Maceo Parker’s signature style became the lynchpin of James Brown's band when he and his brother Melvin joined the Hardest Working Man in Show Business in 1964. That style helped define Brown’s brand of funk, and the phrase “Maceo, I want you to blow!”  became part of the lexicon of black music. He took time off from James Brown to play with George Clinton’s P-funk collective and with Bootsy’s Rubber Band; he also formed his own band, Maceo and All the King’s Men, whose records are cult favorites among funk aficionados.

Here Maceo tells his own warm and astonishing story, from his Southern upbringing to his career touring the world and playing to adoring fans. Maceo has long called his approach to the saxophone “2% jazz, 98% funky stuff.” Now, on the eve of Maceo’s 70th birthday, in prose as lively and funky as his saxophone playing, here is the definitive story of one of the funkiest musicians alive.