🎶 Pick a Dozen Maynard Ferguson on Columbia

Granted, Maynard Ferguson went full pop-jazz with his Columbia recordings, yet they were an integral part of my musical upbringing, having played a handful of these charts while in a big band. Yeah, maybe they're a bit on the pop side of big band, but they were always fun to play. My picks here are, again, my favorites...of the Columbia era. If I had to take any two MF albums from this era to a desert island, they'd be M.F. Horn, and the double-LP M.F. Horn 4&5: Live at Jimmy's.

My list is heavier on tracks from the M.F. Horn series of albums, but includes a few from later releases. "Give it One" and "Country Road" are two I've played before, and they maintain their original running order from M.F. Horn 2. "Eli's" and "MacArthur" are probably the only two pop hits from my list, and both are from the first M.F. Horn album. "Star" was a surprising find--this is an album track from the Earth, Wind & Fire album Faces, the last of their classic albums with the full original lineup; Maynard's version appeared on the otherwise commercial It's My Time album.

The live version of "The Fox Hunt" comes from M.F. Horn 4&5: Live at Jimmy's, originally appearing on his Roulette album Maynard '63. (It wasn't his first encounter with foxes--early Roulette albums featured "Three Little Foxes" and "Three More Foxes.") "Teonova" is another great track which starts off this same album.

"Birdland," of course, hails from Weather Report, and this M.F. version actually had more local airplay on jazz radio than the Report's original. In a similar fusion mode, Maynard also pulls labelmate Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon" out of his bag of tricks with a punch horn chart. Maynard also dips into a bit of a downtempo funky groove with "Nice 'n Juicy" from M.F. Horn 3.

Yes, "Conquistador" (title track for the album it's from) could be overblown, but it was one of those albums a lot of us had back in the day. (I preferred side two over side one, which featured the themes from both "Star Trek" and "Rocky," the latter becoming a #28 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.) That album also closed with "The Fly," whose processed sound and wah-wah pedal are just quirky enough that it works.

1. Give It One
2. Country Road
3. Eli's Comin'
4. The Fox Hunt
5. Star
6. MacArthur Park
7. Birdland
8. Nice 'n Juicy
9. Conquistador
10. Teonova
11. Chameleon
12. The Fly

Here's the list!




Find anything at all to like about Maynard's Columbia era? My challenge, of course--see if you can whip up a dozen of your own picks here!

 

[bob knack]

And no particular order,

Give It One

Chameleon

Birdland

Dance to Your Heart

Dayride

Maria

Conquistador

The Way We Were

La Fiesta

Superbone Meets the Badman

Left Bank Express

Awright Awright



If I think about it, I might replace Dayride with Eli’s Comin’.

 

[Rudy]

Without checking, is that the same "Dayride" done by Return To Forever?

 

[bob knack]

S

Without checking, is that the same "Dayride" done by Return To Forever?

Stanley Clarke is given writing credit for the song.

 

[Rudy]

Stanley Clarke is given writing credit for the song.

OK, that's the Return to Forever tune. Clarke covered it on one of his later albums as well.

 

[rbisherw]

I love the early Columbia albums from the 70s.

From "Ballad Style" through MF Horn 4+5

Mf Horn and Mf Horn 3 being my favorites.

Production value of the Keith Mansfield produced albums captured the ferocity and virtuosity of the band much better than the later (Chameleon onwards) albums.
The Adrian Drover arrangements (Eli, McPark, Stoney End) amongst the best ever written for the band.

Pete Jackson and Randy Jones were integral to his early 70s band. Pete is all over Mf3 with his "electric" compositions.

My 12:

Eli's Comin'
MacArthur's Park (MF Horn version)
El Dopa
Give it one
Country Road
Awright, Awright
Pocahontas
SOMF
Round Midnight (MF Horn3 version)
Teanova (supposedly a studio version exists in Sony's vaults)
Stoney End
Got the Spirit (MF Horn 4+5 version)

 

[Rudy]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were still a few things in the vault, like you say, "Teonova." I'd read that "Teonova" was written in honor of Teo Macero. Those earliest albums certainly were the strongest, no doubt about it. It seems as though the cutoff point for many Maynard fans is, indeed, MF4&5, and in that live album, there is a lot which is reminiscent of his Roulette era recordings. (I will do a future playilst of those tracks, but it will be hard to choose due to the sheer number of tracks I have to pick from. The Mosaic box was a revelation back in the day.)

I had to pick some post MF4&5 tracks simply because we had played a few of those charts, and the albums were something quite a few of us owned, with that particular sweet spot being Chameleon through Conquistador, which had the bulk of the charts we played (except for "Country Road" and, oddly, "Give It One" in a marching band arrangement, which was actually quite a killer marching band chart, a lot of fun to play).

I'm more into the piano/synthesizer thing now, and gravitate towards the flute over other woodwinds, but playing in a big band is something I really miss. My dream chair would have been bari sax. Although it's a beast to carry around. 😁

I've dug up some reviews from the late 90s of a handful of Maynard's recordings, which I'll be reposting here in a few weeks. They're from a now-defunct site that I'm partially resurrecting out of mothballs.

 

[rbisherw]

Our stage band in high school had the Adrian Drover charts for McPark, Eli , Hey Jude and Stoney End.
I did double duty as the Valve bone soloist in Eli and the high trumpet parts in Stoney.

I may still have copies of the McPark and Eli brass charts somewhere in the basement.

In addition to Maynard, Don Ellis was/is a major influence for me and like Maynard still gets regular spins in my home.

 

[Rudy]

In addition to Maynard, Don Ellis was/is a major influence for me and like Maynard still gets regular spins in my home.

I'm a more recent discoverer of Don Ellis. In fact, I'm working on a series (elsewhere) of John Klemmer's recordings, and it surprised me a little to find that he played with Ellis's band briefly around 1970. ("Excursion II" from At the Fillmore was his showcase.) First Ellis album I stumbled into at the used record store was the Live at Monterey album. He had me hooked with the track "3 3 2 2 2 1 2 2 2" (and that's just the area code).

 

[rbisherw]

Ellis had some exceptional musicians in his band.

For sax extraordinaire check out KC Blues from "Autumn" and Invincible from "Soaring"

His best studio recording, IMHO.

His best overall album which includes the incredible "Strawberry Soup" is "Tears of Joy" a double live album.

As always, these opinions are mine and your mileage may vary.

Enjoy!

 

[Rudy]

My vinyl copy of Tears of Joy has some writing on the blue area in blue ball point pen: "The best album in the history of the world!"

Which made me wonder...why did it end up in a used record store, then?? 😁

 

[bob knack]

I love the early Columbia albums from the 70s.

From "Ballad Style" through MF Horn 4+5

Mf Horn and Mf Horn 3 being my favorites.

Production value of the Keith Mansfield produced albums captured the ferocity and virtuosity of the band much better than the later (Chameleon onwards) albums.
The Adrian Drover arrangements (Eli, McPark, Stoney End) amongst the best ever written for the band.

Pete Jackson and Randy Jones were integral to his early 70s band. Pete is all over Mf3 with his "electric" compositions.

My 12:

Eli's Comin'
MacArthur's Park (MF Horn version)
El Dopa
Give it one
Country Road
Awright, Awright
Pocahontas
SOMF
Round Midnight (MF Horn3 version)
Teanova (supposedly a studio version exists in Sony's vaults)
Stoney End
Got the Spirit (MF Horn 4+5 version)

It was my understanding that Teonova was a studio version that was tacked onto the live tracks. Maynard had dental work done and was not happy with the live version.

 

[rbisherw]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone compared the sound quality of the Wounded Bird issues vs. the more expensive Sony Japan CDs for MF Horn?

 

[Rudy]

I've never had a chance to compare versions between digital versions. If anything, I only have my vinyl copies to compare anything to. If anything, the digital side is a mish-mash of sources. I have the two-fer of MF Horn 2 and The Ballad Style of MF on Vocalion. Conquistador...I can't remember if mine was the original US release or if it was maybe in the Jazz Masterpieces series that Columbia reissued (I probably bought a newer one to see if the album sounded any better--it didn't). One of my Columbia MFs might be a Wounded Bird...but with all the CDs packed away now, I have no way of knowing. The first MF Horn...that might have been an import from the 1990s or 2000s.

 

[rbisherw]

I just ordered the Sony Japanese copy of Don Ellis at Fillmore. Will compare it to my Wounded Bird copy upon arrival. If I believe it sounds better, may spring for the Sony MF stuff as well.

I have all the Wounded Bird Maynards as well as the Vocalion 2 fers. May pull them out tonight and review.

 

[Rudy]

I just ordered the Sony Japanese copy of Don Ellis at Fillmore.

Interesting coincidence--I just wrote a piece for another online publication about John Klemmer, and his track "Excursion II" is on that Fillmore album. Klemmer played that on his Blowin' Gold album (as "Excursion #2") released around the same time; Klemmer spent several months in Ellis's group and wrote a couple of arrangements during his time there. As wild as Klemmer's own version is, the version with Ellis really kicks it into high gear.

I've been happy with other Wounded Bird releases I have purchased. If anything, they've uncovered releases that were overlooked by the major labels during their CD reissue programs. I believe they were the only ones to release Jean-Luc Ponty's Upon The Wings OF Music, his first Atlantic album, where Atlantic started their CD reissues with his second album.

 

[AM Matt]

 

[rbisherw]

Interesting coincidence--I just wrote a piece for another online publication about John Klemmer, and his track "Excursion II" is on that Fillmore album. Klemmer played that on his Blowin' Gold album (as "Excursion #2") released around the same time; Klemmer spent several months in Ellis's group and wrote a couple of arrangements during his time there. As wild as Klemmer's own version is, the version with Ellis really kicks it into high gear.

I've been happy with other Wounded Bird releases I have purchased. If anything, they've uncovered releases that were overlooked by the major labels during their CD reissue programs. I believe they were the only ones to release Jean-Luc Ponty's Upon The Wings OF Music, his first Atlantic album, where Atlantic started their CD reissues with his second album.

Agree about the Wounded Bird reissues. At the time was very pleased with the Maynard and Ellis releases.
Unfortunately, I missed out on the Bill Watrous (Manhattan and San Pedro) releases.

 

[rbisherw]

Received the Don Ellis CD from Japan (Sony) last night and first listen (HD650) it seems to have a little more sound stage than the Wounded Bird CD.
Gonna pull out the good cans (HD800) and spend more time with it.

Last night I spun the MF Horn Wounded Bird CD and gotta admit, it sounds very nice indeed. My Sony version of MF Horn should arrive in a week or two. Not sure if it can sound much better than the Wounded Bird version, though.

 

[Rudy]

I'll be interested to read your impressions of those two. 👍

 

[rbisherw]

Never did receive the Sony MF Horn CD from Japan.

However, I did get the Sleepy Night "Memories of Maynard: Best of the Columbia Years"
It really should be titled Best of the Later Columbia Years.

Features remastered tracks from Chameleon to Hollywood. Best they ever sounded, IMHO.
I will admit that some of the "disco" stuff has not aged well and a few of the previously unavailable on CD tracks are not that great.
Still, it is nice addition for any Maynard fan.

I believe it is now OOP, but some online retailers may still have a few copies.

 

[Rudy]

I think the most cringe-worthy Maynard moment had to be "Rocky II Disco" from Hot. I bought the LP used and wasn't expecting much, but that song was just flat out terrible in every way imaginable. The punching noises and grunting were the icing on the cake. I don't mind a "four on the floor" beat in the music, but this was so blatantly a cash-in attempt that it was beyond words...