Liner Notes
Maynard Ferguson’s Hot Trumpet
We now get to feature the second of two albums my dad had of MY favorite trumpet player. In fact, I haven’t seen a rock band more times than I’ve seen Maynard Ferguson and his big band.
This musician was known for his energetic charts, youthful big band members, soaring high notes, and most importantly his music education at the high school level.
So, let’s crank this up to a double high C and give Maynard the blazing, brass-heavy tribute he deserves in Volume 238: Maynard’s Horn.
Video Intro
Listen here or on my PodBean Podcast Episode page:
You can check out the video version here or on YouTube:
Go Directly to Any Song or Break on YouTube:
00:00 – Season’s Show Intro
00:49 – Episode Introduction
01:40 – Mrs. Pitlack Regrets
04:49 – First Break: Why I chose this record for this episode
08:08 – Never You Mind
11:34 – Second Break: More information about the record, its marketplace value and what condition my dad’s vinyl is in.
15:36 – Ain’t Life Grand
18:47 – Third Break: Artist Bio
21:24 – Open Sesame
24:33 – Fourth Break: this episode’s Interesting Side Note.
26:59 – C’est La Blues
30:55 – Fifth Break: Final Words
34:16 – Wildman
37:27 – Close
Credits and Copyrights:
Maynard Ferguson – Around The Horn With Maynard Ferguson
Label: Emarcy – MG 36076
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: 1956
Genre: Jazz
Style: Cool Jazz
We will hear 6 of the 12 songs on this album.
All of the music on this album was written by Bill Holman.
Mrs. Pitlack Regrets
Never You Mind
Ain’t Life Grand
Open Sesame
C’est La Blues
Wildman
I do not own the rights to this music. ASCAP, BMI licenses provided by third-party platforms for music that is not under Public Domain.
#maynardferguson #bigbandjazz #trumpetsrule #musichistory #vinylcollecting #vinylrecords #musicalmemories
Here is the Episode Script!
Thanks sweetie and thank YOU for tuning into episode 238 of Spinning My Dad’s Vinyl.
We now get to feature the second of two albums my dad had of MY favorite trumpet player. In fact, I haven’t seen a rock band more times than I’ve seen Maynard Ferguson and his big band.
This musician was known for his energetic charts, youthful big band members, soaring high notes, and most importantly his music education at the high school level.
So, let’s crank this up to a double high C and give Maynard the blazing, brass-heavy tribute he deserves in Volume 238: Maynard’s Horn.
[Music: Mrs. Pitlack Regrets]
Maynard Ferguson backed by a west coast studio big band, who we’ll meet eventually performing Mrs. Pitlack Regrets.
All of the music on this album was written by Bill Holman.
Ok…Why this record for this episode?
Well, I actually wanted to play this album sooner, but when I went to grab it from my dad’s collection it was missing. It was more than a year later I found it. It was in MY collection.
While I had seen the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center several times with my parents when I was young, the Maynard Ferguson concert I went to at Mentor High School in 1977 was my first true concert. And I went without my parents. I just recently lost track of the ticket I kept from that show. I’m getting ready to move, so I’m sure it’s in a box somewhere.
I was a sophomore in high school and I didn’t know what to expect. What I was greeted with was a wall of sound powered by brass, sax, a driving rhythm section and one monstrous lead horn.
I was hooked.
I saw him four more times in concert.
A year and a half later at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Center on the campus of Akron University. I still have the T-shirt from that concert.
In 1982, he was at the original Cleveland Agora. That was the most intimate setting I got to see him in.
In October of 1983, I had the privilege of meeting and introducing my idol at Perry High School with my dad in attendance.
Then there was a 19 year gap until I saw him for the final time in 2002 at Edgewood High School in Ashtabula, Ohio. I still have that concert tee.
Those are ALL tremendous memories.
Now, I own 11 of my own Maynard Ferguson albums, which bring back memories of those times being completely wrapped up in the music while listening to them.
High Voltage, Live From San Francisco, Storm, Hollywood, Hot, New Vintage, Conquistador, Primal Scream, MF Horn 4 & 5, Live at Jimmy’s, Jam Session Featuring Maynard Ferguson, which is an EP, and the one that got away, The Best of Maynard Ferguson.
What do I mean by that? In 1983, I brought just the album cover for Maynard to sign before that show in Perry. Someone backstage stole it while I was on stage introducing the band. The record itself is still around somewhere, but sans cover.
So maybe this episode is more for me??
But never you mind.
[Music: Never You Mind]
Never You Mind
Now let me tell you about my dad’s vinyl I am spinning for this episode.
Maynard Ferguson – Around The Horn With Maynard Ferguson
Label: EmArcy – MG 36076
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Released: 1956
Genre: Jazz
Style: Cool Jazz
Recorded November 7 & 10, 1955 and May 7 & 12, 1956.
We will hear 6 of the 12 songs on this album.
There’s a good amount of liner notes, so I’ll just pick out a generous few.
It has often been the Good Fortune of a jazz musician, or the misfortune, depending upon which way you look at it, to flash like a comet into the musical sky with a startlingly distinct and original style. The advantage of this kind of arrival, obviously, is that it makes an immediate name for the artist, establishing for him enough prestige and firm identification to last him for years. The handicap, however, is less immediately evident; it tends to type cast the musician and thus, in effect, circumscribes the area of his activities by providing the public with a preconceived notion of what to expect from him at all times.
This is the way it went with Maynard Ferguson. Only 20 years old when he hit the American Jazz scene in 1948 as a side man with Boyd Rayburn and Jimmy Dorsey (he had previously led his own band in Canada), Ferguson enjoyed such immediate and tremendous impact through his records with Charlie Barnett and Stan Kenton during the following couple of years that is fantastic technique and amazing ability to reach into the stratospheric register of the trumpet tended to obscure every other aspect of his work.
Fortunately, during the last year or two, since he began recording for EmArcy, Maynard has been able to better Express his musical aims and to reveal himself not merely as a flashy showman but as a fine all around musician with sound, solid ideas of the kind of the band he should have around him.
To sum it up, this was a session rich in solo work by some of the West Coast’s outstanding figures, but above all, it shows Maynard Ferguson in every mood: open and muted, piano and forte, high and low. It is perhaps the most impressive demonstration yet of the extent to which this amazing young man knows his way around the horn.
Let’s see what prices this record is being sold at on discogs dot com.
$8.13 High
$1.16 Low
$3.95 Average
$3.66 Median
Last sold on May 13, 2025 for $6
My dad’s record is in fair to poor condition depending which track you’re listening to. There is lots of crackling especially at the beginning of each side and in between tracks. But it is pretty clean for the most part otherwise.
The surface of side A has a physically nasty looking scratch, but doesn’t seem to affect the sound that much. Side B is much cleaner.
The cover is in poor condition. The color has definitely faded. The flimsy plastic laminate has started to peel back near the opening. The back cover is a little on the grungy side. There are none of the usual markings on the back and no address label on the front.
So I’ll value my dad’s vinyl at 75 cents.
Next up…the title of this song is the attitude I think my dad always had.
[Music: Ain’t Life Grand]
Ain’t Life Grand
And speaking of life, let’s learn a little about screaming trumpet player.
When Maynard Ferguson hit the stage, he didn’t just play the trumpet — he *launched it into orbit.* Born in Montreal on May 4, 1928, he was already turning heads as a teen prodigy, blasting trumpet solos with the Montreal Symphony before most kids his age could drive. But the real liftoff came when he landed in the U.S. and joined Stan Kenton’s orchestra, redefining what “lead trumpet” even *meant.* His sound? A rocket-fueled scream of brass, soaring so high it made the angels take notes. From Hollywood sound stages to jazz clubs packed wall-to-wall, Maynard brought power, range, and sheer audacity to everything he touched.
But he wasn’t just a high-note machine — Maynard was a fearless bandleader, an ambassador of jazz fusion, and a tireless educator. In the ’70s, just when everyone thought big bands were fading out, he flipped the script and came roaring back with *Chameleon*, *MacArthur Park*, and *Gonna Fly Now* — the “Rocky” theme that hit the Billboard charts and introduced a new generation to the sound of a trumpet catching fire. His band became a launching pad for future stars, always filled with young, hungry musicians who had to *bring it* every night just to keep up with the man in the Nehru jacket and aviator shades.
For those of us who grew up with Maynard’s records spinning like jet turbines, this wasn’t just music — it was a *mission.* His live shows felt like spiritual revivals with brass. The way he held that trumpet high, pushed the laws of physics, and dared us all to aim higher — it was pure joy, pure adrenaline, pure Maynard. And even long after that final encore, his sound still echoes — loud, fearless, impossible to ignore. Maynard didn’t just blow the horn. He blew open the sky.
He died August 23, 2006 in Ventura, CA. Maynard Ferguson was 78 years old.
OK…We know one thing. There weren’t many doors he couldn’t open with that talent. All he had to say is the title of this next song.
[Music: Open Sesame]
Open Sesame
Time now for this episode’s interesting side note and it has to do with the song that he had a knockout hit with.
Let’s rewind to 1977 — disco’s on the rise, punk’s throwing elbows, and jazz? Well, jazz is getting squeezed. But not in Maynard Ferguson’s world. That year, the man with the golden embouchure pulled off something no one saw coming: he took the theme from Rocky — yes, that Rocky — and turned it into a screaming, brass-driven anthem that punched its way onto the Billboard Hot 100. Maynard’s version of “Gonna Fly Now” wasn’t just a cover — it was a statement. That a jazz trumpeter, leading a big band of young bloods, could compete with pop stars and rock gods on the charts? That was unheard of. But Maynard didn’t care what was “in.” He made radio make room.
Now here’s the kicker: this wasn’t some industry-engineered crossover. Maynard caught the vibe of the film’s underdog story — a fighter rising from nothing, fueled by grit, sweat, and belief — and said, that’s me. His band was a bunch of unknowns, most of them just out of college, hungry, raw, and ready to swing for the fences. They hit the stage every night with the kind of energy you’d bottle if you could — and that tune became their battle cry. Suddenly, Maynard was on talk shows, in living rooms, and pumping out that heroic trumpet line in front of audiences who didn’t even know they liked jazz. But they knew they liked that sound.
And that’s what made Maynard a legend, not just a virtuoso. He didn’t sit in a smoky corner, sipping brandy and reminiscing. He charged into every musical era, kicked open the doors, and let the trumpet scream. The “Rocky” moment wasn’t just chart success — it was Maynard showing the world that jazz wasn’t dead, it was doing push-ups in the alley, waiting for its shot. And when it came? It hit with a high note that still echoes to this day.
I love what ChatGPT can do with the right prompts.
And everybody loved what Maynard could do with his horn.
[Music: C’est La Blues]
C’est La Blues
Well, I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you.
It’s cool to think my dad was into the same musician I was when we were both in our high school and young adult years. Maynard’s first album came out in 1954 my dad’s junior year in high school. I was introduced to him in 1977, my sophomore year in high school.
I still pull out Maynard’s music when I’m in the mood for some of the high energy big band jazz. I have many of his albums in my digital library now.
I also wanted to introduce the other musicians you heard on this record.
Alto Saxophone – Herb Geller
Baritone Saxophone – Bud Shank
Bass – Buddy Clark for the first two tracks, Ray Brown for the other four on this episode.
Drums – Alvin Stoller
Piano – Lorraine Geller
Tenor Saxophone – Bill Holman, Georgie Auld
Trombone – Bobby Burgess, Milt Bernhart
Trumpet – Buddy Childers, Ray Linn
I don’t remember this album cover from my growing up days in the house. Because you know it would have been on my turntable…and maybe even hiding in my collection much sooner.
I’ll describe the back first this time. You’ll understand why in a moment.
It’s not fancy or artistic at all. On a white background in large serif all capital letters it reads Around the Horn with Maynard Ferguson.
In the left column covering a third of the width is the list of songs. The other two-thirds is covered with the liner notes I read.
The same words are on the front, but his name is more stylistic and the letters reach from bottom left to top right.
The words are over a photo of Maynard sitting cross legged on the photo studio floor. He’s wearing what I think looks like a Venetian gondolier outfit. Bright red pants, a white open collared shirt showing off a red, white, and blue horizontally striped shirt underneath. By the way, his white socks are pulled up all the way to mid-shin.
He’s got his left hand up to his cheek and he’s laughing at something off camera.
His trumpet is in pieces in front of him. And that reminded me of a story.
It’s about how he played his horn after taking out the valves during one of those concerts I was in attendance.
EJ Thomas Hall.
(story)
But no matter what era you listened to him, his concerts were always a Wild time.
[Music: Wildman]
Wildman
And there you have selections from my favorite trumpet player who, initially, I had no idea was in my dad’s collection.
So thanks for tuning into Volume 238: Maynard’s Horn
however you did. If you want more information about this SHOW, head over to spinning my dad’s vinyl dot com.
I’ll be back next week with all my skips, scratches, and pops
FOR Volume 239: Unknown Dixieland
Until then,
Go with the flow my friends.
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