Posted on 08/24/2006 11:55:51 AM PDT by lunarbicep
Jazz trumpeter and big-band leader Walter "Maynard" Ferguson, famed for his screaming solos and ability to hit blisteringly high notes, has died at age 78, associates said on Thursday. The Montreal-born Ferguson died on Wednesday at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California, of kidney and liver failure brought on by an abdominal infection.
His four daughters and other family members were at his side when he died.
Ferguson started his career at 13 when he performed as a featured soloist with the Canadian Broadcasting Co. Orchestra.
He played with several of the great big-band leaders of the 1940s and '50s, including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Barnett, Jimmy Dorsey and Stan Kenton, with whom he was a featured performer.
He became known with the Kenton band for being able to hit "ridiculous high notes with ease," according to jazz critic Scott Yarnow.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz says of Ferguson: "There are few sights more impressive in animal physiology than the muscles in Maynard Ferguson's upper thorax straining for a top C.
"... Putting a Ferguson disc on the turntable evokes sensations ranging from walking into a high wind to being run down by a truck," according to the Penguin Guide.
Among Ferguson's best known and most commercially successful recordings were "MacArthur Park" and the "Rocky" movie theme, "Gonna Fly Now."
In 1957, Ferguson formed a regular big band that lasted until 1965. It included a Who's Who of jazz greats as sidemen, including Slide Hampton, Don Ellis, Don Sebesky, Willie Maiden, John Bunch, Joe Zawinul, Joe Farrell and Jaki Byard.
After the band broke up, Ferguson spent time in India and Britain, where he formed a new ensemble. He returned to the United States in 1974 with yet another group often panned by jazz critics for its commercialism.
His later work was praised for its return to the jazz mainstream.
Dangit. Working link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082401009.html
Let he who is without sin throw the first stone....
I will miss him...a great influence on me and many I know...the world could use many more like him right about now.
RIP, Maynard, Godspeed to even higher notes....from a fellow musician.
That's good :~)
The really serious Maynard albums were "Message from Newport", and "Maynard 61", "Maynard 62", and "Maynard 63".
For me, it was "Maynard 63". My God, what a band. I could name most of the players, but I'll end it here.
Maynard's passing brings tears....he was a huge influence on my early musical career and playing.
Miles kicked heroin but was a coke user for the rest of his life.
He was my favorite!! He was supposed to be in Austin about six months ago and then the advertisements on the radio just ended and I could fnd out nothing from the radio or the school he was going to play at.
I had no idea he was so ill. I'm an unhappy camper right now!
Beethoven would have been a great admirer of jazz music and musicians. He was a tremendous improviser himself and could have had piano battles with the greats like The Count, The Duke, Jelly Roll Morten, Willie "the Lion" Smith, Errol Garner, Art Tatum, Monk, Marcus Roberts, Fletcher Henderson, McCoy Tyner and other greats.
He would have also admired the compositions of Ellington.
In fact, had Beethoven lived in this century he likely would have been a jazzman.
Well then, I would listen to "early" Beethoven. (I enjoyed your thoughts on where he might be today, musically speaking.)
Maynard was an inspiration to many who didn't even play in the highschoolbands, just pick-up trumpeters. I saw him in the mid 70's. The guy I was dating idolized him. Spectacular show and I was hooked on Maynard from then on. The picture on this thread must be a pretty recent one. When I saw him he looked much different.
The son of a close friend of mine played piano/keyboards on tour in recent years with Ferguson. He was THE BEST. He took care of his players very well - better than many "names" out there. My dad has all his albums including an early 10" of Ferguson playing VALVE TROMBONE!
Saw him in person once. Best ever. Birdman was always my favorite.
Wagner and Brahms aren't classical?
You'll be doubly jealous since I got to hear Ferguson and his band play in an open air stand for a whopping $5 per head when the Chicago Park District brought them in for a gig just a couple of summers ago. I stood about 5 feet from the front of the elevated platform bandstand and got a real earful. ;-)
Quite so. He inspired a couple of generations of musicians. He was an inspiration to this Trombone player.
I think I'll stop and get some new CD's on the way home.
He had a Trombone with valves ~and~ a slide. Called it the SuperBone IIRC.
And then this - I like the MF Horn recording for sure.
And on this early "classic", he plays both trumpet and valve trombone!
OH... I have had them all. Just that everything I have is vinyl, and I've currently only got a CD player. I never completed re-buying my collection on CD. Just a couple.
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