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A funky good time

Sunday, 7 June 2009

Around eight o’clock last night Arjen, my webmaster, called to say he had an extra ticket for the concert that Maceo Parker was to give at nine in the Paradiso.
Between the age 20 and 35 I went out so much, that I only counted the nights that I stayed at home. Usually I went to concerts and/or places where I could dance. I clearly remember the night I rode on my bike through the Zeilstraat going to a discotheque. I heard my self thinking that I would rather read more books than go out. For a short moment I panicked: stop going out would mean a drastic change of my life. I would loose many friends, I would loose my reputation, I would no longer know which places and bands are cool, etcetera. But when the panic resided, I knew I really wanted to read more books.
Halfway during the concert Arjen said that it felt like an anachronism. That was exactly what I felt too: Maceo Parker, his music, being in the Paradiso, drinking beer in plastic glasses, watching the audience… this is something from the/my past.
I didn’t expect much from the concert. I have many of Maceo Parker’s records. He is a great sax player and a pretty good singer, but he has no real songs. And I knew from earlier concerts that whenever he played one of my favourite songs (especially the songs that James Brown wrote for him in the early seventies) he would not do it in the way I love it most. The man is a jazz musician, I am a lover of songs.
Maceo was in great shape and he had a pretty good band. Still, I couldn’t get into it. Halfway the concert there was a surprise: Candy Dulfer got on stage. Within seconds the evening was lifted to a higher level. She brought the magic that the show lacked so far. She only played for a few minutes, but the echo of her magic lay over the rest of the evening.
The best part for me was when Maceo played a solo, with only the drummer backing him up. I wouldn’t have mind if he had done that for an hour. This guy must be at least 65 but he sure still has some soul power. But like many artists, his past gets in the way of whatever he is doing today. There is an interesting relation between the words ”reputation”?and ??”repetition”. (I have no time to go deeper into all this, but i will do that another time.)
When I checked what can be seen of Maceo Parker on YouTube, I saw that the duet, that he did with Candy last night, was an almost exact replica of what he had done in 2007.

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What I call ”magic” is something that can not be repeated. Even trying to repeat it, is deadly.
Here is a mix by DJ Prince of some of the best songs recorded by the JB’s:

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And here is the Maceo Parker song that is one of the most sampled songs ever: ”Cross the tracks”:

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Hey Arjen, thanks for the evening! Not much bloggers have a webmaster who invites them to go to a Maceo Parker gig, I guess.

Comments:

Arjen

2009-06-08 08:53:50

Hi Frits, I had a (funky) good time too!
I’m glad I didn’t know about the Candy appearance in 2007, I was genuinely surprised to see her on the stage.