James Maycock
James attended the University Of East Anglia, reading History Of Art & Film Studies, before entering the wicked world of the media.
As a Reissue Producer, he’s compiled / annotated over 20 CD compilations for a variety of record labels.
In television – where James now concentrates most of his energies – he’s worked on many BBC & Channel 4 music, arts & history documentaries since 2003.
James has recently directed & produced a number of acclaimed 60-minute BBC Television documentaries: the award-winning THE MOTOWN INVASION (2009), which focused on the Motown Revue’s very first 1965 UK tour as it zigzagged around the provinces; ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN: THE CHESS RECORDS SAGA (2010) a roller-coaster account of the world famous Chicago blues/rock & roll label that spans 2 decades; GERSHWIN’S SUMMERTIME: THE SONG THAT CONQUERED THE WORLD (2011) which revealed the secret, magical life of George Gershwin’s 1935 tune up to the present day; SWEET HOME ALABAMA: THE SOUTHERN ROCK SAGA (2012), an epic 1970’s tale of rebel rock bands from the Deep South who transformed the region.
List of articles in the library by artist
Chet Baker: 10th Anniversary Of Chet Baker’s Death
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, May 1998
"WHAT’S YOUR favourite type of high?" inquires Bruce Weber towards the end of his film Let’s Get Lost. Chet Baker’s answer is unsettling. ...
Joe Bataan: Young, Gifted And Brown
Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul Records, 2004
A ROMANTIC STREET punk, a jailbird with spirit, a champion of the blue-collar underdog – Joe Bataan is a rebel with soul. ...
Dee Dee Bridgewater: Sophisticated Lady: This Is Dee Dee Bridgewater
Interview by James Maycock, Pride, 2002
"DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER is very effervescent and very energetic and very optimistic and very positive," I'm informed. "Dee Dee Bridgewater has consumed my life." ...
Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul Records, March 2007
JANUARY 2003. AUGUSTA, GEORGIA. A documentary crew are filming James Brown outside the house his aunt operated as a brothel in the 1940s. It was ...
James Brown: Beat The Devil: James Brown's Demons
Profile by James Maycock, Observer Music Monthly, February 2004
DAMN! LIFE WAS sweet and dandy for the Godfather of Soul in the last few years. But James Brown's slippin' and slidin' once again – ...
James Brown: Death Or Glory: James Brown In Vietnam
Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, July 2003
JUNE, 1968. Seven US Army lieutenant colonels - six Afro-Americans and one Caucasian - are collected from Tan Son Nhut, Saigon’s international airport, and ...
Obituary by James Maycock, Independent, The, December 2006
JAMES BROWN was one of the most extraordinary Afro-Americans of the 2nd half of the 20th century. A raw, emotional singer, electric performer and tough ...
James Brown: The Making Of James Brown Live At The Apollo
Retrospective by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, February 2003
"ARE YOU READY for Star Time?" exclaimed MC Lucas "Fats" Gonder from the stage of Harlem’s Apollo on 24th October, 1962. The eager crowd ...
Mel Brown: Whaddya Mean You've Never Heard Of… Mel Brown?
Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, 2002
"WITH THE GUITAR outselling all other musical instruments today," declared a Down Beat editor confidently in 1967, "it's good to have Mel Brown around to ...
Terry Callier: Look At Me Now: The Return Of Terry Callier
Profile and Interview by James Maycock, Independent, The, February 1998
DEFINING THE "soul" part of soul music is a tricky issue – it's one of the bigger questions. The music's intangible qualities are often the ...
Johnny Clarke: Busy Doing Nothing: Johnny Clarke, the Reggae Idler
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, Independent, The, March 1999
THE COMPETITIVE MUSICAL CLIMATE was so intense in mid-'70s Kingston, that Jamaica's capital city was given the soubriquet "Third World Nashville". Hundreds of aspiring ...
Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul, November 2006
Dennis Coffey: Original Old School Breaks & Heavy Guitar Soul (Vampi Soul) ...
John Coltrane: Honk If You Love Jesus! The Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church
Report by James Maycock, MOJO, 1997
EVERY TUESDAY afternoon, Sister Deborah spreads Coltrane consciousness through the San Francisco airwaves. ...
Betty Davis: She's Gotta Have It
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, MOJO, February 2005
ONE EVENING during the high summer of 1967, the fragrant Miss Mabry left her Greenwich Village apartment situated in the S&M area of Bedford Street. ...
Betty Davis: The Witty, Wicked World Of Betty Davis
Interview by James Maycock, Pride, April 2002
Intro: I think I’m the only journalist in about 20 years to have tracked down and interviewed Miles Davis’ now reclusive ex-wife who was an ...
Miles Davis: The Miles Davis Quintet 1965-1968: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, March 1998
"YOU GET THE RIGHT GUYS to play the right things at the right time and you got a motherfucker!" recalled Miles Davis in his inimitable ...
Miles Davis, Billie Holiday: Billie 4 Miles: A Kind Of Blue Love
Essay by James Maycock, Guardian, The, February 1999
MILES DAVIS CONFESSED twice in his candid autobiography he fancied Billie Holiday. "She had such a sensuous mouth," he remarked, "I thought she was ...
Fania All Stars, The: Fania All Stars: Our Latin Thing
Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul Records, 2004
ON 19TH JULY, 1972, the first few images flickering on the screen at the premiere of Our Latin Thing in New York’s Line 2 cinema ...
Fania All Stars, The: Rumba In The Jungle: Fania All Stars Live In Africa
Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Vampi Soul DVD, February 2005
1974 WAS A fine year for Jerry Masucci's golden boys. Following the triumphs of Our Latin Thing, the Fania All Stars broke out across the ...
Bebel Gilberto: Joao And Bebel Gilberto
Profile and Interview by James Maycock, Times, The, June 2004
IT WAS IN THE summer of ‘64, 40 years ago this month, that Joao Gilberto’s ‘A Girl From Ipanema’ was released. A huge global ...
Nikki Giovanni: Whaddya Mean You've Never Heard Of… Nikki Giovanni?
Retrospective by James Maycock, MOJO, 2001
IN THE CRAZY, HEADY DAYS of the Black Power era, Nikki Giovanni was one of the few female voices to offset the rampant machismo of ...
Isaac Hayes: A Black Woodstock: Wattstax
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, Guardian, The, July 2002
Intro: This is about 1000 words longer than the version published by The Guardian. There’s much more on the concert, more quotations and more on ...
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, July 1999
IN PARIS, A COUPLE of weeks before his death on 15th March, 1959, Lester Young spoke about his friend, Billie Holiday. "She’s still my ...
Incredible Bongo Band, The: The Strange Life Of The Incredible Bongo Band
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, June 2001
THE TALE OF the Incredible Bongo Band is, aptly, an improbable one. With a highly eclectic cast that includes Bobby Kennedy’s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, ...
Mick Jagger: The Battle Of Grosvenor Square
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, March 1998
Author's note: I interviewed Barry Miles for this look at the political side of London’s counterculture, with references to The Rolling Stones’ ‘Street Fighting Man’ ...
B.B. King: The Day B.B. King Went to Jail
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, September 1998
ON A SUBLIME autumn day in 1970, B.B. King performed for 2,117 prisoners in Cook County Jail. Against the sound of B.B. King's musicians ...
Bob Marley & the Wailers: Celebrating Bob Marley at Studio One
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, February 1998
On the 35th anniversary of Studio One ...
Charlie Mingus: Charles Mingus: A Musical Misfit In Black And White
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, November 1997
A traumatic childhood and a dramatic life characterised the career of the bassist Charles Mingus. James Maycock looks at a documentary on a 'phenomenal musician ...
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, MOJO, 2002
JOHNNY OTIS, the renaissance man of rhythm and blues, is somewhat ambivalent about entering his ninth decade. "I have two kinds of feelings," he concedes. ...
Eddie Palmieri & La Perfecta: Sugar Daddy
Sleevenotes by James Maycock, Fania CD, September 2007
THE HIP DANCEFLOOR RHYTHMS OF PALMIERI'S LA PERFECTA: 1962-1967 ...
Louis Prima: An Entertainer In His Prime: The Great Louis Prima
Retrospective by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, December 2002
2003 note: I interviewed his saxophonist and arranger, Sam Butera, for an article that was published in the month of what would have seen Louis ...
Rolling Stones, The: The Rolling Stones and black American culture
Essay by James Maycock, Independent, The, June 1999
A bitchy look at how the Rolling Stones’ career is excessively/artfully indebted to black American culture. ...
Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson: Brothers In Arms
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, MOJO, December 2003
IN THE LATE afternoon of 4th April, 1968, Martin Luther King was shot through the neck on the balcony of Memphis' Lorraine Motel. Pronounced ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Chasing The Heron
Report and Interview by James Maycock, Times, The, July 2004
"I'M ADDICTED to creating," mutters a grizzled, slightly stoned Gil Scott-Heron. "I use other things from time to time." It's late afternoon on Friday 3rd ...
Nina Simone: The Music and Politics of Nina Simone
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, November 1999
This was published to coincide with the release of the compilation Stand Up And Be Counted; Soul, Funk And Jazz From A Revolutionary Era, Vol.1 ...
Frank Sinatra: Nelson Algren's The Man With The Golden Arm
Retrospective by James Maycock, Guardian, The, 1998
How Nelson Algren's acclaimed novel was made into Hollywood's first film about heroin. ...
Skatalites, The: This Dance Music Is Dangerous To Your Heath: The Skatalites & The Birth Of Ska
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, July 1998
WITH THE passing of time, a tragic event sometimes reveals a comic nuance. One night in 1964, the Skatalites were performing at Club Calypso in ...
Sly & The Family Stone, Ohio Players, The: In Pursuit Of The Pimp Mobile
Essay by James Maycock, Nine, October 2002
A look at how black pimp culture has crossed into black popular culture, for which I interviewed Antonio Fargas. I refer to Miles Davis, the ...
Jimmy Smith’s Hammond Organ Revolution
Retrospective and Interview by James Maycock, Independent, The, January 2000
BEFORE JIMMY SMITH revolutionized the archaic Hammond organ, the lethargic sound this bulky, brown instrument emitted was frequently described, like an ailing patient, as "wheezing." ...
Ike Turner, Jackie Brenston: 'Rocket "88"' and the Birth of Rock & Roll
Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, James Maycock, MOJO, February 2002
AND GOD SAID, Let There Be Rock'n'Roll... ...
List of genre pieces
Retrospective by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, November 2011
IT'S EVERYWHERE. It's become part of the air we breathe. 'Summertime' certainly feels like it's been with us forever. One day this June, while making ...
Chess Records: The Original Blues Brothers
Interview by James Maycock, Independent, The, November 1997
"WOW, YOU guys are really getting it on!" exclaimed Chuck Berry, observing the Rolling Stones cut 'Down The Road Apiece', a track he'd recorded himself ...
Chess Set Still Sings The Blues: Marshall Chess and Chess Records
Interview by James Maycock, Daily Telegraph, 1998
JUST OVER 50 YEARS AGO, brothers Phil and Leonard Chess, two industrious Polish immigrants in Chicago, tentatively established what would become the most famous blues ...
CTI Records: Coffee Table Jazz For The 1970's
Retrospective by James Maycock, Independent, The, December 1997
CREED TAYLOR was extremely shrewd at marketing jazz to those who were nervous of the genre, particularly after the discordant shreaks & squeaks made by ...
Drop The Dread, Honky: Why White Artists Wanna Be Black
Essay by James Maycock, Guardian, The, October 1997
IN 1959, JOHN Howard Griffin, a white journalist, dyed his skin black and travelled through the southern states of America. He found the experience ...
Essay by James Maycock, Guardian, The, January 1998
How & Why Black Rappers Exploit Racial Stereotypes (With references to historical precedents through 20th century) ...
Metro & The Birth Of The British Sound System
Profile and Interview by James Maycock, Independent, The, August 1998
"AMPLIFICATION AND records – if you have those 2 items, then you can go somewhere," states the man called Metro. Born with the slightly less ...
Tales From The Funky Side Of Town: “Soul” and “Funk”, Then and Now
Essay by James Maycock, Independent, The, June 2001
"YOU'D BE SURPRISED how time can change the meaning of a word," rasped black comedian, Redd Foxx, during a performance at Harlem's Apollo Theatre in ...
War Within War: Black Americans And The Vietnam Conflict
Retrospective by James Maycock, Guardian, The, September 2001
The Vietnam war saw countless numbers of America's young men – both black and white – thrown into combat. They were there to fight the ...
Young Turk Who Got The Blues: Ahmet Ertegun & The 50th Anniversary Of Atlantic
Profile and Interview by James Maycock, Independent, The, July 1998
IN HUNDREDS of photographs, Ahmet Ertegun appears anonymously beside the famous. The celebrity might be a gaunt Phil Spector, Mick Jagger grinning widely or a ...
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