BergeronWannabe

Ignorance isn't necessarily a bad thing...but you really need to be more
informed before making a statement like that.

screamingmorris

My best friend of 35 years ago said that he didn't care for the tone of Bud Brisbois because it was so much thinner than the tone of Maynard Ferguson.

That was a valid opinion in which my friend was expressing a personal preference for the type of tone that he likes to hear.

But he never called Bud Brisbois "over-rated" because although he did not care as much for the Bid Brisbois tone, he nevertheless recognized that Bud Brisbois was one amazing talent.

I don't care for Be-Bop music because to my ears so much of it sounds like people practicing high-speed scales.
But I would never call players of Be-Bop "over-rated" because as much as I don't care for that type of music I nevertheless recognize that it takes amazing talent and hard work to be able to play that type of music.

Maynard Ferguson used a .468 bore trumpet and a #19 throat mouthpiece.
Maynard then used yoga-trained lungs to blast a tornado of air through that equipment, fingering lightning fast with a 4-octave range that often went to Triple C's, and on the original recording of "Ole" went above Triple C.
Sometimes it looked like he was straining?
Duh...

"I once saw a guy lift a bull-dozer with his bare hands. But I wasn't impressed because I could see that he was straining when he did it."

Oy......

BergeronWannabe

My point exactly...if one is educated enough about a subject, then his/her opinion is credible.
For instance, I know Maynard's body of work, from early in his career to the end. My opinion, is that I don't care for his fusion stuff- High Voltage I & II. Matter of fact, I think it's horrible. I can say that because his Roulette stuff is remarkable, and the Big Bop Noveau band killed.
But I would never disrespect ANY trumpet player, nor would I compare them.
That, in my opinion, is pointless.
Whirled peas,
-Andrew

screamingmorris

I agree.

BTW, that poster would probably "cringe" at the way that the trumpeter is "straining" in your avatar, because "real trumpet players" don't strain to play Double C's that are as loud as jet airplanes at take-off

BergeronWannabe

Just as long as he's not "over-rated!"

Tranq B

The joy of music will never come from how high or how fast. That reduces the art form into a competitive sport. Music is a universal language with part of the vocabulary consisting of notes of many pitches. If you're communicating your message to the listener you've done your job. If you invoke feeling and emotion with the listener you will find joy in your playing.

screamingmorris

For a century before I was born, opera lovers were thrilled with opera singers hitting High C's.

Fans of Roy Orbison and Slim Whitman were thrilled with those singers' falsettos.

It is true that simply playing high notes does not equate with making music.
Many people are like myself: We can play high notes but we have absolutely no music talent or training and so our high notes are not music.

But when opera singers and popular singers and professional trumpet players sing / play high notes within their performances, those high notes *are* a legitimate part of the performances that thrill the audiences.

When Maynard Ferguson and Bill Chase played high notes, those high notes were an important part of their music.

Bill Chase emphasized that in a clinic in the 1973 National Trumpet Symposium in Denver.
He said that your high notes had to be a part of music, not just high notes for the sake of high notes.

I remember one music critic on the radio in the 1970's saying that Maynard Ferguson was a "high note freak" instead of a "real musician".
That was an extremely *stupid* thing to say in light of all of the beautiful *music* that Maynard had performed publicly in the 25 years before that time.
If you play an incredibly beautiful song, that is *music*.
If you play that incredibly beautiful song an octave higher, it is *still* music but with the added element that the unusual ability involved makes it even more impressive.

After all, Luciano Pavarotti was famous for singing High C's that impressed the audiences.
Would anybody then claim that Pavarotti was simply a "high note freak" rather than a real opera singer?
Of course not.
But that is the kind of nonsense that some people threw at Maynard Ferguson.

Cotton

I had the pleasure to see Maynard in concert twice at my local high school. Not only was he one of the best players that has ever been, but also one outstanding man. His focous on music education was second to none. Off stage he was like sitting and talking with your grandfather.

et_mike

At least you knew what to expect.... sometimes it is difficult to have an opinion on forums that flow with as much passion as this one.

__________________
~Mike
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." ~A. Einstein

Check out my boy Mark Ingraham...
http://www.bungalo6.com/
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screamingmorris

It sounds like you saw him when he was past his prime if he was grandfather age.
You would not believe what he sounded like and what he could do in concerts in the 1970's.
None of his albums really captured what it was like to see and hear him live; live in concert he sounded like a jet plane taking off at the airport, the most powerful player I have ever heard in my life.
There is a tape of him at a clinic at the National Trumpet Symposium in Denver in 1973 in which he demonstrated trills; I was there in the audience at the time.
Our jaws dropped in amazement as he trilled every note of a passage from a song; he did it with overwhelming power and range and control; I've never heard anyone else ever do that, ever.
Then later in the week he played a Triple C at the *end* of a 2-hour concert when he was tired!!!!!

And his sense of humor during concerts was just as memorable as his music; he loved to make the audience and the band members laugh so that his concerts were not only amazing they were also *fun*.
He was one of the nicest guys in the world.