Sat, Nov 21 2009
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Saxophone player Bob Macy remembered by local musicians “That was the whole thing. He had the feel for it and the heart for it. He knew how to paint outside the lines. He was experimental,” he said. “But in his heart, he was a jazz artist, and it was all about promoting the jazz.”
Jim Snyder, of Joplin, was the manager of Smooth Mahuti, a band that Macy performed with in local clubs for many years. “Right out of high school, he moved to Southern California. His career started in a big way in the (Los Angeles) area,” said Snyder. “He hooked up with Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. He was consumed by cutting-edge jazz. He was a musician who was trying to get farther than anyone I knew. “He was always pushing the limit. He had electronics hooked up to his saxophone in the 1960s. He could sound like Jimi Hendrix on a saxophone. He did stuff that had never been done before. His horn was everything.” During his time in Los Angeles, he also played with the Coasters and Jerry Lee Lewis. To describe Macy as an extraordinary saxophone player, Snyder said, understates his talent. “He was as talented a sax player as anybody could be. He could hit any note,” he said. Macy showcased his talent for jazz on a regular basis in the mid-1970s at the Jazz Hoot, a Joplin club that featured jazz artists. He also played regularly at the Baghdad Club, a jazz nightspot in Kansas City. “He played the tenor saxophone most of the time, but he could play the baritone and soprano at the same time,” said Michael Ray, drummer for Smoot Mahuti for 20 years. “He did that at the Jazz Hot. He could play all of the woodwind instruments and the flute. “He hit the right notes, and it was bluesy and gutsy. He was not all over the place. He started with rock ’n’ roll, went to jazz early in life and then seemed to migrate to the blues.” Macy last performed in 2006 at the Family Worship Center in St. Augustine. Snyder said he had recently acquired a new saxophone. Looking back at his time with Macy in the 1960s, Massey said, “We played together in the Shadows, the Beltones, and in another group called William and the Conquerors. We traveled in a Ford Mustang with a trailer on the back. The four of us would make $100 each for a show and about $400 a week. That was good money then. “Bob was very reliable. He was good at his instrument. He remembered all of his solos.” Massey said each year on New Year’s Day he would receive a telephone call from Macy. “He would start: ‘Do you remember where we were on this date in 1958?’ I would say: ‘We were playing at the Pittsburg (Kan.) Country Club,’” recalls Massey. “Then we would tell the rest of the story, which I can’t repeat for the newspaper. 
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