Maynard Ferguson
Encyclopedia
Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz
musician and bandleader
. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton
's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957. He was noted for being able to play accurately in a remarkably high register
, and for his bands, which served as stepping stones for up-and-coming talent.
(now part of Montreal
). Encouraged by his mother and father (both musicians), Maynard was playing piano
and violin
by the age of four. At nine years old, he heard a cornet
for the first time in his local church and asked his parents to purchase one for him. At age thirteen, Ferguson first soloed as a child prodigy
with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Orchestra and was heard frequently on the CBC, notably featured on a "Serenade for Trumpet in Jazz" written for him by Morris Davis
. Ferguson won a scholarship to the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he studied from 1943 through 1948 with Bernard Baker.
Despite his excellent grades, Ferguson dropped out of Montreal High School at age 15 to more actively pursue a music career, performing in dance bands led by Stan Wood, Roland David, and Johnny Holmes. While trumpet was his primary instrument, Ferguson also performed on other brass and reed instruments. Ferguson later took over the dance band formed by his brother Percy, playing dates in the Montreal area and serving as an opening act for touring bands from the United States. During this period, Ferguson came to the attention of numerous American band leaders and began receiving offers to come to the United States.
Ferguson moved to the United States in 1948 and initially played with the bands of Boyd Raeburn
, Jimmy Dorsey
, and Charlie Barnet
. The Barnet band was notable for a trumpet section that also included Doc Severinsen
, Ray Wetzel
, Johnny Howell, and Rolf Ericson
. Ferguson was featured on a notoriously flamboyant Barnet recording of Jerome Kern
's "All The Things You Are
" that enraged Kern's widow and was subsequently withdrawn from sale. When Barnet temporarily retired in 1949 and disbanded his orchestra, Ferguson was free to accept an offer to join Stan Kenton's newly formed Innovations Orchestra.
had a longstanding offer to Ferguson but had temporarily disbanded when Ferguson moved to the United States. Kenton's bands were notable for their strong brass sections and Ferguson was a natural fit. In 1950, Kenton formed the Innovations Orchestra, a 40-piece jazz concert orchestra with strings, and with the folding of the Barnet band, Ferguson was available for the first rehearsal on January 1, 1950. While the Innovations Orchestra was not commercially successful, it made a number of remarkable recordings, including "Maynard Ferguson," one of a series of pieces named after featured soloists. Some of Maynard's early tunes included "Secret Love", "Wheres Teddy", and many others.
When Kenton returned to a more practical 19-piece jazz band, Ferguson continued with him. Contrary to the natural assumption, Ferguson was not Kenton's lead trumpet player, but played the third chair with numerous solo features, as noted in the scores written for the Kenton band during this period. Notable recordings from this period that feature Ferguson include "Invention for Guitar and Trumpet", "What's New?
" and "The Hot Canary".
So popular was Ferguson with Kenton that for three years running, 1950, 1951, and 1952, he won the Down Beat
Readers' Poll as best trumpeter.
In 1953, Ferguson left Kenton to become a first-call session player for Paramount Pictures
. Ferguson appeared on 46 soundtracks including The Ten Commandments
. Ferguson still recorded jazz during this period, but his Paramount contract prevented him from playing jazz clubs. While he enjoyed the regular paycheck, Ferguson was very unhappy with the lack of live performance opportunities and left Paramount in 1956.
jazz club in New York City. While the name "Birdland Dream Band" was short-lived and is represented by only two albums, this band became the core of Ferguson's performing band for the next nine years. The band included, at various times, such players as Slide Hampton
, Don Ellis
, Don Sebesky
, Willie Maiden
, John Bunch
, Joe Zawinul
, Joe Farrell
, Jaki Byard
, Lanny Morgan
, Rufus Jones, Nino Tempo
, Bill Berry and Don Menza
. Arrangers included Slide Hampton
, Jay Chattaway
, Bob Brookmeyer
, Jimmy Giuffre
, Bill Holman
and Marty Paich
.
As big bands declined in popularity and economic viability in the 1960s, Ferguson's band performed more infrequently. Ferguson began to feel musically stifled and sensed a resistance to change among American jazz audiences. According to a Down Beat
interview, he was quoted as saying that if the band did not play "Maria" or "Ole," the fans went home disappointed. Ferguson began performing with a sextet before finally officially disbanding his big band in 1969.
in November 1963 to live with Timothy Leary
, Ram Dass
, and their community from Harvard University
. He and his wife Flo used LSD, psilocybin
and other psychedelic drugs for spiritual awakening. They lived at Millbrook for about three years, playing clubs and recording several albums.
In 1967, as the Millbrook experiment was ending, Ferguson moved with his family to India
, and taught at the Krishnamurti
-based Rishi Valley School
near Madras. He was associated with the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning's Boys Brass Band, which he founded and helped teach at for several years. While in India, Ferguson was influenced by Sathya Sai Baba
, whom he considered as his spiritual guru.
. He had two houses while he was in the UK, the final one being a 3 story house down by the River Thames.
That same year, Ferguson signed with CBS Records in England and formed a big band with British musicians that performed in the newly popular jazz/rock fusion style. The band's repertoire included original compositions as well as pop and rock songs rearranged into a big band format with electronic amplification. This British band's output is represented by the four "MF Horn" albums, which included arrangements of the pop songs "MacArthur Park
" and "Hey Jude
".
In 1970 he led his big band on UK television as part of BBC's Simon Dee
Show (also known as Dee Time). Ferguson often quipped with Dee, similar to his contemporary Doc Severinsen
's rapport with Johnny Carson
on The Tonight Show
. By the end of the late sixties, Ferguson was a household name in Britain.
, North Texas State University and the University of Miami
) and targeting young audiences with performances and master classes in high schools. This practical and strategic move helped him develop a strong following that would sustain him for the remainder of his career.
In 1976, Ferguson performed a solo trumpet piece as part of the closing ceremonies for the Summer Olympics in Montreal.
1976 was also the year that Ferguson began working with producer Bob James
on a series of commercially successful albums. These were complex studio productions featuring large groups of session musician
s, including strings, vocalists and star guest soloists. The first of these albums was Primal Scream, featuring Chick Corea
, Mark Colby, Steve Gadd
, and Bobby Militello
. The second, Conquistador in 1977, resulted in a top-30 (#22) pop single, "Gonna Fly Now
" (from the movie Rocky
), a rare accomplishment for a jazz musician in the 1970s. Aside from an exciting Jay Chattaway
arrangement and dense Bob James production, the single was also helped by the fact that it was released prior to the official soundtrack album of the hit movie. Ferguson maintained a hectic touring schedule during this period, with well-attended concerts that featured concert lighting and heavy amplification.
Ferguson continued with this musical model for the remainder of the 1970s, receiving considerable acclaim from audiences but an often tepid response from some jazz purists, who decried his commercialism and questioned his taste. Ferguson reportedly also began to experience great frustration with Columbia over being unable to use his working band on recording projects and having difficulty including even a single jazz number on some albums. Ferguson's contract with Columbia Records expired after the 1982 release of the Hollywood album, produced by Stanley Clarke
.
Ferguson recorded three big band albums with smaller labels in the mid '80s before forming a more economical fusion septet, "High Voltage," in 1986. This ensemble, which featured multi-reed player Denis DiBlasio and trombonist Steve Wiest among an abridged horn section, recorded two albums and received mixed reviews. The format was ultimately unsatisfying to Ferguson, who had grown up in big bands and developed a performing style most appropriate to that structure.
, a nine-piece band featuring two trumpets, one trombone, three reeds and a three-piece rhythm section. Later, due to the increasing responsibilities being placed on the trumpet players, the baritone sax position was replaced by a third trumpet player. The band's repertoire included original jazz compositions and modern arrangements of jazz standards, with occasional pieces from his '70s book and the Birdland Dream Band; this format proved to be successful with audiences and critics. The band recorded extensively, including albums backing vocalists Diane Schuur
and Michael Feinstein
. Although in later years Ferguson did lose some of the range and phenomenal accuracy of his youth, he remained an exciting performer, touring nine months a year with Big Bop Nouveau for the remainder of his life. In 1992, he was inducted into the Down Beat
Jazz Hall of Fame.
Just days after completing a weeklong run at New York's Blue Note
and recording a studio album in New Jersey, Ferguson developed an abdominal infection that resulted in kidney and liver failure. Ferguson died on the evening of August 23, 2006 at the Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California
.
music fraternity's Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award
at its national convention in Cleveland, Ohio. He had been initiated as an honorary member of the Fraternity's Xi Chi Chapter at Tennessee Tech University in 1976.
In Spring of 2000 Maynard Ferguson was also initiated as a brother of Kappa Kappa Psi
at the Gamma Xi Chapter (University of Maryland at College Park).
. He demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt to the musical trends that evolved from the 1940s through the 2000s. Ferguson's albums show an evolution from big band
swing
, bebop
, cool jazz
, Latin
, jazz / rock, fusion
with classical
and opera
tic influences. Through his devotion to music education in America, Ferguson was able to impart the spirit of his jazz playing and technique to scores of amateur and professional trumpeters during the many Master Classes held throughout his long career.
Ferguson was not the first trumpeter to play in the extreme upper register, but he had a unique ability to play high notes with full, rich tone, power, and musicality. While regarded by some as showboating, Ferguson's tone, phrasing and vibrato was instantly recognizable and has been influential on and imitated by generations of amateur and professional trumpet players. A direct connection to Ferguson's style of playing continues in the work of the trumpeters who played with him, notably Patrick Hession
, Roger Ingram
, Wayne Bergeron
and Eric Myashiro. Although some had believed that Ferguson was endowed with exceptional facial musculature, he often shared in interviews that his command of the upper registers was based mostly on breath control, something he had discovered as a youngster in Montreal. Ferguson also attributed the longevity of his demanding bravura trumpet technique through his later years to the spiritual and yoga studies he pursued while in India.
While Ferguson's range was his most obvious attribute, perhaps equally significant was the personal charisma Ferguson brought to a musical genre that is often seen as veering towards the cold and cerebral. As Ferguson's obituary in the Washington Post declared:
Ferguson designed and popularized two unique instruments, the 'Firebird
' and the 'Superbone
'. The Firebird was similar to a trumpet
, but had the valves played with the left hand (instead of the right) and a trombone-style slide played with the right hand. Indian-american trumpeter Rajesh Mehta bought this trumpet while living in Amsterdam and played the Firebird in his own innovative music contexts 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, which was fundamentally a trombone
with additional valves played with the left hand. Ferguson regularly incorporated Indian instruments
and influences in albums and concerts.
Shortly before his death, he received the Man of Music Award by Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
music fraternity, of which he was a member. The Maynard Ferguson Institute of Jazz Studies at Rowan University
was created in 2000, the same year Rowan bestowed Ferguson with his only Honorary Doctorate degree. The Institute, currently under direction of Ferguson's longtime friend and fellow musician Denis Diblasio, supports the Rowan Jazz Program in training young jazz musicians.
Ferguson's last wishes were to keep his band and music alive. The best of the best of the Maynard Ferguson band alumni regrouped and formed the first tribute group, led by high range trumpeters Wayne Bergeron
, Patrick Hession
, and Eric Miyashiro, and brought the band back to life, going back on tour across America as a tribute to 'the world's greatest trumpeter'. Since the original tribute group went on tour, other similar tribute groups have popped up in the United States, keeping Ferguson's music alive, and serving as a legacy for future generations.
Canadian jazz
Canadian jazz refers to the jazz and jazz-related music performed by jazz bands and performers in Canada. In Canada, there are hundreds of local and regionally-based Canadian jazz bands and performers...
musician and bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton
Stan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957. He was noted for being able to play accurately in a remarkably high register
Register (music)
In music, a register is the relative "height" or range of a note, set of pitches or pitch classes, melody, part, instrument or group of instruments...
, and for his bands, which served as stepping stones for up-and-coming talent.
Early life and education
Ferguson was born Walter Maynard Ferguson in Verdun, QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
(now part of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
). Encouraged by his mother and father (both musicians), Maynard was playing piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
by the age of four. At nine years old, he heard a cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
for the first time in his local church and asked his parents to purchase one for him. At age thirteen, Ferguson first soloed as a child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
Orchestra and was heard frequently on the CBC, notably featured on a "Serenade for Trumpet in Jazz" written for him by Morris Davis
Morris Davis (composer)
Morris Cecil Davis was a Canadian composer, arranger, and conductor. He was sometimes referred to as "Rusty Davis". A largely self-taught composer and orchestrater, he wrote more than 200 jingles for Canadian radio and television...
. Ferguson won a scholarship to the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he studied from 1943 through 1948 with Bernard Baker.
Despite his excellent grades, Ferguson dropped out of Montreal High School at age 15 to more actively pursue a music career, performing in dance bands led by Stan Wood, Roland David, and Johnny Holmes. While trumpet was his primary instrument, Ferguson also performed on other brass and reed instruments. Ferguson later took over the dance band formed by his brother Percy, playing dates in the Montreal area and serving as an opening act for touring bands from the United States. During this period, Ferguson came to the attention of numerous American band leaders and began receiving offers to come to the United States.
Ferguson moved to the United States in 1948 and initially played with the bands of Boyd Raeburn
Boyd Raeburn
Albert Boyd Raeburn was an American jazz bandleader and bass saxophonist.Boyd Raeburn was born in Faith, South Dakota, and became one of the greatest and least-known of jazz bandleaders during the 1940s...
, Jimmy Dorsey
Jimmy Dorsey
James "Jimmy" Dorsey was a prominent American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, and big band leader. He was known as "JD"...
, and Charlie Barnet
Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...
. The Barnet band was notable for a trumpet section that also included Doc Severinsen
Doc Severinsen
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...
, Ray Wetzel
Ray Wetzel
Ray Wetzel was an American jazz trumpeter. Critic Scott Yanow described him as "greatly admired by his fellow trumpeters"....
, Johnny Howell, and Rolf Ericson
Rolf Ericson
Rolf Ericson was a Swedish jazz trumpeter. He also played the flugelhorn.- Early career :He moved to New York City in 1947 and in 1949 joined Charlie Barnet's big band and with Woody Herman in 1950...
. Ferguson was featured on a notoriously flamboyant Barnet recording of Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
's "All The Things You Are
All the Things You Are
"All the Things You Are" is a song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II.It was written for the musical Very Warm for May , where it was introduced by Hiram Sherman, Frances Mercer, Hollace Shaw, and Ralph Stuart...
" that enraged Kern's widow and was subsequently withdrawn from sale. When Barnet temporarily retired in 1949 and disbanded his orchestra, Ferguson was free to accept an offer to join Stan Kenton's newly formed Innovations Orchestra.
Kenton and Hollywood
Stan KentonStan Kenton
Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....
had a longstanding offer to Ferguson but had temporarily disbanded when Ferguson moved to the United States. Kenton's bands were notable for their strong brass sections and Ferguson was a natural fit. In 1950, Kenton formed the Innovations Orchestra, a 40-piece jazz concert orchestra with strings, and with the folding of the Barnet band, Ferguson was available for the first rehearsal on January 1, 1950. While the Innovations Orchestra was not commercially successful, it made a number of remarkable recordings, including "Maynard Ferguson," one of a series of pieces named after featured soloists. Some of Maynard's early tunes included "Secret Love", "Wheres Teddy", and many others.
When Kenton returned to a more practical 19-piece jazz band, Ferguson continued with him. Contrary to the natural assumption, Ferguson was not Kenton's lead trumpet player, but played the third chair with numerous solo features, as noted in the scores written for the Kenton band during this period. Notable recordings from this period that feature Ferguson include "Invention for Guitar and Trumpet", "What's New?
What's New?
"What's New?" is a 1939 popular song composed by Bob Haggart, with lyrics by Johnny Burke.It was originally an instrumental tune titled "I'm Free" by Haggart in 1938, when Haggart was a member of Bob Crosby and His Orchestra. The tune was written with a trumpet solo, meant to showcase the talents...
" and "The Hot Canary".
So popular was Ferguson with Kenton that for three years running, 1950, 1951, and 1952, he won the Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
Readers' Poll as best trumpeter.
In 1953, Ferguson left Kenton to become a first-call session player for Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. Ferguson appeared on 46 soundtracks including The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...
. Ferguson still recorded jazz during this period, but his Paramount contract prevented him from playing jazz clubs. While he enjoyed the regular paycheck, Ferguson was very unhappy with the lack of live performance opportunities and left Paramount in 1956.
The Birdland Dream Band
In 1956, Ferguson was tapped to lead the Birdland Dream Band, a 14-piece big band formed by Morris Levy as an "all-star" lineup to play at Levy's —BirdlandBirdland (jazz club)
Birdland is a jazz club started in New York City on December 15, 1949. The original Birdland, which was located at 1678 Broadway, just north of West 52nd Street in Manhattan, was closed in 1965 due to increased rents, but it re-opened for one night in 1979...
jazz club in New York City. While the name "Birdland Dream Band" was short-lived and is represented by only two albums, this band became the core of Ferguson's performing band for the next nine years. The band included, at various times, such players as Slide Hampton
Slide Hampton
Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...
, Don Ellis
Don Ellis
Don Ellis was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of unusual time signatures...
, Don Sebesky
Don Sebesky
Don Sebesky is an American jazz trombonist and arranger.-Biography:Sebesky trained in trombone at the Manhattan School of Music; in his early career, he played with Kai Winding, Claude Thornhill, Tommy Dorsey, Warren Covington, Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton...
, Willie Maiden
Willie Maiden
William Ralph "Willie" Maiden was an American jazz saxophonist and arranger.Maiden began on piano at age five and started playing saxophone at 11. He spent most of his career playing in big bands, and while he recorded as a sideman, he never led his own session. He worked with Perez Prado in 1950...
, John Bunch
John Bunch
John Bunch was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Born and raised in Tipton, Indiana, a small farming community, he studied piano with George Johnson, a well-known Hoosier jazz pianist...
, Joe Zawinul
Joe Zawinul
Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with...
, Joe Farrell
Joe Farrell
Joseph Carl Firrantello , known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name on the CTI record label and for playing in the initial incarnation of Chick Corea's Return to Forever.-Biography:Farrell was born in Chicago...
, Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard
Jaki Byard was an American jazz pianist and composer who also played trumpet and saxophone, among several other instruments. He was noteworthy for his eclectic style, incorporating everything from ragtime and stride to free jazz...
, Lanny Morgan
Lanny Morgan
Lanny Morgan is an American jazz alto saxophonist chiefly active on the West Coast jazz scene.Morgan was raised in Los Angeles. In the 1950s he played with Charlie Barnet, Si Zentner, Terry Gibbs, and Bob Florence, then did a stint in the U.S. military, for which reason he had to turn down an...
, Rufus Jones, Nino Tempo
Nino Tempo
Nino Tempo is an American musician, singer, and actor.A musical prodigy, Nino Tempo learned to play the clarinet and the tenor saxophone as a child. He was a talent show winner at four years of age and appeared on television with Benny Goodman at seven...
, Bill Berry and Don Menza
Don Menza
Don Menza is an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, session musician, and jazz educator noted for his many contributions to American jazz and big band music. -Early years:...
. Arrangers included Slide Hampton
Slide Hampton
Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater...
, Jay Chattaway
Jay Chattaway
Jay Chattaway is an American composer of film and television scores. He is mainly known for his work as score composer for several Star Trek television series: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise...
, Bob Brookmeyer
Bob Brookmeyer
Robert Brookmeyer is an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer.-Biography:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre...
, Jimmy Giuffre
Jimmy Giuffre
James Peter Giuffre was an American jazz clarinet and saxophone player, composer and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation.-Biography:Born in Dallas, Texas, of Italian ancestry,...
, Bill Holman
Bill Holman (musician)
Willis Leonard Holman , known also as Bill Holman, is an American composer/arranger, conductor, saxophonist, and songwriter working primarily in the jazz idiom....
and Marty Paich
Marty Paich
Martin Louis "Marty" Paich was an American pianist, composer, arranger, producer, music director and conductor....
.
As big bands declined in popularity and economic viability in the 1960s, Ferguson's band performed more infrequently. Ferguson began to feel musically stifled and sensed a resistance to change among American jazz audiences. According to a Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
interview, he was quoted as saying that if the band did not play "Maria" or "Ole," the fans went home disappointed. Ferguson began performing with a sextet before finally officially disbanding his big band in 1969.
Millbrook, India and psychedelic spirituality
After losing his recording contract and main club gig, Ferguson moved his family to the Hitchcock estate in Millbrook, New YorkMillbrook, New York
Millbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is often said to be a "low-key version of the Hamptons" and one of the wealthiest towns in New York State. Millbrook's estimated town population was 1,551 in 2008. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, an hour and thirty...
in November 1963 to live with Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
, Ram Dass
Ram Dass
Ram Dass is an American contemporary spiritual teacher and the author of the seminal 1971 book Be Here Now. He is known for his personal and professional associations with Timothy Leary at Harvard University in the early 1960s, for his travels to India and his relationship with the Hindu guru Neem...
, and their community from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He and his wife Flo used LSD, psilocybin
Psilocybin
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...
and other psychedelic drugs for spiritual awakening. They lived at Millbrook for about three years, playing clubs and recording several albums.
In 1967, as the Millbrook experiment was ending, Ferguson moved with his family to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and taught at the Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Jiddu Krishnamurti or J. Krishnamurti or , was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society...
-based Rishi Valley School
Rishi Valley School
Rishi Valley School is a boarding school in India, founded by the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. It is located close to the town of Madanapalle, Krishnamurti's birthplace, in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Rishi Valley is a three hour drive from the city of Bangalore.- Founder's...
near Madras. He was associated with the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning's Boys Brass Band, which he founded and helped teach at for several years. While in India, Ferguson was influenced by Sathya Sai Baba
Sathya Sai Baba
Śri Sathya Sai Baba , born as Sathyanarayana Raju was an Indian guru, spiritual figure, mystic, philanthropist, and educator. He claimed to be the reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, a spiritual saint and miracle worker who died in 1918 and whose teachings were an eclectic blend of Hindu and...
, whom he considered as his spiritual guru.
England
In 1969, Maynard moved to just outside Windsor (about 20 miles from London) in a very small place called Oakley GreenOakley Green
Oakley Green is a village in Berkshire, England. Its name is derived from "Oak Clearing," and a green used by farmers from the nearby parish of Bray.- History :...
. He had two houses while he was in the UK, the final one being a 3 story house down by the River Thames.
That same year, Ferguson signed with CBS Records in England and formed a big band with British musicians that performed in the newly popular jazz/rock fusion style. The band's repertoire included original compositions as well as pop and rock songs rearranged into a big band format with electronic amplification. This British band's output is represented by the four "MF Horn" albums, which included arrangements of the pop songs "MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park (song)
"MacArthur Park" is a song by Jimmy Webb, originally composed as part of an intended cantata. The song was initially rejected by The Association. Richard Harris was the first to record it, in 1968; the song was subsequently covered by numerous artists. Among the best-known covers are Donna Summer's...
" and "Hey Jude
Hey Jude
"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song widely accepted as being written to comfort John Lennon's son, Julian, during his parents' divorce—although this explanation is not...
".
In 1970 he led his big band on UK television as part of BBC's Simon Dee
Simon Dee
Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd , better known by his stage name Simon Dee, was a British television interviewer and radio disc jockey who hosted a twice-weekly BBC TV chat show, Dee Time in the late 1960s...
Show (also known as Dee Time). Ferguson often quipped with Dee, similar to his contemporary Doc Severinsen
Doc Severinsen
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...
's rapport with Johnny Carson
Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson was an American television host and comedian, known as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson for 30 years . Carson received six Emmy Awards including the Governor Award and a 1985 Peabody Award; he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987...
on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
. By the end of the late sixties, Ferguson was a household name in Britain.
Return to the U.S.
Ferguson's new band made its North American debut in 1971. With a revived career, Ferguson relocated to New York in 1973 and gradually replaced his sidemen with American performers while reducing the band size to twelve: four trumpets, two trombones, three saxophones and a three-piece rhythm section plus Maynard. The quintessential recording of this period is the album MF Horn 4 & 5: Live at Jimmy's, recorded in 1973 in New York. Ferguson latched on to the burgeoning jazz education movement by recruiting talented musicians from colleges with jazz programs (notably Berklee College of MusicBerklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
, North Texas State University and the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
) and targeting young audiences with performances and master classes in high schools. This practical and strategic move helped him develop a strong following that would sustain him for the remainder of his career.
In 1976, Ferguson performed a solo trumpet piece as part of the closing ceremonies for the Summer Olympics in Montreal.
1976 was also the year that Ferguson began working with producer Bob James
Bob James (musician)
Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date...
on a series of commercially successful albums. These were complex studio productions featuring large groups of session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
s, including strings, vocalists and star guest soloists. The first of these albums was Primal Scream, featuring Chick Corea
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
, Mark Colby, Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd
Steve Gadd is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of genres.-Biography:...
, and Bobby Militello
Bobby Militello
Robert Philip Militello, better known as Bobby Militello, Bob Militello, or Bobby M, is a U.S. jazz saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist...
. The second, Conquistador in 1977, resulted in a top-30 (#22) pop single, "Gonna Fly Now
Gonna Fly Now
"Gonna Fly Now", also known as "Theme from Rocky", is the theme song from the movie Rocky, composed by Bill Conti with lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, and performed by DeEtta Little and Nelson Pigford...
" (from the movie Rocky
Rocky
Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted debt collector for a loan shark in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
), a rare accomplishment for a jazz musician in the 1970s. Aside from an exciting Jay Chattaway
Jay Chattaway
Jay Chattaway is an American composer of film and television scores. He is mainly known for his work as score composer for several Star Trek television series: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise...
arrangement and dense Bob James production, the single was also helped by the fact that it was released prior to the official soundtrack album of the hit movie. Ferguson maintained a hectic touring schedule during this period, with well-attended concerts that featured concert lighting and heavy amplification.
Ferguson continued with this musical model for the remainder of the 1970s, receiving considerable acclaim from audiences but an often tepid response from some jazz purists, who decried his commercialism and questioned his taste. Ferguson reportedly also began to experience great frustration with Columbia over being unable to use his working band on recording projects and having difficulty including even a single jazz number on some albums. Ferguson's contract with Columbia Records expired after the 1982 release of the Hollywood album, produced by Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
.
Ferguson recorded three big band albums with smaller labels in the mid '80s before forming a more economical fusion septet, "High Voltage," in 1986. This ensemble, which featured multi-reed player Denis DiBlasio and trombonist Steve Wiest among an abridged horn section, recorded two albums and received mixed reviews. The format was ultimately unsatisfying to Ferguson, who had grown up in big bands and developed a performing style most appropriate to that structure.
Big Bop Nouveau
In 1988, Ferguson returned both to a large band format and to mainstream jazz with the formation of Big Bop NouveauBig Bop Nouveau
Big Bop Nouveau is a band formed in the late 1980s by the late jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson. Originally composed of four trumpets, two trombones and four saxophones plus a rhythm section , it was later reduced to what has become known as the "pocket big band" format, consisting of three...
, a nine-piece band featuring two trumpets, one trombone, three reeds and a three-piece rhythm section. Later, due to the increasing responsibilities being placed on the trumpet players, the baritone sax position was replaced by a third trumpet player. The band's repertoire included original jazz compositions and modern arrangements of jazz standards, with occasional pieces from his '70s book and the Birdland Dream Band; this format proved to be successful with audiences and critics. The band recorded extensively, including albums backing vocalists Diane Schuur
Diane Schuur
Diane Schuur is an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Deedles", she has won two Grammy Awards, headlined many of the world's most prestigious music venues, including Carnegie Hall and The White House and has toured the world performing with such greats as Quincy Jones, Stan Getz, B. B...
and Michael Feinstein
Michael Feinstein
Michael Jay Feinstein is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an interpreter of, and an anthropologist and archivist for, the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theatre songs...
. Although in later years Ferguson did lose some of the range and phenomenal accuracy of his youth, he remained an exciting performer, touring nine months a year with Big Bop Nouveau for the remainder of his life. In 1992, he was inducted into the Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
Jazz Hall of Fame.
Just days after completing a weeklong run at New York's Blue Note
Blue Note (jazz clubs)
The Blue Note is a jazz club and restaurant located at in Greenwich Village, New York City. Opened in 1981 by owner and founder Danny Bensusan, the club is now considered one of the world's most famous jazz venues...
and recording a studio album in New Jersey, Ferguson developed an abdominal infection that resulted in kidney and liver failure. Ferguson died on the evening of August 23, 2006 at the Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California
Ventura, California
Ventura is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S...
.
Personal life
In the mid 1970s, Ferguson settled in Ojai, California, where he lived to the end of his life. Maynard's marriage to Flo Ferguson (in 1955) lasted until her death on February 27, 2005. Ferguson had three daughters: Corby, Lisa, and Wilder, and a step daughter, Kim, from Flo's first marriage. A son, Bentley, preceded his parents in death. Kim Ferguson is married to Maynard's former road manager, Jim Exon. Wilder Ferguson is married to pianist (and former Big Bop Nouveau member) Christian Jacob. Lisa Ferguson is a writer and film maker living in Los Angeles. At the time of his death, Ferguson had two granddaughters, Erica and Sandra. Maynard died Wednesday, August 23, 2006, at Community Memorial Hospital. His death was the result of kidney and liver failure brought on by an abdominal infection.Honors
In 2006, he was presented Phi Mu Alpha SinfoniaPhi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music...
music fraternity's Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award
Charles E. Lutton Man Of Music Award
The Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award is one of the highest honors awarded to members of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity for a lifelong achievement in uplifting the world through art and music. Its recipients include musical legends such as Aaron Copland, W. Francis McBeth, James Levine,...
at its national convention in Cleveland, Ohio. He had been initiated as an honorary member of the Fraternity's Xi Chi Chapter at Tennessee Tech University in 1976.
In Spring of 2000 Maynard Ferguson was also initiated as a brother of Kappa Kappa Psi
Kappa Kappa Psi
Kappa Kappa Psi is a fraternity for college and university band members. It was founded on November 27, 1919 at Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College in Stillwater, Oklahoma. William Scroggs, now regarded as the "Founder," together with "Mr. Kappa Kappa Psi" A...
at the Gamma Xi Chapter (University of Maryland at College Park).
Influence
Maynard Ferguson was one of a handful of virtuoso musician/bandleaders to survive the end of the big band era and the rise of rock and rollRock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. He demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt to the musical trends that evolved from the 1940s through the 2000s. Ferguson's albums show an evolution from big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
, bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
, cool jazz
Cool jazz
Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...
, Latin
Latin jazz
Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...
, jazz / rock, fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
with classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
and opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic influences. Through his devotion to music education in America, Ferguson was able to impart the spirit of his jazz playing and technique to scores of amateur and professional trumpeters during the many Master Classes held throughout his long career.
Ferguson was not the first trumpeter to play in the extreme upper register, but he had a unique ability to play high notes with full, rich tone, power, and musicality. While regarded by some as showboating, Ferguson's tone, phrasing and vibrato was instantly recognizable and has been influential on and imitated by generations of amateur and professional trumpet players. A direct connection to Ferguson's style of playing continues in the work of the trumpeters who played with him, notably Patrick Hession
Patrick Hession
Patrick Edward John Hession is a trumpeter.Patrick joined the Lionel Hampton Big Band in 1992, where he was the lead trumpeter for four years. In 1996, Hession joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra, where he was lead trumpeter for almost three years. Hession was the lead trumpeter of Maynard...
, Roger Ingram
Roger Ingram
Roger Ingram is a lead trumpet player, educator, and author. He is best known for being the lead trumpet player on the Jazz at Lincoln Center, Harry Connick, Jr., Maynard Ferguson, Ray Charles, and Woody Herman big bands, and his 2008 trumpet textbook, Clinical Notes on Trumpet Playing, and the...
, Wayne Bergeron
Wayne Bergeron
Wayne Bergeron, American jazz musician and trumpet player, was born in 1958 in Hartford, Connecticut and grew up Southern California. His interest in music started on the French Horn before he switched to, his claim to fame, the trumpet, in 8th grade...
and Eric Myashiro. Although some had believed that Ferguson was endowed with exceptional facial musculature, he often shared in interviews that his command of the upper registers was based mostly on breath control, something he had discovered as a youngster in Montreal. Ferguson also attributed the longevity of his demanding bravura trumpet technique through his later years to the spiritual and yoga studies he pursued while in India.
While Ferguson's range was his most obvious attribute, perhaps equally significant was the personal charisma Ferguson brought to a musical genre that is often seen as veering towards the cold and cerebral. As Ferguson's obituary in the Washington Post declared:
"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."
Ferguson designed and popularized two unique instruments, the 'Firebird
Firebird (trumpet)
The Firebird is a type of trumpet with the standard three valves and the addition of a trombone-style slide. It was invented by Maynard Ferguson and Larry Ramirez and remains an exceptionally rare, specialist instrument. They are occasionally produced by Holton.-History:Instruments equipped with...
' and the 'Superbone
Superbone
The Superbone is a hybrid trombone. It has the slide mechanism of a standard trombone and the valve mechanism of a valve trombone.It was created by Maynard Ferguson in the 1970s, although similar instruments combining valves and a slide were mass produced in the early 20th century, some by C.G. Conn...
'. The Firebird was similar to a trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, but had the valves played with the left hand (instead of the right) and a trombone-style slide played with the right hand. Indian-american trumpeter Rajesh Mehta bought this trumpet while living in Amsterdam and played the Firebird in his own innovative music contexts 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, which was fundamentally a trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
with additional valves played with the left hand. Ferguson regularly incorporated Indian instruments
Indian musical instruments
Indian musical instruments can be broadly classified into four categories, mainly classical, western and folk. See Carnatic music and Hindustani music. The instruments are further sub-classified into the type based on the science behind the same....
and influences in albums and concerts.
Shortly before his death, he received the Man of Music Award by Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music...
music fraternity, of which he was a member. The Maynard Ferguson Institute of Jazz Studies at Rowan University
Rowan University
Rowan University is a public university in Glassboro, New Jersey, USA with a satellite campus in Camden, New Jersey. The school was founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a twenty-five acre tract of land donated by the town...
was created in 2000, the same year Rowan bestowed Ferguson with his only Honorary Doctorate degree. The Institute, currently under direction of Ferguson's longtime friend and fellow musician Denis Diblasio, supports the Rowan Jazz Program in training young jazz musicians.
Ferguson's last wishes were to keep his band and music alive. The best of the best of the Maynard Ferguson band alumni regrouped and formed the first tribute group, led by high range trumpeters Wayne Bergeron
Wayne Bergeron
Wayne Bergeron, American jazz musician and trumpet player, was born in 1958 in Hartford, Connecticut and grew up Southern California. His interest in music started on the French Horn before he switched to, his claim to fame, the trumpet, in 8th grade...
, Patrick Hession
Patrick Hession
Patrick Edward John Hession is a trumpeter.Patrick joined the Lionel Hampton Big Band in 1992, where he was the lead trumpeter for four years. In 1996, Hession joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra, where he was lead trumpeter for almost three years. Hession was the lead trumpeter of Maynard...
, and Eric Miyashiro, and brought the band back to life, going back on tour across America as a tribute to 'the world's greatest trumpeter'. Since the original tribute group went on tour, other similar tribute groups have popped up in the United States, keeping Ferguson's music alive, and serving as a legacy for future generations.
Discography
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Compositions
Maynard Ferguson's compositions included "Give It One", "Ganesha", "Fireshaker", "At the Sound of the Trumpet", "Air Conditioned", "M.F. Carnival", "How Ya Doin' Baby?", "It's the Gospel Truth", "He Can't Swing", "Sweet Baba Suite (Bai Rav)", "Dance to Your Heart", "I Don't Want to Be a Hoochi Coochie Man No Mo'", "Poison Ya' Blues", "Footpath Cafe", and "Everybody Loves the Blues".External links
- Biography in the Canadian Encyclopedia
- Legendary Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson Dies at 78
- International Trumpet Guild MF tribute pages
- Review of MF Horn 4 & 5 Live At Jimmy's
- One of the last Maynard Ferguson concert reviews at JazzChicago.net
- Review of Maynard Ferguson's Last CD, The One and Only Maynard Ferguson
- Maynard! - interviews with 30 musicians and others from Maynard Ferguson's earliest U.S. gigs in the late 1940s to the peak of his career on Columbia Records in the 1970s