The Maynard Ferguson Discography: The 1970s

Ferguson's recordings of the 1970s firmly embraced the pop and rock fusion of the era, bringing him substantial notariety and controversy. Ferguson was also a avid participant in (and perfectly showy advocate for) the jazz education movement that began to flower in the early 1970s. Perhaps the apex of this trajectory was a hit pop single in 1977 of the theme from the movie Rocky, which was aided not only by an infectious Jay Chattaway arrangement and production, but also by the timing of its release prior to the release of the actual soundtrack from the hit film. Columbia's subsequent attempts to turn Ferguson into a rock star met with decreasing success as the decade stumbled to a close, although he still packed many high school auditoria along the way.

Maynard Ferguson
February 1970: Lansdowne Studios, London, England

Sessions for the MF Horn album. MF embraces the rock idiom with a new British band.

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
1970: Television Broadcast, Italy

Seeing Maynard perform a complex piece like L-Dopa with just a rhythm section raises the interesting speculative question of what might have been if he had simply stayed in small group formats like Miles Davis' and Bill Chase's rock bands or his own later High Voltage experiments.

www.youtube.com

Personnel

The World of Maynard Ferguson (television)
Maynard Ferguson
26 - 27 May 1970: London, England

British television program with some very groovy costumes, sets and video effects! Recording dates are from manager Ernie Garside's calendars and listed as "possible."

www.mftourdates.net

Maynard Ferguson
February 1971: Lansdowne Studios, London, England

Sessions for the Alive and Well in London album. Personnel is from Lee (pp 278) and duplicates MF Horn. Recording dates and location are from Lee (pp 122). Liner notes have no personnel listed.

Personnel

The Mike Douglas Show, Season 11, Episode 51 (television)
8 November 1971 (air date): Philadelphia, PA

First appearance on Douglas' daytime talk show. Uncertain personnel or repertoire.

www.tv.com

Maynard Ferguson
14 December 1971: CBC Jarvis Street Studios, Toronto, Ontario

Television performance as soloist with studio band. Tour dates listing with this set list on the 10/21/1972 Toronto date may be incorrect.

www.mftourdates.net

www.youtube.com

Maynard Ferguson
16 December 1971 - 25 January 1972: Lansdowne Studios, London, England

Sessions for the MF Horn II album

www.mftourdates.net

www.mftourdates.net

Personnel

La Prima Notte di Quiete / Indian Summer (film)
24 July 1972?: Verona, Italy?

Included in Harkins (pp 67a). Date is an entry for "Verona, Italy" in MF's calender and may not be this session. US (dubbed) release titled Indian Summer. MF featured prominently in the music under the NSFW trailer.

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www.imdb.com

rateyourmusic.com

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
28-29 November 1972, 11 December 1972, 9-10 January 1973, 15 January 1973: CBS Studios, London

Sessions for the MF Horn III album.

www.mftourdates.net

www.mftourdates.net

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
March 1973: Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA

Poor quality bootleg concert recording

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
10 July 1973: Jimmy Ryan's, New York, NY

Taped concert for an invited audience released as MF Horn IV and V. Commonly regarded as one of MF's best albums.

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
1-4 April 1974: CBS Studios, New York City

Sessions for the Chameleon album

Personnel

The Mike Douglas Show, Season 13, Episode 16 (television)
9 September 1974 (taping), 23 September 1974 (air date): Philadelphia, PA

Another appearance on Douglas' daytime talk show. Uncertain personnel.

www.tv.com

maynardfergusonboard.yuku.com

www.mftourdates.net

The Mark of Jazz with Sid Mark (television)
Maynard Ferguson
16 October 1974: Philadelphia, PA

Two shows recorded on the same morning

www.youtube.com

At the Top, WXXI (television)
Maynard Ferguson
10 December 1975: Plaza Hotel, Rochester, NY

Public TV broadcast released on DVD in 2005

www.youtube.com

www.allaboutjazz.com

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
20 December 1975: Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference, Conrad Hilton Hotel, Chicago, IL

Poor quality audience recording at the end of the tour, which may explain the very brisk tempi. Lynn Nicholson's last show with the band

www.youtube.com

www.mftourdates.net

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
5 July 1975: Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

Poor quality bootleg

www.concertvault.com

Maynard Ferguson
August - October 1975: New York City

Sessions for the Primal Scream album - the first of two complex studio constructions by Bob James.

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
2 June 1976 (pre-recording), 1 August 1976 (ceremony): Hollywood, CA, 1976 Olympics, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Brief, solemn, solo appearance at closing ceremonies over a pre-recorded track

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Dinah! (Dinah Shore) (television)
23 June 1976 (taping), 30 August 1976 (air date): Television City, Hollywood, CA

www.tv.com

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
8 or 9 July 1976: Miller Jazz Oasis, Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI

WMVS Public TV Live at Summerfest series. Odd, shallow stage that looks like a replica of an old Mississippi River showboat. Notable for a vigorous performance of Jay Chattaway's sprawling Tommy medley, which never got a studio recording. Apparently two different sets and/or days as the 1st half of the recording has the band in standard black tour t-shirts and the 2nd half in festive, colorful caftans. Pagliacci ends on quite remarkable F7 (Bb trumpet G above double-high C).

Personnel

The Mike Douglas Show, Season 14, Episode 236 (television)
19 July 1976 (taping), 30 August 1976 (air date): Philadelphia, PA

Appearance on Douglas' daytime talk show. Uncertain personnel and repertoire.

www.tv.com

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
3-7 October 1976: Media Sound, New York; CBS Studios, San Fransisco, CA; Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco, CA

Sessions for the Conquistador album.

www.mftourdates.net

Personnel

The Mike Douglas Show, Season 15, Episode 142 (television)
23 March 1977 (air date): Philadelphia, PA

Appearance on Douglas' daytime talk show. Uncertain personnel.

www.tv.com

Maynard Ferguson
10 May 1977: Seneca College, Toronto, ON, Canada

TV Broadcast from the 5th Annual Canadian Stage Band Festival. A nice oddity in the set is a lovely trombone feature on Feelings that never got a studio recording. Personnel uncertain and based on New Vintage Sessions

www.youtube.com

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
5 - 11 July 1977: Media Sound, New York City; CBS Recording Studios, New York City

Sessions for the New Vintage album. A return to recordings that featured MF's working band, albeit with a overdubbed supporting cast of dozens.

www.mftourdates.net

Personnel

The Mike Douglas Show, Season 16, Episode 3 (television)
12 July 1977 (taping), 7 September 1977 (air date): Philadelphia, PA

www.tv.com

www.mftourdates.net

Montreux Summit
24 July 1977: Montreux, Switzerland

All-star evening. Arrangers Bob James

Personnel

Dinah! (Dinah Shore) (television)
14 September 1977 (air date): Television City, Hollywood, CA

www.tv.com

Uncle Joe Shannon (film)
1978:

Film about a trumpet player who self destructs after the death of his wife and child but finds redemption when he befriends a crippled youngster. Low-budget production with weak box-office that is primarily notable for the presence of MF on the nice period soundtrack by Rocky composer Bill Conti.

www.imdb.com

Personnel

Big Band Bash (television)
Maynard Ferguson
18 Marcy 1978: Meadowbrook Inn, Pompton Road, Cedar Grove, New Jersey

Three hour WNET 13 public TV special featuring a number of different jazz performers and groups. Personnel uncertain and based on the Carnival sessions of a few months later.

www.imdb.com

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
June and July 1978: Mediasound, New York City and CBS 30th Street Studio, New York City

Sessions for the Carnival album.

Personnel

The Mike Douglas Show, Season 16, Episode 186 (television)
15 June 1978 (air date): Philadelphia, PA

Jerry Lewis co-hosts this musically star-studded episode. MF and Lewis had been cordial back in the 1950s when they were both working in Hollywood (see Lee's bio pp 46-47), but the reunion with Lewis faking it on trumpet is a bit painful to watch unless you're a big Jerry Lewis fan.

www.tv.com

Maynard Ferguson
April and May 1979: Media Sound, New York City; Wally Heider, Los Angeles, CA; A&M, Los Angeles, CA

Sessions for the Hot album. If you did not like disco, you will not like this album, and negative reviews for this album out on the web reflect the curious persistence of tribal anti-disco backlash long after disco retreated into the more-welcoming confines of its dance-hall roots. As with the ELO Discovery album of the same year, the reputation contradicts the fact that only three of the seven cuts could really be considered disco: Rocky II, the remix of Star Trek and the Topa-Topa Woman (star-crossed love-child of Carnival's How Ya' Doin' Baby). Both Dayride and Om Sai Ram reflect the creative hybridity of the fusion era that would be lost in the subsequent reactionary regression of jazz into elitist neoclassicism. Even purists should find some worth in the lovely string arrangement of Naima. The bulk of the playing on this album was done by MF's working band, making it a better snapshot of the talent in MF's bands than the extravagant studio-musician assemblages that dominated the second half of his Columbia output.

Personnel

Maynard Ferguson
18 August 1979: 1979 Drum Corps International Championships, Birmingham, AL

MF as a somewhat out-of-place sidelines commentator

www.youtube.com

The Mike Douglas Show, Season 18, Episode 30 (television)
12 October 1979 (air date): Las Vegas, NV

www.tv.com

Next: The Maynard Ferguson Discography: The 1980s