Back to M-A-C-E-O! This is a transcription that I’ve had on the shelf for a long time. Every time I pulled it out to record, I always struggled to sight read it. It’s not technically difficult, but the rhythms are crazy hard to right read. Finally I broke down and just practiced it for an hour! I broke down each phrase, and took it slowly until I could feel it.
The track is a classic James Brown tune. The recording is from a 1994 video, right around the time that Maceo was starting to come in to his own as a solo artist. It features the classic JB horns lineup of Fred Wesley on Trombone and Pee Wee Ellis on Tenor. The band is killing!
The more Maceo solos I transcribe and learn, the more I realize what an amazing ‘escape artist’ he is. I often run in to short phrases that seem to fall on the wrong foot, or don’t quite turn out how you intended. We all get these. When I run in to these phrases in my own playing, they knock me out of the zone too easily. It can take awhile for me to recover and get back in to the groove. But Maceo has this akido-like ability to turn these phrases around and roll right through them in to the next phrase.
Maceo Parker - Cold Sweat- Artist: Maceo Parker
- Album: My First Name is Maceo
- Track: Cold Sweat
- Instrument: Alto Sax
Enjoy!
@SDartSax
Hi from France,
Thank you very much for all the Maceo tunes !
If you accept requests, i’d love to get transcription for these 2 :
– an amazing 30-second solo by Maceo at the very end of the Soundtrack album : https://youtu.be/wlC3Y8d5Iio?t=4455
– The Pass the peas version of the North Sea Jazz Festival 1995 with mind-blowing intensity-growing solos by Maceo : https://youtu.be/laXK5TNFn7s?t=852
Anyway, thanks a lot for all you’ve done yet !
I love requests – I’ll add these to my list!