1962

At the beginning of 1962, the Maynard Ferguson musical organization was in a state of flux. The influences that were keeping the orchestra stable during its peak years were starting to fade. Ferguson had split with manager Ira Mangell, replacing him with his wife, Flo. The band’s recording contract with Roulette Records was in litigation, resulting in Ferguson being forced to record more than forty-five tracks in just three months in order to produce the final five albums on his contract. The close tie between the Roulette label and the New York Birdland club, both owned by Morris Levy, made the situation worse. Since 1958, Ferguson had had a reliable twelve weeks annually at Birdland, providing the group with seventy-two of their performance dates each year. But after the first gig of 1962, the band would go twenty months without performing there, by which point Birdland itself found itself in dire financial straits and moving away from jazz. Lastly, the TV show Straightaway was not only not using the soundtrack that the band had recorded in the way expected, but the show itself would soon be cancelled.

The orchestra now became increasingly dependent upon their performance schedules for income. With the availability of extended runs of one, two, or even three weeks at a single venue diminishing, this meant the band was more reliant on one-night stands, leaning even more into regular venues such as the Red Hill Inn and the Sunnybrook Ballroom, and eventually they had to expand their tours beyond their usual travel circles. Replacing the seventy-two Birdland dates with engagements that required more travel likely incurred greater expense. Despite these changes, the group was still able to schedule roughly the same number of performances for 1962 as for 1961. Fortunately, the clean-cut, accessible image cultivated by Ferguson and the band in its earlier years continued to pay dividends as college and university dances made up a significant portion of their bookings. However, these gigs tended to follow the ebb and flow of a more-or-less set calendar schedule and were not available the entire year long.

Ferguson continued to make appearances on Canadian television, performing as a guest soloist with the house band rather than his own orchestra. Based on television listings, the broadcast dates for these shows have been included, but the specific dates each was filmed are not known.

The final Roulette recording sessions were done in two sessions. Specific dates are not known, but these are typically labeled as “Early 1962” and “March 1962.” [1] The personnel for the first recording session was:

March included the final recording sessions for Roulette Records. The orchestra recorded twenty-four tunes, all with consecutive master numbers. These tracks would be released over the course of several years with titles like Maynard ’62, Maynard ’63, and Maynard ’64, giving Roulette the albums Ferguson was contractually obliged to record. Roulette could also spread out the release of this stockpile, taking free advantage of any publicity that Ferguson would have generated even while he was signed to another label. While listed personnel was largely unchanged from the “Early 1962” sessions, perhaps because the albums were released at a much later date, the credits on the albums often reflected what had been entered on the W-2 tax forms of the band members. Oddly formal names such as William R. Maiden, Kenneth H. Rupp, Lincoln B. Milliman, and Donald J. Menza were printed.

Personnel for the second session remained nearly identical, with trombonist Jack Gale as the only newcomer.

The band toured Sweden for two weeks during May and June. A recording of the radio broadcast of a May 30 performance at the Dans In at Gröna Lund amusement park in Göteborg survives and was issued on LP. [2] The entire band is introduced on the recording, naming the personnel as:

The venues, many in smaller towns, were mostly public spaces (Folkets Parks) and amusement parks rather than clubs or concert halls. Ferguson continued to promote his two-for-one approach, featuring segments dedicated specifically to dancing as well as sets of hard-core jazz.

Some of the band returned to New York directly from Göteborg on June 14, but Ferguson, his wife, and some other bandmembers remained in Europe for a week, flying from Copenhagen, Denmark on June 21. [3] After returning to the United States, the group spent the rest of the summer making appearances at many of the familiar summer performing stops, staying close to the New York City area. Amusement parks such as the Steel Pier and Hershey Park as well as regular summer concert series made up the majority of the performance schedule.

On August 7, the band performed at the University of Chicago Court Theater as part of their summer series. A recording survives, with Sid McCoy introducing both 45-minute sets. The full band personnel is announced and is unchanged from the Swedish tour.

In a press clipping for the Red Hill Inn dated September 18, Ferguson is stated as having switched from Roulette Records to Columbia Records. [4] A different article states “Maynard Ferguson is the latest to terminate his Roulette Records deal. He’ll switch to Columbia.” [5] Another famous big band, that of Count Basie, had recently left Roulette for Reprise. Negotiations for Ferguson’s next contract played out over several months, but the group did not have a record deal in place during 1962. A final decision was not made until March 1963.

Also announced during the Red Hill Inn stay was Ferguson’s appointment to the board of directors for the Villanova Intercollegiate Jazz Festival. Several articles about his involvement with that festival appeared over the next few months. [6]

Daily News October 12, 1962, p.570.

The band took a tour of midwest spots in mid-December, particularly in Iowa. The itinerary included travel from Iowa City to Minneapolis, back to Iowa, then Chicago, to New Jersey, to Detroit, and back to the Sunnybrook Ballroom in Pennsylvania. This schedule serves as evidence of how it was becoming harder to work only in the New York area. The zone where the group performed had not only expanded, but one can also trace a zig-zag of near-constant daily travel.

Recordings from the Red Hill Inn reveal the band personnel as:

1963

For the Ferguson group, most of 1963 followed the same course as 1962. The Ferguson group performed a steady schedule of mostly one-night gigs. They entered the year with no recording contract, and without the Birdland engagements, New York City was not a solid home base. After signing with a new label, the Philadelphia area became the true home base for recurring performances, with Pep’s, the Sunnybrook Ballroom, and the Red Hill Inn all being in that general region. Ferguson also had the opportunity to become involved in education and jazz festivals in the Pennsylvania area.

An interview was published during the band’s March stay at the Minor Key. The article states that, “He and Roulette Records are parting ways via a lawsuit, and he expects to know by this weekend which of the two record companies will win out in bidding for his services,” and quotes Ferguson as saying, “The music’s all set. We’re going to record next week, but we don’t know for whom.” [7]

After a year out of the recording studio, Ferguson finally settled on signing with the Philadelphia-based Cameo-Parkway label with the help of local disc jockey Sid Mark. The group recorded their first album for the label on March 26–28, and it was released weeks later in April. The personnel for this album, titled The New Sounds of Maynard Ferguson and His Orchestra, was:

During these days, Ferguson’s name also became connected with jazz education through festivals, contests, and camps. In addition to the Villanova Jazz Festival appointment, he was a judge for the “Bands of Tomorrow” contest, performed as a guest soloist with the band at North Texas State University, and was even named the musical director of the New Hope Academy of Performing Arts, also referred to as Ramblerny Camp. Ramblerny advertised a Maynard Ferguson School of Jazz, which was to be an eight-week course during the summer. Some newspaper articles even called the festival at Bishop Egan High School in Pennsylvania the “Maynard Ferguson School of Jazz Festival,” with scholarships for the course given as awards to certain soloists at the festival. In spite of the initial publicity, this venture was not something that Ferguson pursued. After these citations, no further mention of Ferguson’s involvement at New Hope was found. According to saxophonist Phil Woods, who himself became deeply involved in the camp as well as the Delaware Water Gap region, “Maynard came by for a minute but was much too busy to devote any time to the jazz program.” [8]

Ferguson, however, continued to be publicly supportive of the jazz education (or “stage band”) movement, declaring,

I consider jazz the nicest four-lettered word there is. But I really don’t care whether the colleges call them jazz or stage bands. The important thing is that they have them. And the training is wonderful for young musicians — now we’re getting young ones who can read well and improvise, too. [9]

The end of May marked the finish of the school dance season and signaled the beginning of the summer festival season. Many performances were held at familiar summertime venues, such as the Starlight Ballroom at Hershey Park, the Marine Ballroom at the Steel Pier, the Barn Arts Center, and the Lambertville Music Circus in New Jersey, Lake Compounce in Connecticut, and Music Carnival in Cleveland, Ohio. There were also club stays at Pep’s in Philadelphia, the Metropole in New York City (twice), and the Minor Key in Detroit.

The band returned to make their fifth appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in July and were joined by a special guest soloist in the person of saxophonist Sonny Stitt. The personnel listed in the festival program was:

At the Ohio Valley Jazz Festival, Ferguson also appeared as part of a jam session that included fellow trumpters Howard McGhee and Ruby Braff, saxophonists Paul Desmond and Bud Freeman, and pianist Dave Brubeck.

Within six months the group recorded for a second time with Cameo Records, resulting in what would be their final record for the label. It was released in September as Come Blow Your Horn. During the sessions, pianist Mike Abene developed kidney stones, and, as a result, Roger Kellaway substituted on three tracks. The band’s regular personnel for the sessions was:

The group returned to Birdland for the first time in twenty months and performed there a total of six weeks during the last quarter of the year. The January 1, 1964 date, however, was to be the last time the group performed there. Birdland soon shifted to booking more popular music and later closed down entirely.

At the end of September, the group ventured on a short trip to the North Texas/Oklahoma area with three concerts in three days. Then after returning for a stop at the Red Hill Inn, the group headed to the midwest for three weeks, followed by another stay at the Red Hill Inn. The distance that the band sometimes had to cover between bookings could be daunting and even dangerous. Bassist Linc Milliman remembered this trip and recalled having to drive for two straight days after the Oklahoma City performance, with band members alternating sleeping and driving the nearly 1,400 miles, in order to arrive on time at the Red Hill Inn. [10] It was almost inevitable with so much time on the road that occasional calamities would occur. While traveling to the University of Iowa dance, one of the band’s station wagons was involved in a serious highway accident on the Indiana Toll Road. Three musicians were injured, with drummer Tony Inzalaco requiring twenty-six stitches in his face. Inzalaco could not perform and was replaced by an unnamed substitute for the dance. [11]

During this time, psychologist/psychedelic drugs proponent Timothy Leary invited the Ferguson familiy to live at the guest house of his estate in Millbrook, New York. Flo Ferguson recalls that they were packing to move there (during a Ferguson run at Birdland) when they heard the news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. [12] The move to Millbrook meant commune-style living and being part of the LSD experimentation culture.

President Kennedy’s assasination had an economic effect on Birdland, as lower business post-assassination was listed as one of the primary reasons for its filing bankrupcy soon after.

Another sign of the times was the closing of longtime dance venues. The Totem Pole Ballroom near Boston was torn down in early 1964. The Ferguson orchestra had been the “last name attraction to play the 40-year-old balloom.” [13]

On a radio broadcast from New Year’s Eve at Birdland, Ferguson mentions on air the following soloists: Ronnie Cuber on baritone saxophone, Linc Milliman on bass, Dusko Goykovich on trumpet, Bob James on piano, Frank Vicari on tenor saxophone, and Don Doane on trombone. James, who would be very successful as a producer for Ferguson in the 1970s, must have been a temporary substitute for Mike Abene. His the only new name; all others had appeared on the recording sessions three months prior.

1964

Saxophonist Frank Vicari recalled a time “about a year before the band broke up” at the Riverdale home where Ferguson mentioned to the band that there was a chance the Internal Revenue Service was going to come in and take the money from gigs. The group held a meeting without Ferguson and decided to keep going, which they were able to do for another year. [14] 1964 was that final year together. Lanny Morgan also described times where the band would “work maybe two weeks and then off three.” [15] The total number of references found for 1964 performances is only about half of that for previous years.

Ferguson’s association with Timothy Leary was receiving public attention. An item in a number of syndicated newspapers noted that Ferguson was “taking part in an experiment using the hallucinations drug LSD.” [16]

In the first part of 1964, the band spent a great deal of time on the road at college campuses. Time Magazine reported that, “Last week Ferguson and his boys were back from a four-week tour of twenty-four campuses.” [17] Unfortunately, documentation for most of these performances has not been found.

One change in personnel took place for the January engagement in Montreal, with bassist Ron McClure replacing Linc Milliman.

A live concert recording survives, dated March 24, 1964 and purportedly from Biloxi, Mississippi. Even considering the long road trips that the band would sometimes make, the 900-mile distance between Chicago and Biloxi that would have been driven in a single day tends to make this improbable. But based on repertoire and personnel, the recording does seem to be from this general timeframe.

On May 13, the band was booked and advertised to play at the Vineland High–Sacred Heart prom in New Jersey. [18] However local news articles reported that the band failed to show up. [19] Another news article a week later quoted the local union head as saying that he had still not received any explanation for the band’s “conspicuous absence.” [20]

The band performed in Michigan on May 15 at Olivet College and began a steady stream of summer performances. Familiar clubs such as Club Laurel, The Metropole, and Pep’s were on the schedule. Summer parks and festivals such as Music Circus, Idora Park, Hershey Park, Barn Arts Center, and Music Circus also filled out the itinerary.

While appearing at Pep’s in Philadelphia, the Ferguson orchestra appeared on the local television show, The Mark of Jazz, hosted by long-time friend of the band, Sid Mark. Announcements confirm that the personnel had remained unchanged since the January appearance in Montreal.

The 1964 World’s Fair was held in Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York between April and October 1964, and the Ferguson orchestra was one of four groups featured in the 750-seat Jazzland pavilion within the Bourbon Street exhibit. Jazzland was open daily from noon to 2 a.m., and Ferguson appeared for two weeks in July. This rare opportunity presented Ferguson with the potential to reach, even only briefly, a much broader audience.

By the time of the Ohio engagements, trumpeter Don Rader had returned to the band, after leaving the Count Basie Orchestra and playing briefly with Woody Herman in New York City. The specific trumpet section membership is not known, however. Rader received good reviews for his performance at the Cleveland Music Carnival, where the band was “delayed for more than an hour by confusion caused between standard and daylight time zones plus a shortage of gasoline in the leader’s auto.” [21]

In September, the group entered the studio for what would be the last time using the touring band configuration. The album Color Him Wild, recorded for Bob Shad’s Mainstream Records, was released by November of that year. The personnel for this recording was:

Early in December, articles began appearing in newspapers reporting that Ferguson had disbanded his big band. One stated that he was facing a tax problem in the “fat five figures.” [22] Another claimed that he had already left for Spain and would be doing movie soundtracks there. [23] Yet another said that he was moving to the west coast and would be performing on the San Francisco–Los Angeles–Las Vegas circuit. [24] Ferguson was quoted in Down Beat as having a seven-album deal with Mainstream Records, each with a different size and instrumentation. [25] But all reports noted the deep void that the Birdland Dreamband left in its absence after more than seven years.

In fact, even as the news of the band’ break-up surfaced, Ferguson recorded one of those Mainstream Records projects. In contrast to the compact and consistent thirteen-man ensemble that defined Ferguson orchestra sound, this was an expanded studio-only group involving no fewer than twenty-seven different players over the two sessions. The album lists eight saxophones, five trumpets, two French horns, five trombones, tuba, and six rhythm section players. A few of these had carried over from the final iteration of the band and there were other veterans of Ferguson’s bands of years past, but many had no previous association with him. This “guest artist” model established the new approach for the immediate future of Ferguson’s musical endeavors.

Full 1962–1964 Chronology with References

Bibliography

The chronology references were collected primarily from several online databases, including RIPM Jazz Periodicals, NewspaperArchive, Newspapers.com, and ProQuest Historical Black Newspapers. Special thanks to Sven Bjerstedt, Jan Bruer, Mischa van Kan, Magnus Nygren, and Martin Winter for supplying material from the Swedish press.

• Harkins, Edwin. Maynard Ferguson: A Discography. [s.l.]: Edwin Harkins, 1976.
• Jungheim, Ralph. Maynard! Marina del Rey, CA: Buster Ann Music, 2009.
• Lee, William F. MF Horn: Maynard Ferguson’s Life in Music. Ojai, CA: M.F. Music U.S.A., 1997.
• Lord, Tom. The Jazz Discography Online. Chilliwack, BC: Lord Music Reference, Inc., 2020.
• Primack, Bret. Liner notes to The Complete Cameo Recordings. Real Gone Music, 2012.
• Primack, Bret. Liner notes to The Complete Roulette Recordings of the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra. Mosaic Records, 1993.

References

[1] Bret Primack, Liner notes to The Complete Roulette Recordings of the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra, Mosaic Records, 1993. This set incorrectly places Jack Gale on the “Early 1962” session. In a letter published in Down Beat 29, no. 29 (November 22, 1962), 10, Willie Maiden corrects the personnel printed on the Si! Si! M.F. LP, specifying Ray Wiegand instead of Gale as trombonist, and explaining that the wrong set of W-2 tax forms were likely the source of the error. Wiegand’s name appears in the subsequent Down Beat review of the LP and on the 1972 Roulette 2-LP reissue of the material in the Echoes of an Era compilation.

[2] One Night Stand with Maynard Ferguson Joyce 1112, 1983.

[3] Passenger list information for Loftleidir Icelandic Airlines flight 611 (both June 14 and 21, 1962) accessed at ancestry.com.

[4] Philadelphia Daily News, September 18, 1962, 53.

[5] Wilkes-Barre Times, October 4, 1962, 16.

[6] Philadelphia Daily News, December 7, 1962, 49.

[7] Detroit Free Press March 22, 1963, 40.

[8] Phil Woods, liner notes to The Joe Roccisano Nonet, Double-Time Records DTRCD 138, 1998.

[9] Dick Kleiner, “The Record Shop: Ferguson Band Bans Vocalists,” Hillsdale Daily News, December 14, 1963, 4.

[10] William F. Lee, MF Horn: Maynard Ferguson’s Life in Music (Ojai, CA: M.F. Music U.S.A., 1997), 89.

[11] Daily Iowan, October 15, 1963, 8.

[12] Lee, MF Horn, 93.

[13] “Strictly Ad Lib: Boston,” Dowm Beat 31, no. 3 (January 30, 1964), 42.

[14] Lee, MF Horn, 98.

[15] Ralph Jungheim, Maynard! (Marina del Rey, CA: Buster Ann Music, 2009), 102.

[16] Ashville Citizen, January 9, 1964.

[17] Time Magazine, March 27, 1964, 38.

[18] Daily Journey, May 4, 1964, 1.

[19] Daily Journal, May 14, 1964, 10.

[20] Daily Journal, May 19, 1964, 10.

[21] “Strictly Ad Lib: New York” and “Strictly Ad Lib: Cleveland,” Dowm Beat 31, no. 26 (September 24, 1964), 10, 43–44.

[22] Dorothy Kilgallen, “Broadway,” Asbury Press, December 2, 1964, 33.

[23] Philadelphia Daily News, December 2, 1964, 33.

[24] Boston Globe, December 6, 1964, 200.

[25] “Maynard Ferguson ‘Gets Away From It All’ — Breaks Up Band,” Down Beat 32, no. 5 (February 25, 1965), 12.

Author Information: 
Thomas Herb currently serves as Professor of Music Education and as the Director of the Graduate Music Education program at Southern Utah University. He has published articles in several music education books, including the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series (GIA Publications), and his own book Teaching Improvisation...in Concert Band?!? (MVP Publishing). An avid jazz devotee, he performs over fifty times a year with local jazz combos and is the Founder/Director of The Jazz Alliance of Cedar City which brings jazz performances to Cedar City. He also considers himself an enthusiastic amateur in regards to jazz research, with bandleader Maynard Ferguson as his specialty. He lives in Cedar City, Utah with his wife and four growing children.

Abstract: 
The article presents the day-to-day activities of Canadian trumpeter and bandleader Maynard Ferguson during the years 1962 to 1964. Based on listings, advertisements, and reviews published in contemporary newspapers and periodicals, Ferguson’s concert, dance, and nightclub appearances are included. The performance chronology also includes recording sessions and identifies orchestra personnel when known.

Keywords:
Maynard Ferguson, Birdland Dream Band, jazz, chronology

How to cite this article:

• Chicago 17th ed.: Herb, Thomas. “Maynard Ferguson’s Birdland Dream Band: A Performance Chronology of the Years 1962–1964.” Current Research in Jazz 14 (2022). Accessed [date of access]. http://www.crj-online.org/v14/CRJ-FergusonChronology3.php.
• MLA 8th ed.: Herb, Thomas. “Maynard Ferguson’s Birdland Dream Band: A Performance Chronology of the Years 1962–1964.” Current Research in Jazz vol. 14, 2022, www.crj-online.org/v14/CRJ-FergusonChronology3.php. Accessed [date of access].
• APA 7th ed.: Herb, T. (2022). Maynard Ferguson’s Birdland Dream Band: A Performance Chronology of the Years 1962–1964. Current Research in Jazz, 14. http://www.crj-online.org/v14/CRJ-FergusonChronology3.php

For further information, please contact:

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

This page last updated January 02, 2023, 19:29