Maynard Ferguson and his trumpet blow a brand new big-band sound
Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and his band blew the lid right off nostalgia during their concert last night in Whitney Hall at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. The concert was part of the Hilliard Lyons Big Band Series, but anyone who came expecting to hear the sweet innocuous sounds of yesteryear must have been sorely disappointed.
If the big bands ever do come back it will be because of musicians like Ferguson and his crew who refuse to wallow in the past and instead play the best contemporary jazz, funk, and fusion around.
Last night’s large audience was the youngest I’ve ever seen attending a Big Band Series Concert. Many in attendance were music students and music educators out to see the high note master do his stuff.
And Ferguson didn’t disappoint anybody. I’ve seen this band, and different versions of it, at least five times in recent years and I’ve never heard them play any better than they did last night.
Ferguson’s latest 10-piece aggregation - he’s dropped a couple of horns and added a guitarist and multi-percussionist - is one of the biggest small bands around. The concert began with “South 21st Shuffle,” the band’s theme, featuring a solo by guitarist Michael Higgins.
During the next song, the Latin “Expresso” alto and soprano saxophonist Tim Ries was featured on a solo in which he played both horns at the same time a la Roland Kirk. It’s a trick I’ve seen him perform in concert here before but it never ceases to amaze.
Throughout the first part of the concert Ferguson dressed in a gray jump suit, minced around the stage like a trumpet playing Liberace, occasionally adding ear piercing high notes to the ensemble and directing the band.
Whenever he soloed he gave the impression that he was going to explode before the last note sounded. When he finished he’d tear the trumpet from his mouth, shake his head of curly gray hair, and raise his arms in victory.
But there is more than hyperbole to this 52-year old Canadian who got his first break with the Stan Kenton Orchestra during the 1950s. Besides being an astounding trumpet player with the endurance of a bull, Ferguson is a humble artist who delights in showcasing his musicians, all of whom look young enough to be his grandchildren.
If bandleader Kay Kaiser had a “College of Musical Knowledge” Ferguson must have the graduate school. Virtually all of his musicians are music school graduates.
The second half of the concert opened with a duet between drummer Dave Miller and multi-percussionist Steve Fisher. Fisher plays a huge array of exotic percussion instruments that are almost as visually interesting as they are aurally. The solo ended with a dazzling display that had both men using lighted drum sticks.
During “Hey Jude,” which featured a medley of Ferguson’s greatest hits, several of the horn players went out into the audience while Ferguson and the rest of the band remained on stage building the tension. And before the song ended, the band engaged in a little free form cacophony that had them chasing each other both literally and figuratively all over the stage.
For an encore, Ferguson and his band played a dynamite arrangement of pianist Joe Zawinul’s “Birdland.”
Danny O’Bryan
Louisville Times
October 30, 1985
from the up-coming book "Derby City Jazz"
No comments:
Post a Comment