Another Great One Passes On

I did not know until this morning that Maynard Ferguson had died on the 23rd:

Maynard Ferguson, born May 4th 1928 in Montreal, started his career at the age of 13 when he performed as a featured soloist with the Canadian Broadcasting Company Orchestra. He played with some of the great Big Band Leaders of the 1940's including Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Barnett, Jimmy Dorsey and Stan Kenton. In 1945, at age 17, Ferguson became the leader of his own Big Band. The 78-year old musical phenomenon went on to record more than 60 albums, receiving numerous honors and awards including the GRAMMY® nomination for "Gonna Fly Now." In 2005, Ferguson was awarded Canada's highest civilian honor, the "Order of Canada" from the Right Honorable Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. In addition to those accolades, Ferguson has been the recipient of DownBeat Magazine's prestigious "DownBeat" Award.

I was lucky enough to see him in concert several times in high school and college. Maynard was an absolute animal of a trumpet player- raw, passionate and powerful. There was a rumor back then that he had muscle from his thigh transplanted in his upper lip. I doubt that it’s true, but that’s how great his chops were.

"http://www.powerlineblog.com">Powerline has a YouTube clip of one his live performances from the 70’s. It’s not one of the best I’ve heard, but still…Damn that man could PLAY!