Track Listing

1. Chameleon
2. Gospel John
3. Way We Were
4. Jet
5. Fiesta
6. I Can't Get Started
7. Livin' for the City
8. Superbone Meets the Bad Man

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117650 in Music
• Released on: 2003-07-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

Maynard the Magnificent
O.K., so this is a pretty commercial recording by Maynard and his high-wire musical circus. But this amazing musician from Canada, whose longevity as a band leader puts him in the company of only Ellington and Basie, can no longer be taken for granted.

I can remember leaving more than one of his concerts during the '70's and feeling empty and short-changed. Maynard usually scaled back on saxophones and lower brass in favor of shrill, fusion and pop-oriented ensembles. But he was selling records for Columbia and putting the sound of instrumental music in the ears of aspiring young players throughout the world. "Chameleon" still sounds heavy-handed to me (leave that one to Herbie Hancock), as does "Gospel John" (Cannonball Adderley's quintets do far better by funk and soul). But "Fiesta" sizzles as on no other recorded version of the tune, and the two ballads evoke memories of the Maynard who first knocked many of us out wihen he recorded "What's New" during his Kenton days.

I heard the incredibly swinging, bebop-style band that he kept through 1966--which included killer musicians like Wayne Shorter, Ronnie Cuber, Lannie Morgan, and Mike Abene--but I can testify that college kids simply were not "getting it." In the '70's not only college-aged but high school musicians were emulating Maynard, and with his switch to Columbia he became a veritable pop star.

Nevertheless, true Maynard fans will want to pick up some of his recordings prior to 1966 (mostly on Mainstream and Emarcy), including the amazing trumpet battle with Clifford Brown. In the '80's public taste was changing once again, and Maynard scaled back to a sextet. But today his group is most reminiscent of his 1956-1966 ensemble. And the guy is still blowing up a storm, even if of shorter duration. He may well end up being the longest-lived band leader of all time!

My first MF recording.
This is the album that got me into Maynard. I got into it after playing the "Chameleon" chart in school. I also heard someone playing an album with some amazing, long trumpet solos with great technique and asked who it was, and he told me Maynard Ferguson. This album is some of Maynard's best playing and one of his bigger commercial successes for Columbia. As expected, the title track is amazing and Maynard screams away on it, but doesn't actually solo. "Gospel John" has his heroic opening though, and moves into a happy, jumpy tune. His high note ballad work is deeply felt on "The Way We Were". The unquestionable highlight though, as far as high note playing goes, is "La Fiesta", with that crazy cadenza at the end. Good Lord. His vocal is a great thing to hear on the classic "I Can't Get Started", and wow, what a shout chorus at the end, Maynard controls the upper register with great flair. Stevie Wonder's "Livin' For the City" is downright funky and Maynard's solo is sassy, the brass all sounds great here. Then he picks up the valve trombone on "Superbone Meets The Bad Man" and Bruce Johnstone solos on baritone saxophone. The only song I don't really care for at all is "Jet". While it isn't a bad tune, nothing interesting goes on here. Aside from that, get this if you haven't already. I have not heard this new remaster, mine is the original recording, which had fine sound quality.

He's still the best after all these years . . .
Listening to this album again takes me back to my high school days, when I was cutting my musical teeth on the fusion and jazz tinged pop and rock music of the early 70s. I was into BS&T, Chicago, Lighthouse etc. But then I went to my first MF concert. WOW! These cats could play! The music educators I was studying under pooh-poohed Maynard as a pop huckster, but he was my bridge. Because of his pop-tinged jazz, I was hooked, and went deeper and deeper into a love for REAL jazz.

No one can deny Maynard's awsome musical ability, and the musicians on this album are all top notch too. I remember waiting with anticipation when this album came out, because I had heard many of these numbers live before they were released on vinyl. Even back then, I thought the approach he took with the title track (adding the electric guitar) was too much, but its still a great chart. Gospel John is just a great arrangement, and Randy Purcell's trombone work on "Way We Were," coupled with Maynards cascading trumpet, well, it don't get no better! The real highlights, though, are the incredible arrangement of "La Fiesta," (again, it was better live, but this is the next best thing), Maynard doing a credible singing job on "Can't Get Started," and the interplay between Maynard on Valve Trombone and Bruce Johnstone on Bari Sax on "Badman" -- all these tracks are just fantastic!

This was a real trip down memory lane for me. I wore the vinyl version of this record out as a teenager, and I have to cite Maynard as one of my major influences for initially choosing music education as my first career. For you audiophiles, the remastering on this was great -- I have discovered that quite often, trying to refine the recordings of earlier eras makes the remastered version artifical or sterile. That is NOT the case here -- its as vibrant and lifelike as the first time I spun the platter on my turntable.

God bless Maynard! He's still the best!