On the phone from his home in Kinston, N.C., saxophone legend Maceo Parker is, for lack of a better word, jolly. He laughs easily and heartily and talks about spreading love and getting along.

Not that he can't be serious.

Parker, who performs tonight at The Waterfront at Aloha Tower, is all business when he talks about his music, and he's seriously hesitant when it comes to discussing topics like being compared to his idol Ray Charles.

He's not sure he agrees with the comparison, but he's much too polite to come right out and say it. His well-mannered manner is disarming and welcoming. One gets the feeling that he'd be willing to chat for a while if he wasn't so constrained by his status as iconic sax player and master of the funk, which makes him a busy man with more important things to do than shoot the breeze with a star-struck reporter from Honolulu.

He doesn't let on that he's too good for the likes of this reporter. That no matter where he is, he's the coolest guy in room. But he is.

Parker, who played with James Brown for 20 years and went on to play with everybody who's anybody (George Clinton? Yes. Bootsy Collins? Yes. Ray Charles? Yes. Prince? Yes. The Red Hot Chili Peppers and James Taylor? Yes and yes), continues to make albums and tour like he hasn't been doing it since 1965.

His latest album, "Roots and Grooves," was released early this year and he's already planning the next one.

You're fresh off a tour in support of your latest album, right?

Well, not really a tour. I just call it "dates." I had some dates.

Got it. "Dates."

I understand you had a few dates in Europe recently touring with Germany's WDR Big Band.

Yes. We played a few gigs in Europe a couple of months back.

How was that?

Great. Really great.

Have you played with them before?

Oh, yes. At this point, I've sort of done everything before.

I suppose that's true, but you don't show any signs of slowing down.

Well, you know what? If I still like what I hear when I play, then there's no need to stop.

As I get older, I'm constantly looking for signs that I'm slowing down, and I don't see them yet. As long as I feel like I still got it, that I can still satisfy me, I'll continue to perform. Sometimes I tell myself — jokingly — that I'm going to keep doing as long as B.B. King keeps doing it.

Judging by your latest album, you've still got it.

Well, thank you. It just kind of worked out for me with the WDR Big Band project. My band and I have an understanding that we need to be a little bit loose — loose enough to be able to expect the unexpected, and to be able to act on the unexpected, and that's what this big band project was. I was asked to go over there and just play with them, and they recorded it and turned out to be really, really nice.

Your latest album is a two-disc album. The second disc is the recording of you playing with WDR, and the first disc is a tribute to the great Ray Charles. What made you decide on the tribute album?

It was the big-band project. I had been doing Ray Charles anyway with my group, but when it first came to me that there was a possibility of doing a project with a big band, the first thing that came to mind was Ray Charles. It was just automatic. As soon as they said big band, I knew I was going to come out with my glasses, get on the piano and do my Ray Charles thing.

I just read something about you in which it was said that Ray Charles lives on through you. How do feel about that?

Well, if people want to see it or hear it like that, that's fine with me. I don't know what someone who had worked with him would think about that. But it's kind of like beauty — beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I just know that I've enjoyed Ray Charles for as long as I can remember and I was born with an ability to almost sort of sound like him when I sing.

You are indeed a very gifted singer. Are you as comfortable singing as you are playing the sax?

Yeah. I've been doing it a long time now. I mean, you may give the sax a little bit of an edge because it's always going to sound like it sounds, but it has its drawbacks, too.

Over the course of your career you've worked with so many of the biggest and most influential names in music, but is there anyone else you'd still like to work with?

Yeah. I like Usher. I think some of the stuff he does is kind of funky. I like Janet Jackson, I like Michael Jackson. James Taylor did some backup for us and I'd kind of like to work with him again — he does some funky stuff every now and then. And ... let me think ... Chaka Khan! She gets funky.

Funk is considered to be an early predecessor to hip-hop. As a master of funk, what is your take on hip-hop today?

Hip-hop to me is what the scat is to jazz. It's rhythmic and loose. And then there's rap, which has taken the place of the solo in music, but it's still rhythmic and I appreciate that.

Now, I know we have the freedom of speech and we can say what we like and blah, blah, blah. But I just don't like the negative stuff. I would rather hug and high-five and smile. But people still have the right to say and do however they want to say and do, but personally I just don't think the negative stuff should be a priority. Kids listen to that stuff, and I would rather teach them how to smile and hug and get along.

Who's got the chops to be your successor? Is there anyone out there? Yours are mighty big shoes to fill.

I like Candy Dulfer. She and I work together sometimes, and I've known her for a long time, but I'm honored that she's interested in working with me.

I don't get the chance to go out and hear people very often, and when I do, I find that a lot of people like to do jazz. They do jazzy jazzy, and I do funky funky, so it's a little bit different.

Well, I know a lot of people are looking forward to hearing you get funky funky in Honolulu.

Thank you.

Listen, before you go, do we have a few seconds to put some love in it? Some bold-faced love. When people ask me what keeps me going, I say that I still love performing and I still love what I do, and I always like to say: On behalf of all of us, we love you.