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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZFERGUSON, Maynard(b 4 May 1928, Montreal, Canada; d 23 August 2006, California) Trumpet, other horns; leader. With Boyd Raeburn '48 on reeds; he then became a high-note specialist on trumpet with Stan Kenton '50-3 (Bill Holman's 'Invention For Guitar And Trumpet' and Bob Graettinger's 'A Trumpet' were written for Kenton/Ferguson, the last especially remarkable for being one of the few musically intelligent pieces ever written for the higher range). Ferguson freelanced, then formed his own big band '57-65, alternately leading a sextet towards the end of that period. Don Ellis, Jaki Byard, others passed through on albums for EmArcy and Roulette; he was respected by other musicians for technique and versatility (he doubled on valve trombone and other horns) but the band was more popular with the public than with blasé critics. It was well recorded and any sort of big band was rare enough, and in retrospect the band's classic period sounds pretty good: The Birdland Dreamband later on Bluebird included tracks from 1956 with all-star sidemen; Mosaic issued The Complete Roulette Recordings in a ten-CD or 14-LP set. Irene Kral sang with the band in the '50s (the Verve compilation in the Jazz Masters series is good value); the band also made Two's Company '61 with Chris Connor on Roulette.He formed a bigger band in England (album M.F. Horn on Columbia '71, several more), toured Europe, USA; the band shrunk to 13 pieces again. Columbia LPs in USA pop chart incl. M.F. Horn/3 '73, Primal Scream '76, Conquistador (biggest hit at no. 22) and New Vintage '77, Carnival '78, Hot '79, It's My Time '80 and Hollywood '82. By that time he was playing film themes ('Star Trek'), but any leader with big band albums in the top 200 as late as '82 must have been doing something right: e.g. Carnival cleverly covered Gerry Rafferty's pop hit 'Baker Street', noted for its sax solo. He carried on playing amplified pop, but then regrouped; High Voltage '87 on Intima had a seven-piece electric combo described as 'MOR-ish' in down beat; but the ten-piece Big Bop Nouveau Band made These Cats Can Swing! '94 on Concord with guests, grew to 13 for Footpath Café '92 on Jazz Alliance, live in Belgium, slimmed to ten again for One More Trip To Birdland '96 on Concord: razor-sharp jazz from a band that sounded bigger than it was thanks to the arrangements. |