''Maynard Ferguson'' is a 1971

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Canadian jazz trumpeter

Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...

. The album was originally released on Columbia Records as Columbia 31117. It was also released in the UK by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

under the name ''Alive & Well in London.'' The album largely consists of arrangements of popular songs of the period along with one original composition. While he merely "dipped his toes" in the waters of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

for his first Columbia release (''M.F. Horn'' –

Eli's Comin' "Eli's Comin" is a song written and recorded in 1967 by American singer-songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro. The song was first released in 1968 on Nyro's album, ''Eli and the Thirteenth Confession''. Other versions *The song was recorded by Thr ...

MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park) is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles. In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur, and later designated ...

), on this album Maynard dives right in. While some albums would contain more "true" jazz than others, this would set the template for most of his tenure at Columbia. Mostly pop covers or popular jazz, with an occasional original (''The Serpent'' on this release) or jazz standard (such as ''

Airegin "Airegin" is a jazz standard composed by American jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins in 1954. Rollins chose the name "Airegin", as it is an anadrome of "Nigeria". Recording history "Airegin" was first recorded in 1954 by the Miles Davis Quintet and r ...

'' on 1977's ''New Vintage'').

Reissues

''Maynard Ferguson'' was reissued on CD in 2005 on Wounded Bird 1117.

Track listing

Personnel

Keith Mansfield Keith Mansfield (born 1941 in London, England) is a British composer and arranger known for his creation of prominent television theme tunes, including the ''Grandstand'' theme for the BBC. Career Other works include "The Young Scene" (the ori ...

: Producer * Mike Smith: Executive producer

References

{{Authority control 1971 albums Big band albums Columbia Records albums Maynard Ferguson albums