By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

It’s June of 1957, and Chuck Berry is rocking the charts with one hit single after another.

Bob Massey, then about age 17, recalls the day he was playing a Berry tune on an electric guitar in his bedroom with the window open. The window was open because houses in those days did not have air-conditioning units.

In the house next door lived Bob Macy, then about age 13, whose bedroom window was directly across from Massey’s window. Macy heard the new sound that would soon be called rock ’n’ roll. He was intrigued by what he heard.

“There were two young boys, Bill Macy, Bob’s brother, and Bob, both with their heads out the window,” said Massey. “I was playing Chuck Berry guitar licks when a voice says: ‘Hey!’

“I stopped playing and answered. Bob replied: ‘Would you teach me to play rock ’n’ roll on a saxophone?’ I said, ‘Sure. Get a sax, and I will tell you what notes to play and let you play in my band,’” Massey recalled.

“Two hours later and after a trip to Ernie Williamson’s, he yells from the window: ‘Hey, can I bring my sax over?’ That’s how it started. Two kids playing rock ’n’ roll,” said Massey.

Within two weeks, Macy had mastered the notes with a fingering chart. Within three months, he was playing well enough to become a member of Massey’s band, the Midnighters. The encounter would launch Macy’s nearly 50-year career as a saxophone player. He would perform with most of the major bands that emerged from the Joplin area from the late 1950s through the 1990s.

He also performed with such greats as B.B. King, Neil Diamond, B.J. Thomas, and Steve and Cassie Gaines of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Macy died of colon cancer on July 16 at a nursing home in St. Augustine, Fla. He was 62. His obituary appears in today’s death notices.

The loss has deeply saddened his friends.

“I remember 40 years ago when we were in Wichita (Kan.) We recorded Bob Dylan’s song, ‘Memphis Blues Again,’ said Johnny Rose, a local guitar player who performed with Macy. “Bob was part of the horn section, and Steve Gaines was singing.

“I was playing the guitar on it. I was 16 at the time. It was unbelievable. It’s too bad we lost the masters of that.”

Rose said Macy brought soul and taste to whatever he did.