[Dixielandjazz] Re: Dixielandjazz Digest, Vol 44, Issue 52

[Steve Barbone]

"pat ladd" <pj.ladd at btinternet.com>

> Hi,
> I am sure I am in the minority but having bought one Maynard Ferguson
> record, a 78,many years ago, I never bought another. Other trumpeters
> obviously appreciate the difficulty of playing like Maynard  but the
> question remains. Why did he do it?
> He squeaked and screeched his way into the highest register and in the
> process lost all tone. It was just the noise you can get out of a leaking
> inner tube.
> 
> Can someone tell me just what is the virtue in torturing a trumpet, which
> can produce  a beautiful sound, until it produces notes for which it was
> never designed. Music is written for piccolos in that range, and they sound
> much better.

Perhaps for the same reason Artie Shaw explored those super high notes on
the clarinet for which no music had yet been written. Heck, he even had to
invent the fingering for them as none previously existed.

Or the same reason Kenny Davern and Tony Scott explored those upper reaches
beyond the capability of most other clarinetists. They still do it today.

Or what Sandoval does today on trumpet, and Cat Anderson did many years ago
with Ellington.

I think it is part of the quest by extraordinary jazz musicians to sound
different. . . to develop one's own sound . . . rather than sounding like
somebody else. 

Even Armstrong did it in comparison to everybody else in the 1920s, though
he never got as far up the scale as Maynard, Sandoval, Davern, Scott,
Anderson et al., his hundreds of High C's in a row are legendary.

"Different" is what it is all about IMO. As Bechet said on many occasions;
"I go my own way." So if high does it for some, what the hell, why not?

Besides high notes and technique, another thing Maynard Ferguson did well,
was make his own, and his band sound, relevant to the young audiences of
today as well as many oldsters. He packed just about every venue he ever
played over the past 40 years. I saw his Big Bop Nouveau Band this spring in
concert at Unionville (PA) high school. Full house, lots of kids, great
music. The students were still talking about it when we played there the
following week.  

Cheers,
Steve Barbone