Band leader, trumpeter Maynard Ferguson dies
Big band leader and jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, who played with Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton and recorded the Rocky theme song, has died at the age of 78.
The Canadian-born Ferguson died in a Ventura, Calif., hospital Wednesday after suffering kidney and liver failure brought on by an abdominal infection.
Ferguson’s death comes just weeks after he and his Big Bop Nouveau Band had completed recording an album. They also played several sold out performances at New York’s Blue Note Club in late July.
Tour was set for the fall
He had been preparing to kick off a fall tour, beginning in Tokyo, in September, and had been invited to play at the 80th birthday celebrations for Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej in January.
Invested as a member of the Order of Canada in December 2004, Ferguson was an acclaimed musician, band leader, arranger, producer and music educator who had worked in the industry for more than 50 years.
Born in a suburb of Montreal on May 4, 1928, Ferguson took music lessons in several different instruments as a child. At the age of 13, he was featured as a soloist with the CBC Orchestra and he led his first band at 17.
In 1949, Ferguson moved to New York and joined Stan Kenton’s band. He played with Kenton for about five years and then worked in Hollywood, playing trumpet for film scores in such movies as The Ten Commandments.
Over the years, Ferguson recorded more than 60 albums and played with such greats as Count Basie, Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnett and Jimmy Dorsey.
Hall of famer taught master classes
The trumpeter ó legendary for his high notes ó won a number of awards from DownBeat magazine and was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1997. He also received three Grammy Award nominations, including for Gonna Fly Now, the theme song for the film Rocky.
Ferguson also designed several instruments and made a name for himself as a teacher and mentor to young musicians.
Despite constantly touring, he also took time to teach master classes in music and groomed new additions to his band lineup. Chick Corea and Chuck Mangione are among those who played in Ferguson’s bands.
His biography, MF Horn: Maynard Ferguson’s Life in Music, was published in 1997.
Ferguson will be cremated in Ojai, Calif., where he had lived.
His family is also planning a memorial concert in St. Louis, where his manager, Steven Schankman, established the University of Missouri’s Maynard Ferguson Music Scholarship Fund.
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