Music:
Member Since: 23/08/2007
Band Members: Patrick Hession- Trumpet,
Peter Ferguson- Trumpet,
Kenneth G. Robinson - trumpet,
Jamie Hovorka- Trumpet,
Julio Monterray- Sax,
Matt Parker- Tenor Sax,
Jeff Lashway- Piano,
Brian Mulholland- Bass &
Stockton Helbing- Drums
Influences: 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 roll. 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 operatic 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 Wayne Bergeron and Patrick Hession. 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 popularized and enhanced 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. 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.
Sounds Like:
Misra Dhenuka
Uploaded by belagozzo
Record Label: Concord Records
Type of Label: Major
