ALBUM REVIEWS : MACEO PARKER “Roots Revisited” <i> Polygram</i> ***

Longtime James Brown associate Parker didn’t go overboard on trying to establish heavy jazz credentials with “Roots Revisited.” The alto saxophonist recruited J.B. horn mates Fred Wesley and Pee Wee Ellis, roped in Don Pullen on organ and cut a hard-swinging salute to the ‘50s and ‘60s, when jazz, R&B; and gospel weren’t viewed as separate spheres. Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles and Sly Stone mingle with Charles Mingus, Jay McShann/Charlie Parker and Maceo himself in the composer credits, and there’s nothin’ fancy about the arrangements or Parker’s capable solo delivery. “Roots Revisited” is redolent of recent Hank Crawford albums--though with a sharper, more acerbic edge--in that all the elements are familiar and success largely rests on the music passing the groove test. “Roots Revisited” grooves.