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Maynard Ferguson Birdland Dream Band


Larry Kart

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Recently picked up this single CD reissue of the two VIK LPs:

http://www.amazon.com/Birdland-Dream-Band-Maynard-Ferguson/dp/B000XCXGJW/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1393879419&sr=1-1&keywords=birdland+dream+band

and discovered something that I'd forgotten in the 57 years or so since this stuff first came out -- a number of tracks here feature absolutely hellacious solos from Budd Johnson.

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According to Mosaic the full list of his Roulette albums is:

ALBUM INDEX
25058 Swingin' My Way Through College
25176 anthology of "twist" instrumentals
52012 A Message From Newport
52027 A Message From Birdland
52038 Plays Jazz For Dancing
52047 Newport Suite
52055 Let's Face The Music And Dance
52064 Maynard '61
52076 Straight Away
52083 Maynard '62
52084 Si! Si! M.F.
52090 Maynard '63
52101 Message From Maynard
52107 Maynard '64
52110 The World Of Maynard Ferguson and anthologies
52050 The Most - volume one
52053 The Most - volume two
52057 The Most - volume three
52062 The Most - volume four
52075 The Most - volume five
52117 Big Band Scene '65
CD:
93272 A Message From Newport
93900 Maynard '61
95334 Si! Si! M.F.
Not that many available on CD. "A Message from Birdland" seems readily available but "Si! Si! M.F." is going for silly money at the moment.
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Can I has Willie Maiden on this, here?

Two Maiden charts out of twenty-four tracks, "Cervezita" and "Tell Me Funky." Others, all originals, by Al Cohn, Bill Holman, Giuffre, Manny Albam, Ernie Wilkins, Brookmeyer, Marty Paich, and Johnny Mandel. Maiden not on the band. Quite alarming that the trumpet section includes Maynard and a pool drawn from Ernie Royal, Al Derisi, Joe Ferrante, Al Stewart, Nick Travis, Stan Fishelson, and Jimmy Nottingham. Ouch.

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That seems like a high price for a Fresh Sounds CD....

That's not the fault of Fresh Sound but the "fault" of your importer.

Over here it sells for even a wee bit below what it would cost to have ONE single CD shipped directly from Fresh Sound (not very cost-effective anyway due to the postal rates from Spain and not so much the CD price).

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Back in 2002/2003 RCA France reissued the full output of the Ferguson Birdland Dream Band on two CDs:

Birdland_Dream_Band.jpg099746.jpg

Volume 1 had nine alternate takes, volume 2 had five alternate takes.

On the face of it, alternates of these performances wouldn't make my pulse beat faster, unless I were obsessive about Budd Johnson or Herb Geller. The charts are the charts, and the solos would be in similar grooves to those on the issued takes. As for the price, I bought my copy of the Fresh Sound used but clean for about $14.

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Fresh Sounds have re-issued a ton of his stuff, most of which is still available. Nothing by the Original Dream Band (1956) unfortunately.

http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/search.php?artist_string=maynard+ferguson&method=by_artist&action=search&artist_id=

Aren't two of those Fresh Sound albums of live material by the band Bebop mentioned?

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Fresh Sounds have re-issued a ton of his stuff, most of which is still available. Nothing by the Original Dream Band (1956) unfortunately.

http://www.freshsoundrecords.com/search.php?artist_string=maynard+ferguson&method=by_artist&action=search&artist_id=

Aren't two of those Fresh Sound albums of live material by the band Bebop mentioned?

Yes, you're right Larry....my bad!

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Back in 2002/2003 RCA France reissued the full output of the Ferguson Birdland Dream Band on two CDs:

Birdland_Dream_Band.jpg099746.jpg

Volume 1 had nine alternate takes, volume 2 had five alternate takes.

On the face of it, alternates of these performances wouldn't make my pulse beat faster, unless I were obsessive about Budd Johnson or Herb Geller. The charts are the charts, and the solos would be in similar grooves to those on the issued takes. As for the price, I bought my copy of the Fresh Sound used but clean for about $14.

my interest has been piqued. I've ordered a cheap 2LP edition on French RCA Jazzline which should suffice and will in a stroke double my MF recordings.

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