek, you

know, what we really like and seek out the musicians that we really

like. Oh he, oh he's a great jazz bass player, a great jazzy drummer.

So we want to do some jazzy stuff didn't you somehow just search the

old memory bank and you go back to those people that you know that can

play really good jazz. Well the same thing happens in funky music, you

know, you run across, you know, from years to years you run across all

these people that can play funky drums, funky guitar, funky, so you

when you get ready to put them together, you just think about, oh yeah

I remember that guy was there. This guy was a disco, this guy, you

know, like this. And you just get them all together and then you know

you got a really good funky band because you got all good funky

musicians.

Interviewer:

If you could name some of the folks you knew - funk.

Parker:

When I was listening to music 'cause that's what I did for a long, long

time, I just listened. I can remember listening, hearing the Meters

from New Orleans a really good funky group. They had like a different,

a different approach. And if you, you know, were getting like a funky

meter, you know, or something to, ah,to skill out on a scale that you

can scale funky music, they would be like all the way to the top. Ah,

ah, but there were a lot of, you know, funky groups and, ah, ah, I

really can't, you know, name, name them all now but I do know Sly and

the Family Stone had a, had a tune called "In Time" [sings]. "Time"

really funky. And a lot of times when you have a style where you just

sort of break it up and just have the drummer playing alone and then

maybe just add the, you know, the bass and all these things in the

rhythm section, you know. It's good and funky. But I think I, I

probably played, you know, throughout the years with the funkiest

bands, you know, that there were, you know, in, in James Brown and say

George Clinton and Bootsy Collins. You know I, I've had a taste of it

all.

Transcript

Transcript

Series: Rock and Roll

Raw Footage: Interview with Maceo Parker [Part 1 of 2]

Contributing Organization: WGBH (Boston, Massachusetts)

AAPB ID: cpb-aacip/15-w08w950w8j

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Description

Credits: Interviewee2: Parker, Maceo
Publisher: Funded by a grant from the GRAMMY Foundation

AAPB Contributor Holdings: WGBH
Identifier: 827cdd44f953e02b89a5933e7c1e151aa07b62c6 (ArtesiaDAM UOI_ID)
Format: video/quicktime
Color: Color
Duration: 00:00:00

Citations: Chicago: “Rock and Roll; Interview with Maceo Parker [Part 1 of 2],” WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed September 18, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-w08w950w8j.; MLA: “Rock and Roll; Interview with Maceo Parker [Part 1 of 2].” WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. September 18, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-w08w950w8j>.; APA: Rock and Roll; Interview with Maceo Parker [Part 1 of 2]. Boston, MA: WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-w08w950w8j