Ferguson, Maynard, 1928-2006

Maynard Ferguson, whose soaring trumpeting reached the instrument’s highest ranges and propelled a musical career of more than 60 years, died Wednesday in Ventura, Calif. He was 78.

The cause was kidney and liver failure, said his personal manager, Steve Schankman.

Mr. Ferguson had a stratospheric style all his own. He possessed “a tremendous breadth of sound and an incomparable tone,” said Lew Soloff, a prominent trumpeter who started out with Mr. Ferguson in the mid-1960’s. The writer Frank Conroy once noted, “He soared above everything, past high C, into the next octave and a half, where his tone and timbre became unique” — sometimes reaching, as Mr. Schankman said, “notes so high that only dogs could hear them.”

He pleased far more crowds than critics. John S. Wilson, reviewing Mr. Ferguson’s big band at the 1959 Newport Jazz Festival for The New York Times, called it “screaming” and “strident.” Yet that same year the readers of Down Beat magazine voted the band the world’s second-best, outranked only by Count Basie’s.

Today, record collectors pay hundreds of dollars for rare Fergusons. “Very few rock superstars can command that kind of prices for used CD’s or records,” said John Himes, who runs the Maynard Ferguson Album Emporium in Cypress, Calif.

Mr. Ferguson’s bands toured ceaselessly, across Asia, Europe and the United States, stopping often at high schools and colleges, where he served as both entertainer and educator. At his last stand — a six-night booking at the Blue Note in New York, which ended July 23 — every show sold out. The next week, he completed the last of his roughly 100 recordings; it is to be released this fall.

Walter Maynard Ferguson was born on May 4, 1928, in Verdun, Canada, now part of the city of Montreal. Both his parents were teachers and school administrators. His mother, a former concert violinist, taught him to play at an early age. His father stored school orchestra instruments in the basement, and Mr. Ferguson schooled himself on woodwinds and brass. By 15, he was out of school and into nightclubs, seven days a week.

He came to national attention in 1950 with a four-minute televised cavalcade on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” backed by Stan Kenton’s big band. After three years with the brass-heavy Kenton band, he did studio work and then, in 1956, formed his own band, which he led for a decade.

After a trip or two to Timothy Leary’s consciousness-altering community in Millbrook, N.Y., Mr. Ferguson dissolved his band in 1967 and moved to India for a year. He began a new band in London in 1969, fusing rock and pop into its repertory. His stock with jazz purists fell as he played his versions of hits by the Beatles and Stevie Wonder. But his popularity skyrocketed.

Mr. Ferguson’s performance of Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci,” an operatic warhorse turned into a disco anthem, was heard at the closing ceremony of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal and seen by millions of television viewers. His version of “Gonna Fly Now,” the indelible theme from the movie “Rocky,” was nominated for a Grammy in 1977.

Mr. Ferguson won his homeland’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada, in 2005. His wife of 53 years, Flo Ferguson, died that year. He is survived by four daughters, Kim, Lisa, Corby and Wilder, and two grandchildren.

Unlike many bandleaders, Mr. Ferguson rode a bus from stage to stage with his musicians. His tour manager, Ed Sargent, said that he preferred to travel in “a million-dollar rock ’n’ roll coach” with his sidemen.

Mr. Schankman, his manager, said that Mr. Ferguson had a cross-country tour set to begin in a few weeks, and pleaded from his deathbed for the shows to go on.

[J2659] Jazz Studio
Jazz Studio Four : Jack Millman And His Orchestra : Jack Millman (flhrn) Maynard Ferguson (v-tb,claves) [as Tiger Brown (v-tb,claves) ] Buddy Collette (as) Jack Montrose (ts) Bob Gordon (bar) Gerald Wiggins (p) Curtis Counce (b) Chico Hamilton (d) Spud Murphy (arr)
Los Angeles, May 18, 1955

[J2660] Jazz Studio
Jack Millman (flhrn) Maynard Ferguson (v-tb,claves) [as Tiger Brown (v-tb,claves) ] Buddy Collette (as) Jack Montrose (ts) Frank Flynn (vib) Barney Kessel (g) Chico Hamilton (d) Gene Roland (arr)
Los Angeles, May 18, 1955

[S414] Sal Salvador
Colors In Sound : Sal Salvador And His Orchestra : Maynard Ferguson (tp) [as Foxy Corby (tp) ] Doc Severinsen, Ernie Royal, Jimmy Maxwell (tp) Frank Rehak, Eddie Bert (tb) Ray Starling (mellophone) David Amram (fhr) Bill Barber (tu) Sal Salvador (g) George Roumanis (b,arr) Osie Johnson (d)
New York, April 21, 1958

[S416] Sal Salvador
Maynard Ferguson (tp) [as Foxy Corby, ] Al Maiorca, John Frosk, Bill Hodges, Jimmy Maxwell (tp) Frank Rehak, Eddie Bert (tb) Ray Starling (mellophone) David Amram (fhr) Bill Barber (tu) Sal Salvador (g) George Roumanis (b,arr) Osie Johnson (d)
New York, April 28, 1958

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Jazz legend Maynard Ferguson far surpasses the title “trumpet player”; he is an internationally famous big-band leader, one of the world’s great brass players, an instrument designer, record producer, composer, arranger, producer of film soundtracks, and dedicated teacher. He is also a three-time Grammy Award nominee and Down Beat magazine award winner. The prolific bandleader has recorded over 60 albums in his lifetime. The alumni list of his band members over four decades reads like a Who’s Who of the jazz world: Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Bill Chase, Bob James, Slide Hampton, Wayne Shorter, Greg Bissonette, Peter Erskine, Joe Zawinul, Willie Maiden, and Don Ellis are just some of the greats Ferguson’s bands have bred. Ferguson emerged from big-band swing and worked his way through jazz, bebop, rock, funk, disco, and fusion. When he wasn’t actually playing his horn, he conducted, cueing his men, or just snapped his fingers and enjoyed the music. He has been a hustler, a tireless worker, and remarkably generous with his musical abilities. Few careers have spanned so many different forms of music, tribute indeed to Ferguson’s flexibility and staying power.

Ferguson was a child prodigy who first soloed with the Canadian Broadcasting Company Orchestra at the age of 11. He was born in the Montreal suburb of Verdun on May 4, 1928. His mother was a violinist with the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and later, a teacher who helped introduce music into the curriculum of the Montreal public school system. His father was a high-school principal. By the time Ferguson was four, he too was playing the violin as well as the piano. At the age of nine he was enrolled in the French Conservatory of Music to receive formal training. He has cited his main influences as his mother and Louis Armstrong.

American Debut in 1948
Ferguson attended Montreal High School, but quit at age 15 to pursue music as a vocation. Around that time he played in a dance band, led by his brother Percy, with another budding musician, jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. By the age of sixteen Ferguson was leading his own jazz and dance band. All of the musicians in his band were twice his age, except Percy, with whom he had effectively reversed roles. In 1948 the 20-year-old Ferguson moved to the U.S. and made his debut in Boyd Raeburn’s progressive band. He also played with Jimmy Dorsey and Charlie Barnet, and performed on woodwind and brass as a one-man act in New York’s cafe society.

From 1950 to 1953 Ferguson’s lashing, high-register trumpet was the cornerstone of Stan Kenton’s enormous brass section. During his years with Kenton, Ferguson built a reputation that relied more on his dazzling technique—screech trumpeting in the dizzying upper register of his instrument—than his creativity as a soloist. The fire-breathing trumpeter took first place in Down Beat magazine’s best trumpeter poll for three successive years beginning in 1950. After his stint with Kenton, Ferguson spent three years as first-call studio trumpeter for Paramount Pictures and recorded film soundtracks for Paramount, including that of the Biblical epic The Ten Commandments. In 1955 Ferguson joined Leonard Bernstein for a performance of the “Titans,” by William Russo, with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

The following year, after a period of free-lancing, Ferguson formed the first of several thirteen-piece orchestras, which were noted for the biting precision of their brass sections. On the striking “Frame for the Blues,” off the Message From Newport album, Ferguson’s dramatic solo style sears, and Don Sebesky, Don Menza, and Slide Hampton offer some of their best arrangements. Other noteworthy soloists featured on that applauded recording were Jaki Byard, Don Ellis, Joe Farrell, and Chuck Mangione. In 1959 an International Critic’s Poll, conducted by Down Beat, voted the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra first place in the “new star” big-band division. But, as the popularity of big bands waned in the mid-1960s, Ferguson was forced to economize; he toured less frequently with the big band, favoring a smaller sextet instead. Finally, in 1967, he disbanded and his group began to follow a new path.

Spiritual Renewal in India
In 1968 and 1969 Ferguson taught at the Krishnamurtl-based Rhishi Valley School near Madras, India, which widened both his spiritual and musical horizons. He took his family with him to India, and they eventually moved to England. There Ferguson toured as the leader of a band called Top Brass. He also manufactured personally designed trumpets and mouthpieces from his home in Manchester. Being situated in England made touring Europe easier for Ferguson, and he took advantage of this proximity by embarking on forays across the continent with a variety of ensembles.

In 1969 Ferguson signed with CBS Records in England and created a repertoire for his new British band in which pop and rock songs were rearranged into a big-band format, with electronic amplification. This was Ferguson’s response to the psychedelic sixties. He produced contemporary arrangements of late 1960s and early 1970s hits like “MacArthur Park” and the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” Ferguson’s recording of “Gonna Fly Now”—the theme from the hit film Rocky —catapulted Maynard into mainstream popularity with a Top 10 single, a gold album, and a Grammy nomination in 1978. His album Conquistador, from which “Gonna Fly Now” sprang, earned Ferguson an unusual place in the history of music; with Conquistador, he alone was able to crack the pop charts, where countless jazz musician had failed before him. The album reached Number 22 on Billboard’s pop albums charts in 1977. Ferguson’s efforts helped rekindle the public’s interest in big bands; his fanfare solos, along with his expertise on several brass instruments—often demonstrated in a single performance—set a dazzling example of sheer technical virtuosity.

The following year, after a period of free-lancing, Ferguson formed the first of several thirteen-piece orchestras, which were noted for the biting precision of their brass sections. On the striking “Frame for the Blues,” off the Message From Newport album, Ferguson’s dramatic solo style sears, and Don Sebesky, Don Menza, and Slide Hampton offer some of their best arrangements. Other noteworthy soloists featured on that applauded recording were Jaki Byard, Don Ellis, Joe Farrell, and Chuck Mangione. In 1959 an International Critic’s Poll, conducted by Down Beat, voted the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra first place in the “new star” big-band division. But, as the popularity of big bands waned in the mid-1960s, Ferguson was forced to economize; he toured less frequently with the big band, favoring a smaller sextet instead. Finally, in 1967, he disbanded and his group began to follow a new path.

Spiritual Renewal in India
In 1968 and 1969 Ferguson taught at the Krishnamurtl-based Rhishi Valley School near Madras, India, which widened both his spiritual and musical horizons. He took his family with him to India, and they eventually moved to England. There Ferguson toured as the leader of a band called Top Brass. He also manufactured personally designed trumpets and mouthpieces from his home in Manchester. Being situated in England made touring Europe easier for Ferguson, and he took advantage of this proximity by embarking on forays across the continent with a variety of ensembles.

In 1969 Ferguson signed with CBS Records in England and created a repertoire for his new British band in which pop and rock songs were rearranged into a big-band format, with electronic amplification. This was Ferguson’s response to the psychedelic sixties. He produced contemporary arrangements of late 1960s and early 1970s hits like “MacArthur Park” and the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” Ferguson’s recording of “Gonna Fly Now”—the theme from the hit film Rocky —catapulted Maynard into mainstream popularity with a Top 10 single, a gold album, and a Grammy nomination in 1978. His album Conquistador, from which “Gonna Fly Now” sprang, earned Ferguson an unusual place in the history of music; with Conquistador, he alone was able to crack the pop charts, where countless jazz musician had failed before him. The album reached Number 22 on Billboard’s pop albums charts in 1977. Ferguson’s efforts helped rekindle the public’s interest in big bands; his fanfare solos, along with his expertise on several brass instruments—often demonstrated in a single performance—set a dazzling example of sheer technical virtuosity.

Maynard Ferguson’s musicians have encompassed the “Who’s Who” among musicians in the second half of the twentieth century. A greatly modified list would include

Arrangers-Composers; Mike Abene, Manny Albam, Bob Brookmeyer, Jaki Byard, Al Cohn, Chick Corea, Denis DiBlasio, Tom Garling, Herb Geller, Slide Hampton, Bill Holman, Bob James, Willie Maiden, Johnny Mandel, Chip McNeill, Marty Paich, Don Rader, Shorty Rogers, Ernie Wilkins;

Vocalists: Patti Austin, Kay Brown, Chris Conner, Irene Kral, Annie Marie Moss, Matt Wallace;

Saxophonists: Pepper Adams, Al Cohn, Mark Colby, Denis DiBlasio, Jimmy Ford, Jimmy Giuffre, Bob Gordon, Carmen Leggio, Joe Maini, Rick Margitza, Charlie Mariano, Chip McNeill, Don Menza, Lanny Morgan, Art Pepper, David Sanborn, Wayne Shorter, Lew Tabackin, Matt Wallace;

Trumpets: Bill Berry, Randy Brecker, Joe Burnett, Conte Candoli, Bill Chase, Buddy Childers, Don Ellis, Rolf Ericson, Bemie Glow, Ray Linn, Stan Mark, Marky Markowitz, Dennis Noday, Al Porcino, Don Rader. Shorty Rogers, Ernie Royal, Bobby Shew, Lew Soloff, Marvin Stamm;

Trombones: Wayne Andre, Milt Bernhart, Eddie Bert, Bobby Brookmeyer, Bob Burgess, Billy Byers, Jimmy Cleveland, Don Doane, Tom Garling, Urbie Green, Slide Hampton, Rob McConnell, Don Sebesky, Bill Watrous;

Guitar: George Benson, Larry Coryell, Eric Gale, Barney Kessel, Steve Khan, Jeff Mirenov, Lee Ritenour;

Veena: Vemu Makunda;

Piano/Keyboards: Mike Abene, Ian Bernard, John Bunch, Jaki Byard, Chick Corea, George Duke, Russ Freeman, Lorraine Geller, Christian Jacob, Bob James, Hank Jones, Roger Kellaway, Bobby Timmons, Claude Williamson, Joe Zawinul;

Bass: Don Bagley, Ray Brown, Red Callendar, Stanley Clarke, Curtis Counce, Richard Davis, Eddie Gomez, Milt Hinton, Red Kelly, Will Lee, Ron McClure, Red Mitchell;

Drums: Larry Bunker, Jimmy Campbell, Peter Erskine, Chuck Flores, Steve Gadd, Jake Hanna, Rufus Jones, Don Lamond, Shelly Manne, Max Roach, Tony Williams.

Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served as stepping stones for up-and-coming talent,[1] his versatility on several instruments, and his ability to play in a high register.
Biography
Early life and education
Ferguson was born in Verdun (now part of Montreal), Quebec. Encouraged by his mother and father (both musicians), he started playing piano and violin at the age of four. At nine years old, he heard a cornet for the first time in his local church and asked his parents to buy one for him. When he was thirteen, he soloed with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra. He was heard frequently on the CBC, notably featured on a "Serenade for Trumpet in Jazz" written for him by Morris Davis. He won a scholarship to the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he studied from 1943 to 1948 with Bernard Baker.

Ferguson dropped out of the High School of Montreal when he was fifteen to pursue a music career, performing in dance bands led by Stan Wood, Roland David, and Johnny Holmes. Although trumpet was his primary instrument, he also performed on other brass and reed instruments. He took over the dance band formed by his saxophonist brother Percy, playing dates in the Montreal area and serving as an opening act for touring bands from Canada and the U.S. During this period, he came to the attention of American bandleaders and began receiving offers to go to the U.S.

In 1948, Ferguson moved to the United States,[1] intending to join Stan Kenton's band, but it no longer existed, so Ferguson played with the bands of Boyd Raeburn, Jimmy Dorsey, and Charlie Barnet. The Barnet band included Doc Severinsen, Ray Wetzel, Johnny Howell, and Rolf Ericson. Ferguson was featured on Barnet's recording of "All The Things You Are" by Jerome Kern. The recording enraged Kern's widow and was withdrawn from sale.[2]

Kenton and Hollywood
In January 1950, Kenton formed the Innovations Orchestra, a 40-piece jazz orchestra with strings. After the folding of the Barnet band, Ferguson was available for the first rehearsal on January 1. One of the Orchestra's recordings was named "Maynard Ferguson," one of a series of pieces named after featured soloists. When Kenton returned to a more practical 19-piece jazz band, Ferguson continued with him at third chair with numerous solo features. Notable recordings from this period that feature Ferguson include "Invention for Guitar and Trumpet", "What's New?", and "The Hot Canary".

In 1953, Ferguson left Kenton and spent the next three years a session musician for Paramount Pictures.[3] He appeared on 46 soundtracks, including The Ten Commandments. He also played on several other non-Paramount film soundtracks, usually those with jazz scores. Ferguson can clearly be discerned on several soundtracks from the time, including the Martin and Lewis films "Living It Up" and "You're Never Too Young." He still recorded jazz, but his Paramount contract prevented him from playing in jazz clubs. This was sometimes circumvented by appearing under aliases such as "Tiger Brown" or "Foxy Corby". Although he enjoyed the steady income, he was unhappy with the lack of live performance opportunities and left Paramount in 1956.[citation needed]

The Birdland Dream Band
Ferguson played with the Pérez Prado Orchestra on the LP Havana 3 A.M., recorded in February and March 1956. In 1956, he joined the Birdland Dream Band, a 14-piece big band formed by Morris Levy as an "all-star" lineup to play at Levy's Birdland jazz club in New York City. Although the name "Birdland Dream Band" was short-lived and is represented by only two albums over the course of a year, this band became the core of Ferguson's performing band for the next nine years.

The band included Mike Abene, Jaki Byard, Bill Chase, Ronnie Cuber, Frankie Dunlop, Don Ellis, Joe Farrell, Dusko Goykovich, Tony Inzalaco, Rufus Jones, Willie Maiden, Ron McClure, Rob McConnell, Don Menza, Lanny Morgan, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Zawinul. Those who were both arrangers and performers included Herb Geller, Slide Hampton, Bill Holman, and Don Sebesky.[3]

In 1959 Ferguson was a guest with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein performing Symphony No. 2 in C "Titans" by William Russo.

In 1961, Ferguson composed the theme music for the 1961–1962 ABC adventure drama television series Straightaway. His 1961 album "Straightaway" Jazz Themes contained the music he composed for the series.

As big bands declined in popularity and economic viability in the 1960s, Ferguson's band performed less frequently. He began to feel musically stifled and sensed a resistance to change among his American jazz audiences. According to an interview in Down Beat, he was quoted as saying that if the band did not play "Maria" or "Ole," the fans went home disappointed. He began performing with a sextet before shutting down his big band in 1966.[4]

Millbrook, India, and psychedelics
After leaving his long-time recording contract and the end of his main club gig, Ferguson moved his family to the Hitchcock Estate in Millbrook, New York in November 1963 to live with Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, and their community from Harvard University. He and his wife Flo used LSD, psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs. They lived at Millbrook for about three years, playing clubs and recording several albums.[5][6][7] Ferguson was mentioned in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, which detailed the psychedelic scene.

In 1967, as the Millbrook experiment was ending, Ferguson moved his family to India and taught at the Krishnamurti-based Rishi Valley School near Madras. He was associated with the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning's Boys Brass Band, which he founded and helped teach for several years. While in India, he was influenced by Sathya Sai Baba, whom he considered as his spiritual guru.[8]

England and jazz rock
As a Canadian in England, Ferguson avoided the union's ban on American musicians.[3] In 1969, he moved to Oakley Green, a hamlet on the outskirts of Windsor, near London. He had two houses while he was in the UK, the final one a three-story house by the River Thames. That same year, Ferguson signed with CBS Records.

He started a sixteen- to eighteen-piece big band with British musicians playing jazz rock. The band got attention for its version of "MacArthur Park" by Jim Webb. Ferguson's band made its North American debut in 1971.[3]

In 1970 he led the band on The Simon Dee Show from London Weekend Television.[9]
Return to the U.S.


Ferguson moved to New York City in 1973, then relocated to Ojai, California less than two years later. He replaced the British band members with American musicians while reducing membership[3] to twelve: four trumpets, two trombones, three saxophones, and a three-piece rhythm section. Albums from this period include M.F. Horn 4&5: Live At Jimmy's and Chameleon, recorded in 1973 and 1974 in New York. Ferguson took advantage of the burgeoning jazz education movement by hiring musicians from colleges with jazz programs, such as Berklee College of Music, North Texas State University and the University of Miami. He performed for young audiences and gave master classes in colleges and high schools. This strategy helped him develop an audience that sustained him for the rest of his career.[citation needed]

In 1975, Ferguson began working with Bob James on a series of commercially successful albums with large groups of session musicians, including strings, vocalists, and guest soloists. The first of these albums was Primal Scream, featuring Chick Corea, Mark Colby, Steve Gadd, and Bobby Militello. The second, Conquistador (1976) yielded a No. 22 pop single, "Gonna Fly Now" from the movie Rocky, earning him a gold album. He maintained a hectic touring schedule. The commercial success included adding a guitarist and an additional percussionist to his band's lineup. In the summer of 1976, Ferguson performed a solo trumpet piece for the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Montreal, symbolically "blowing out the flame".

Ferguson became frustrated with Columbia over the inability to use his working band on albums and to play jazz songs on them. His contract with Columbia ended after the release of the album Hollywood (1982), produced by bassist Stanley Clarke. During that time, he recorded an instrumental version of the Michael Jackson song "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"; the song would later be used by Rede Globo as the theme song of Vídeo Show, which ran on the network between 1983 and 2019.

Ferguson recorded three big band albums with smaller labels before forming High Voltage, a fusion septet, in 1986. This smaller ensemble, which featured multi-reed player Denis DiBlasio, gave Ferguson the freedom explore in a less structured format. High Voltage recorded two albums, produced by Jim Exon, his manager and son in law.

Big Bop Nouveau
To mark his 60th birthday in 1988, Maynard Ferguson returned to a large band format and to more mainstream jazz. That then led to the formation of Big Bop Nouveau, a nine-piece band featuring two trumpets, one trombone, three reeds and a three-piece rhythm section which became his standard touring group for the remainder of his career. Later, due to the increasing responsibilities being placed on the trumpet players, the baritone sax position was replaced by a third trumpet player. The band's repertoire included original jazz compositions and modern arrangements of jazz standards, with occasional pieces from his '70s book and even modified charts from the Birdland Dream Band era; this format proved to be successful with audiences and critics. The band recorded extensively, including albums backing vocalists Diane Schuur and Michael Feinstein.

Big Bop Nouveau toured the world extensively; in 2005 it embarked on a tour of eight months playing an average of two hundred shows a year. The group was tour managed by Memphis legend Ed Sargent, and mixed by audio mogul Mike Freeland. Although in later years Ferguson's playing occasionally lost some of the range and phenomenal accuracy of his youth, he always remained an exciting performer, touring an average of nine months a year with Big Bop Nouveau for the remainder of his life. Ferguson died on August 23, 2006.

During the late 1980s, Ferguson returned to a big band format when he formed Big Bop Nouveau. He made albums with this band until the end of the next decade.[3]

Personal life
In 1973, Ferguson settled in Ojai, California, where he lived to the end of his life. His first marriage was to singer Kay Brown. His marriage to Flo Ferguson (in 1956) lasted until her death on February 27, 2005. Ferguson had three daughters: Corby, Lisa, and Wilder, a step daughter through Flo's marriage to Jim Hamza, and a son, Bentley, who predeceased his parents. Kim Ferguson is married to Maynard's former manager and producer, Jim Exon. Wilder Ferguson is married to jazz pianist (and former Big Bop Nouveau member) Christian Jacob. Lisa Ferguson is a writer and film maker living in Los Angeles. At the time of his death, Ferguson had two granddaughters, Erica and Sandra.

Ferguson died as a result of kidney and liver failure, on August 23, 2006, at the Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California.[10]

Versatility

Although his principal instrument was the trumpet, Ferguson frequently doubled on other brass instruments,[3] most notably the relatively uncommon valve trombone. Several recording sessions with bandleader Russell Garcia included a four-trombone ensemble in which Ferguson played only valve trombone. Publicity shots and album covers from the 1950s showed Ferguson with his 'quartet' of trumpet, valve trombone, baritone horn, and French horn. Recordings of the latter two are rare; the French horn vanished in later years, but the baritone horn appeared on the 1974 album Chameleon. He switched to the combination valve/slide Superbone and flugelhorn on all but his last recorded album.

Ferguson designed: the Firebird and the Superbone.[3] The Firebird was similar to a trumpet, but the valves were played with the left hand instead of the right, and a trombone-style slide was played with the right hand. Trumpeter Rajesh Mehta bought this trumpet while living in Amsterdam and played the Firebird from 1998 until 2011 when he had American trumpet maker George Schlub create the Orka-M Naga Phoenix trumpet for him. The Superbone was another hybrid instrument, a trombone with additional valves played with the left hand. Ferguson incorporated Indian instruments and influences in his music.

Ferguson was not the first trumpeter to play in the extreme upper register (such as Cat Anderson), but he could play high notes[3] with full, rich tone, power, and musicality. In interviews he said that his command of the upper registers was based mostly on breath control,[11] something he discovered as a kid in Montreal. He attributed the longevity of his technique to the spiritual and yoga studies he pursued in India.

Ferguson brought charisma to a musical genre that is often seen as cold and cerebral. His obituary in The Washington Post stated:

"Ferguson lit up thousands of young horn players, most of them boys, with pride and excitement. In a (high school) world often divided between jocks and band nerds, Ferguson crossed over, because he approached his music almost as an athletic event. On stage, he strained, sweated, heaved and roared. He nailed the upper registers like Shaq nailing a dunk or Lawrence Taylor nailing a running back – and the audience reaction was exactly the same: the guttural shout, the leap to their feet, the fists in the air. We cheered Maynard as a gladiator, a combat soldier, a prize fighter, a circus strongman – choose your masculine archetype."[12]

Awards and honors
Ferguson was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2003.[13]

In 1950, 1951, and 1952, Ferguson won the Down Beat Readers' Poll for best trumpeter.[14][15][16] In 1992, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.

In 2000, Ferguson was initiated as a brother of Kappa Kappa Psi at the Gamma Xi Chapter (University of Maryland at College Park). In 2006, he was presented with Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity's Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award at its national convention in Cleveland, Ohio. He had been initiated as an honorary member of the Fraternity's Xi Chi Chapter at Tennessee Tech University in 1976.

The Maynard Ferguson Institute of Jazz Studies at Rowan University was created in 2000, the same year Rowan bestowed Ferguson with his only Honorary Doctorate degree. The Institute, under direction of Ferguson's friend Denis Diblasio, supports the Rowan Jazz Program in training young jazz musicians.[17]

Maynard Ferguson band alumni regrouped for a memorial concert soon after his death, led by trumpeters Wayne Bergeron, Patrick Hession, Walter White, and Eric Miyashiro.[18]

In 2000, he was given an Honorary Doctorate Degree by Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, and created the Maynard Ferguson Institute of Jazz Studies under the direction of Denis DiBlasio in their College of Performing Arts. The Sherman Jazz Museum in Sherman, Texas opened in 2010 and houses the extensive memorabilia of Ferguson's estate.