MAYNARD FERGUSON - Live & Well In London
Sleepy Night Records SNRCD019 (double album)
Unconfirmed line-up for disc one:
Maynard Ferguson (trumpet/valve trombone),John Donnelly, Martin Drover, John Huckridge, Ernie Garside (trumpets). Billy Graham, Norman Fripp, Adrian Drover (trombones). Jeff Daly, Stan Robinson, Bob Sydor, Brian Smith, Bob Watson (saxophones). Pete Jackson (piano), Dave Lynanne (bass), Randy Jones (drums).
Line-up for disc two:
Maynard Ferguson( trumpet/valve trombone), Alan Downey, Martin Drover, John Huckridge, John Donnelly (trumpets). Billy Graham, Chris Pyne, Albert Woods (trombones). Pete King, Danny Moss, Brian Smith, Bob Watson (saxophones). Pete Jackson (piano), Dave Lynanne (bass), Randy Jones (drums), Frank Rocotti (percussion). Guest Indian musicians Vemu Mukunda & Mohana Lakhimpathy.
This is the third Sleepy Night Records release of archived material in recent years by the Canadian Big Band leader and high note trumpet specialist Maynard Ferguson. Disc One is from a live recording thought to have been recorded at the famous "100 Club" in London's Oxford Street in 1971. Disc two contains music from rehearsals and outtakes recorded at The Lansdowne Studios in Holland Park around the same time and formed part of a U.S. only release. The two disc recording has been issued worldwide as a five hundred numbered limited edition. The trumpet player himself, who was born in 1928, had begun his highly successful career within the bands of Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet and Pete Rugolo before forming the first of his own big bands in 1957. They enjoyed considerable success both as a touring band and in the studio where they were well on the way to a recorded output of over sixty albums along with over twenty lucrative commissions for film soundtracks. In 1969 Maynard moved to Oakley Green near Winsor and enjoyed tremendous success with a band made up of mostly British musicians, and became regulars on Simon Dee's popular Saturday night London Weekend Television show. Returning to the U.S. in 1973 the band remained as major players in the big band scene until the leader's death in 2006 aged 78. During his career Maynard Ferguson won the "Downbeat" annual poll for trumpet three times and was inaugurated into their "Hall of Fame in 1992.
The sixty nine minute live session from the club is without doubt the essence of a big band gig in a relatively small space could be. The atmosphere on that night from the very first note to the last crackled with excitement and exuberance, with the sections in the band playing as tightly as Basie, punctuated with brilliantly conceived solos at regular intervals. With the exception of the leader's intros', the whole thing was very well transcribed from the original tapes, albeit that they were fifty years old. The band book of Maynard's orchestra at the time contained very many charts from the pop songs of the day from both sides of the Atlantic and for much of the time they were used only to heighten the leaders high note abilities. Here things were very different, with a good number of ballads mixed within the programme and a fair amount of solo time given to the other musicians. Things did kick off however with a flag waving version of Ian Anderson's Living In The Past the leader "taking the roof of" in his usual mode. Among the many other highlights were a great arrangement of Herbie Hancock's ballad I Thought About You with superb interplay between the sections, a straight ahead reading of the Benny Golson jazz standard Whisper Not, along with freshened up versions of popular classics of the day, such as Aquarius from the musical "Hair" and Jimmy Webb's famous MacArthur Park. The second disc of the package, will probably please the completist and the band's fervent admirers, but in truth should be looked at as just a small bonus by most listeners. At thirty two minutes long it contains no less than three alternative versions of the 100 Club's opening track, an extended solo by Maynard, some other short rehearsal covers, plus full versions of Laura Nyro's Eli's Comin' and Simon and Garfunkle's Bridge Over Troubled Water. Overall disc one is a great big band album, one of Maynard's best, disc two is interesting in parts and includes an insightful interview with the producer and arranger Keith Mansfield.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
Sleepy Night Records SNRCD019 (double album)
Unconfirmed line-up for disc one:
Maynard Ferguson (trumpet/valve trombone),John Donnelly, Martin Drover, John Huckridge, Ernie Garside (trumpets). Billy Graham, Norman Fripp, Adrian Drover (trombones). Jeff Daly, Stan Robinson, Bob Sydor, Brian Smith, Bob Watson (saxophones). Pete Jackson (piano), Dave Lynanne (bass), Randy Jones (drums).
Line-up for disc two:
Maynard Ferguson( trumpet/valve trombone), Alan Downey, Martin Drover, John Huckridge, John Donnelly (trumpets). Billy Graham, Chris Pyne, Albert Woods (trombones). Pete King, Danny Moss, Brian Smith, Bob Watson (saxophones). Pete Jackson (piano), Dave Lynanne (bass), Randy Jones (drums), Frank Rocotti (percussion). Guest Indian musicians Vemu Mukunda & Mohana Lakhimpathy.
This is the third Sleepy Night Records release of archived material in recent years by the Canadian Big Band leader and high note trumpet specialist Maynard Ferguson. Disc One is from a live recording thought to have been recorded at the famous "100 Club" in London's Oxford Street in 1971. Disc two contains music from rehearsals and outtakes recorded at The Lansdowne Studios in Holland Park around the same time and formed part of a U.S. only release. The two disc recording has been issued worldwide as a five hundred numbered limited edition. The trumpet player himself, who was born in 1928, had begun his highly successful career within the bands of Stan Kenton, Jimmy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet and Pete Rugolo before forming the first of his own big bands in 1957. They enjoyed considerable success both as a touring band and in the studio where they were well on the way to a recorded output of over sixty albums along with over twenty lucrative commissions for film soundtracks. In 1969 Maynard moved to Oakley Green near Winsor and enjoyed tremendous success with a band made up of mostly British musicians, and became regulars on Simon Dee's popular Saturday night London Weekend Television show. Returning to the U.S. in 1973 the band remained as major players in the big band scene until the leader's death in 2006 aged 78. During his career Maynard Ferguson won the "Downbeat" annual poll for trumpet three times and was inaugurated into their "Hall of Fame in 1992.
The sixty nine minute live session from the club is without doubt the essence of a big band gig in a relatively small space could be. The atmosphere on that night from the very first note to the last crackled with excitement and exuberance, with the sections in the band playing as tightly as Basie, punctuated with brilliantly conceived solos at regular intervals. With the exception of the leader's intros', the whole thing was very well transcribed from the original tapes, albeit that they were fifty years old. The band book of Maynard's orchestra at the time contained very many charts from the pop songs of the day from both sides of the Atlantic and for much of the time they were used only to heighten the leaders high note abilities. Here things were very different, with a good number of ballads mixed within the programme and a fair amount of solo time given to the other musicians. Things did kick off however with a flag waving version of Ian Anderson's Living In The Past the leader "taking the roof of" in his usual mode. Among the many other highlights were a great arrangement of Herbie Hancock's ballad I Thought About You with superb interplay between the sections, a straight ahead reading of the Benny Golson jazz standard Whisper Not, along with freshened up versions of popular classics of the day, such as Aquarius from the musical "Hair" and Jimmy Webb's famous MacArthur Park. The second disc of the package, will probably please the completist and the band's fervent admirers, but in truth should be looked at as just a small bonus by most listeners. At thirty two minutes long it contains no less than three alternative versions of the 100 Club's opening track, an extended solo by Maynard, some other short rehearsal covers, plus full versions of Laura Nyro's Eli's Comin' and Simon and Garfunkle's Bridge Over Troubled Water. Overall disc one is a great big band album, one of Maynard's best, disc two is interesting in parts and includes an insightful interview with the producer and arranger Keith Mansfield.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
