Maceo Parker - Made By Maceo (2003)

As usual, the best way to listen to this Maceo Parker album is in a situation where you aren't at all self conscious. where you can listen, dance like a goofball, and let stress drip like sand from your fingers. Made By Maceo reaches into the depths of funk and highlights the space between rules of genre. Maceo takes on an exploratory excursion from prescription and once again relieves what ails ya. Made by Maceo starts with sharp funk, the kind we all love and recognize - he invites us in (come by and see) and then describes the rules (off the hook) - but take notes, because now it's learning time. Between bookends of pure funk, Made By Maceo is a syllabus. the lesson starts with a saxophone expanding across a spectrum of riff and range. I recognize riffs and then suddenly Maceo has found a new way to tantalize me with them. And that's when i start dancing in my living room, the safest environment possible. From there is a unit on Jazz, and bending the ends of Jazz and funk to meet in a new circle. Made By Maceo is an inspiring installation in the career of a legend. The funk isn't gone - Made By Maceo is dripping in it. A portrait of evolution. ..... I can picture Maceo playing "Moonlight in Vermont" and I feel like i'm eavesdropping. It is like learning from a sage. To ignore the importance of this album in the exploration of genre and possibility (and the overall history of funk and jazz) would be like filing a jane's addiction album in folk. Made By Maceo is a review of funk, and a lesson in jazz nuance - interlaced with the fusion of both. listen straight through. Listen before you run an errand. Listen before or after whatever stops you from enjoying your day. Listen straight through if you're just feeling good. It's important because you'll walk around town with the Lady Luck Reprise in your head. and Thank goodness, b/c without notes like that, the world weighs too darn much. Maceo Parker has the cure. Get this CD. Get funky in your living room. It's really that simple.