Jump to content

Maynard Ferguson


Recommended Posts

RIP Maynard.

 

Maynard was partly responsible for introducing me to jazz. One summer while I was in high school, my sister brought home from college a stack of albums that her roommate hadn't had room for in his car and so dumped off on her. He was into fusion and pop jazz -- Maynard, Chick Corea, Bob James, lots of stuff like that. I spent the whole summer listening to his records and taped most of them. Over the years I recorded over most of the tapes, but kept the Maynard "MF Horn" stuff because I always liked it.

 

A few years later, when I was in college, there was a girl I was friends with, but we didn't date because she always talked about her boyfriend back home. Maynard and his band were booked to do a show on campus. I mentioned it to her and found out she was a big MF fan, so we made plans to go to the show together. This was wintertime in upstate New York. The night of the show, there was a big snowstorm, and Maynard never showed -- his bus got stuck somewhere out on the highway. They never rebooked the show.

 

Oh yeah, almost forgot -- in high school a buddy had a tape of a band called "Chase" that featured this trumpeter who reeled off these amazing high, fast solos, backed by a funky AWB-type of rhythm section and a grooving vocalist who sounded kind of like Santana's lead singer. I copied that tape and used to listen to it a lot. It wasn't until years later that I discovered that Chase's trumpeter was none other than Maynard Ferguson.

Link to post
Share on other sites
It wasn't until years later that I discovered that Chase's trumpeter was none other than Maynard Ferguson.
I did not know that.....you learn something new every day.

 

I recently got an LP copy (for a buck) of Conquestidor and I have to admit, I am not a big fan of this type of jazz, but the guy should could play and he gave lots of young musicians their start. He also managed to keep big band type music in the charts far longer than any of his contemporaries.

 

LouieB

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hmm...it seems I might have been misinformed...Bill Chase was Chase's trumpeter, and AMG says he was "inspired by Ferguson"...

Link to post
Share on other sites
Hmm...it seems I might have been misinformed...Bill Chase was Chase's trumpeter, and AMG says he was "inspired by Ferguson"...
That makes more sense....I wasn't going to check your info out. Either way....doesn't matter.

 

LouieB

Link to post
Share on other sites

Maynard,aside from being a virtuoso,also spent alot of time at Billy Hitchcock's mansion (Millbrook) when Leary & Co. were doin' their thang w/ LSD experiments...he may have been the first,if not one of the first,jazz musicians to 'break through to the other side'.

 

RIP Mr. Ferguson :thumbup

Link to post
Share on other sites
Maynard,aside from being a virtuoso,also spent alot of time at Billy Hitchcock's mansion (Millbrook) when Leary & Co. were doin' their thang w/ LSD experiments...he may have been the first,if not one of the first,jazz musicians to 'break through to the other side'.

 

RIP Mr. Ferguson :thumbup

I guess that's how he was able to hit all those HIGH notes.

 

LouieB

Link to post
Share on other sites
I guess that's how he was able to hit all those HIGH notes.

 

LouieB

You are correct,sir :yay

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...