Results for "Maynard Ferguson"

Maynard Ferguson

Born: May 4, 1928

Walter "Maynard" Ferguson was a Canadian-born jazz trumpet player 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.

Early life and education
Ferguson was born in Verdun, Quebec (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 him one. At age 13, 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 French Conservatory of Music where he studied from 1943 through 1948 with Bernard Baker.

The New World Jazz Composers Octet: The Next Stage

by Nicholas F. Mondello
May 31, 2021

The jazz octet has long been somewhat of a “Swiss Army Knife" for composer-arrangers. Consider, for example, the great Dave Pell, Ornette Coleman, David Murray, and the J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding Octets. In the hands of great arrangers, the eight-piece format allows arrangers to leverage the flexibility and creativity of a “Messengers" frontline with the ...

Spike Wilner, Curtis Fuller & Sarah McKenzie

by Joe Dimino
May 30, 2021

Our 701st Show begins with Sarah McKenzie and a great tale from the quarantine. The result is her single “Schneller." We continue to watch the world of music open up with live shows and Spike Wilner is leading the charge. He has new music with his 2021 CD Aliens & Wizards. We continue to profile musicians ...

Marty Sheller: The Name Behind The Sound You All Know, Part 1

by Skip Heller
May 27, 2021

There are certain musicians who embody eras, even if they're not the player with their picture on the cover. In our contemporary musical climate, Greg Leisz comes to mind. Since 1991, he has popped up on hundreds of acclaimed albums, and without ever really changing his style, he has become centrifugal beyond the considerations of genre ...

Kurt Edelhagen & His Orchestra: The Unreleased WDR Jazz Recordings 1957 - 1974

by Chris May
April 6, 2021

This 3xCD collection of recordings by Kurt Edelhagen & His Orchestra is culled from over three thousand individual tracks recorded under the auspices of Cologne, Germany radio station WDR over close on twenty years. It is, as the expression goes, a curate's egg. That is to say, parts of it are excellent and parts of it ...

Greg Yasinitsky YAZZ Band: New Normal

by Jack Bowers
February 18, 2021

As one good album clearly deserves another, Greg Yasinitsky, who wears many hats—composer, arranger, woodwind specialist and educator among them—has released New Normal, the second impressive outing by his admirable Washington state-based ensemble, the YAZZ Band, which varies in size from septet to tentet. Unlike Yasinitsky's earlier album, YAZZ Band, which was recorded basically in one ...

Chick Corea: In The Present Tense

by Jim Worsley
February 12, 2021

This article was originally published at All About Jazz on November 12, 2020. RIP, Chick. What can you say about music icon Chick Corea that hasn't already been said? His past, his career has been honored, dissected, and revered. As it should be. A composer and pianist of unparalleled skills and accomplishments, Corea's place ...

Walter White: BB XL

by Chris M. Slawecki
January 21, 2021

Born in a musical family near Detroit and classically trained at Juilliard, trumpet and flugelhorn player Walter White keeps a hectic schedule as leader of Atlantic Bridge, the Walter White Jazz Quartet, Walter White & Small Medium @ Large, and of the fusion ensemble IFUNU; as a member of the Beige Trio; and as lead trumpet ...

Soul Songs, Mose Songs & COVID Aid for Djibouti

by Chris M. Slawecki
January 9, 2021

Bahama Soul Club Bohemia After Dawn Buyú Records 2020 Soulful original music laced with judicious and striking samples, Bohemia After Dawn serves a textbook example of music that packs an impact larger than the sum of its parts. Written, arranged, produced and performed by Oliver Belz ...

Soundpath

by Victor L. Schermer
January 2, 2021

Muhal Richard Abrams (1930-2017) was a revered pianist, composer and teacher of great capability and range who, in addition to his own achievements, inspired and influenced many jazz musicians in both the mainstream and avant-garde categories. Largely self-taught as a result of a personal decision to follow his own path, and early on pursuing church music, ...