I pass along the very sad news that jazz great Maynard Ferguson has died. Here is a link: http://www.maynardferguson.com.

And another link: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.html?id=9ae54513-bed8-4ebb-b149-30519189494e&k=69890&p=1

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

he's my jazz trumpet idol, ive almost got my range up to his.

His playing style was all showboat and little substance and he was known to be almost as big an asshat as Buddy Rich.
That said, his impact on the music world is significant and I really enjoyed his concerts back in the '80s.
Sad day.

seriously tell us how you really feel about the recently departed lol.

I met the guy....he seemed nice at the nice. He was a bit of a showboat but he probably inspired a few kidsa to play....not a bad thing.

Wow.....Im a little shocked....I was knee deep into jazz in my younger years....he will be missed...

One side of Maynard Ferguson's life's achievements that deserve mention is his giving young players the chance to play in his bands. I remember hearing one of his Big Bop Nouveau bands a few years back and was pleased to see so many band members in their early 20's. The admiration and affection they had for Maynard was evident on the stage. And they could really play. Among the players who got a start with Maynard were Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Bob James, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Mike Abene, and Ronnie Cuber.

I guess I don't understand the showboat talk ... he's a performer. Where he got barbecued was for his work in the 1970s doing all those big pop covers (Gonna Fly Now, MacArthur Park, etc ... and my fave: Country Road) being too commercial. Hey, whatever, he was an artist, a performer, and incredible to enjoy and watch.

I was a huge fan of his when I was playing Jazz back in high school and college (late '70s, early '80s) and went to numerous concerts of his during that time. The most exciting and best experience for me was when he was invited to be the debut performer at the new performing arts center my High School had built and he accepted the invite. We sat close, got to meet him afterwards, and he even stayed into the following morning, and showed up at our high school at 6:45 AM for jazz band practice where we played Gonna Fly Now and Country Road with him.

Sad day in music. I was hoping to catch him one last time ... guess not now.

I guess I don't understand the showboat talk ... he's a performer.
So was Dizzy, Parker, Wynton, etc. Difference was that Maynard just played really high and really loud. That was pretty much all he could do. Even then, he played a lot of approximaturas. We would always joke about going to a MF concert as "going to a clam-bake".
However, as noted above, he made jazz seem like rock music to a lot of us kids in the 70's and 80's which kept us in jazz band when we could have been out doing something less worthwhile.

I don't agree with that opinion, but hey, just like noses, we all have opinions and they are all different!

Though completely agree with the "made it like rock music" - that huge sound was just so powerful, and I'm sure there's a whole generation of trumpet players from that era that lived to wail those high notes. Our lead trumpet player in our jazz band could play the MF solo parts in Gonna Fly Now with just about as much power, and certainly hitting all the notes - when The Boss came to our practice, he put on quite a show of marveling at how good our rendition of his song was - that said, it was HIS music, not ours. We just were able to cover it well.

This news made me google my old band teacher and send him an email this AM. He just responded ... such a nice guy. He was in his late 20's when he was teaching us and we had a completely kickass band program - two Jazz bands, two jazz ensembles, a blues band, plus the requisite concert and marching bands. I played bass guitar in our Jazz I band, lead guitar and trombone in Jazz II, lead guitar, bass and vocal in the Blues band and tenor sax in Jazz Ensemble Red (our #1) ensemble. Great fun.

It saddens me how bad the music programs are now in JHS and HS.
No child left behind leaves little for programs that actually stretch the brain.

Even when I was in that age, my HS was one of the few with an intact music program that remained.

well i need to check out where the jazz band is now, but it was a great program we had in 1999. I miss those days of being lead trumpet...man my arrogance was unmatched.

btw we may be able to put together an rx8 jazz band here, stew's got guitar/bass/trombone, im guessing selmer alto is a sax player, im a trumpet player, and mazdamaniac played something...sounds good eh????

Actually, not as far fetched as you think:

A buddy of mine plays in a virtual rock band. Each guy has Audacity software on his computer. They pick a song by an artist and a version to play and distribute it among themselves.

Then, playing the track through headphones, and recording their instrument - they play along with the track, adding their own touches, nuances, etc. to the sound - each guy lays down his own part, starting with the keyboardist, the rhythm guitar player, then the bass player, then the drummer, then the lead guitar, vocals, and backing vocals. These guys are hundreds of miles apart.

The end result is pretty damn amazing. I'll ask him if he's got a track I can share ...

We COULD do it if we wanted to ...

:)

Maynard will be missed for many reasons.

One of the best 'driving' songs in all the land has to be 'La Fiesta' from one of his earlier albums. Turn it up, and roll into the bliss of the trombone solo halfway through. You WILL find yourself driving faster than you thought you were. Best song ever for the winding road.

Amazing talent, awesome legacy.

Actually, not as far fetched as you think:

A buddy of mine plays in a virtual rock band. Each guy has Audacity software on his computer. They pick a song by an artist and a version to play and distribute it among themselves.

Then, playing the track through headphones, and recording their instrument - they play along with the track, adding their own touches, nuances, etc. to the sound - each guy lays down his own part, starting with the keyboardist, the rhythm guitar player, then the bass player, then the drummer, then the lead guitar, vocals, and backing vocals. These guys are hundreds of miles apart.

The end result is pretty damn amazing. I'll ask him if he's got a track I can share ...

We COULD do it if we wanted to ...

:)

That is kinda what I do in my "other" career.
When I retired from live music last year (I was playing out for a living for the last 22 years), I continued on as the "programmer" for 7 other bands back in DC
I produce the MIDI tracks that the bands use to perform live.
I lay down pretty much everything except the vocals and the band picks and chooses what tracks they need and which they will play live.
I have a library of about 3000 songs that I've done over the last two decades.
So, I am the virtual keyboard/guitar/drums/percussion/horns/strings/bass for these guys.
I get paid for gigs at which I never set foot.