A Sunday morning blast from Maynard Ferguson and his band, recorded live at Pottstown Pennsylvania on February 6, 1975.
He is aided and abetted by: Stan Mark, Dennis Noday, Bob Summer, Joe Mosello and Ernie Garside on trumpets – Randy Purcell and Keith O’Quinn on Trombone – Andy Macintosh, Brian Smith and Bruce Johnstone on Sax – Pete Jackson on piano – Rick Petrone on bass and Danny d’Imperio on Drums.
Although his principal instrument was the trumpet, Maynard Ferguson frequently doubled on other brass instruments, most notably the relatively uncommon valve trombone. Several recording sessions with bandleader Russell Garcia included a four-trombone ensemble in which Ferguson played only valve trombone. Publicity shots and album covers from the 1950s showed Ferguson with his ‘quartet’ of trumpet, valve trombone, baritone horn, and French horn. Recordings of the latter two are rare; the French horn vanished in later years, but the baritone horn appeared on the 1974 album Chameleon. He switched to the combination valve/slide Superbone and flugelhorn on all but his last recorded album.
Maynard Ferguson designed the Firebird and the Superbone. Trumpeter Rajesh Mehta bought this trumpet while living in Amsterdam and played the Firebird from 1998 until 2011 when he had American trumpet maker George Schlub create the Orka-M Naga Phoenix trumpet for him. The Superbone was another hybrid instrument, a trombone with additional valves played with the left hand. Maynard Ferguson incorporated Indian instruments and influences in his music.
Ferguson was not the first trumpeter to play in the extreme upper register (which had been employed by performers such as Cat Anderson), but he could play high notes[6] with full, rich tone, power, and musicality. In interviews he said that his command of the upper registers was based mostly on breath control,[15] something he discovered in his youth in Montreal. He attributed the longevity of his technique to the spiritual and yoga studies he pursued in India.
Ferguson brought charisma to a musical genre that is often seen as cold and cerebral. His obituary in The Washington Post stated:
Ferguson lit up thousands of young horn players, most of them boys, with pride and excitement. In a (high school) world often divided between jocks and band nerds, Ferguson crossed over, because he approached his music almost as an athletic event. On stage, he strained, sweated, heaved and roared. He nailed the upper registers like Shaq nailing a dunk or Lawrence Taylor nailing a running back – and the audience reaction was exactly the same: the guttural shout, the leap to their feet, the fists in the air. We cheered Maynard as a gladiator, a combat soldier, a prize fighter, a circus strongman – choose your masculine archetype.
And there you have it.
Dive in and get busy.
