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Perfect Album: Newport Message

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Over three days in May 1958, Maynard Ferguson's band was in New York to record an album for Roulette. The result was A Message From Newport, one of the most powerful big band albums ever recorded. That July, the Ferguson band performed at Freebody Park in Newport, R.I., at the Newport Jazz Festival. The band played a brief set for the CBS radio network early in the evening and then returned to open the second part of the concert. The nine songs on the album were performed at Newport that evening, either for radio or the concert.

The band was comprised of Maynard Ferguson (tp,v-tb) (above); Bill Chase, Clyde Reasinger and Tom Slaney (tp); Slide Hampton (tb, arr); Don Sebesky (tb,arr); Jimmy Ford (as); Carmen Leggio (ts); Willie Maiden (ts,arr); Jay Cameron (bar); John Bunch (p); Jimmy Rowser (b); Jake Hanna (d) and Bob Friedman (arr).

The album's songs were The Fugue (composed and arranged by Slide Hampton), Fan It Janet (Don Sebesky), The Waltz (Hampton), And We Listened (Bob Freedman), Tag Team (Willie Maiden), Slide's Derangement (Hampton), Humbug (Sebesky), Frame for the Blues (Maynard Ferguson) and Three Little Foxes (Hampton).

The music, from the opening notes, takes off like a stallion, and each composition and arrangement is absolutely perfect. The energy and the muscular sleekness of this band is extraordinary, with stellar songs. In 1958, at a moment in time when the big band seemed to be in rapid decline except for those who led one in the 1940s, Ferguson proved that with exceptional talent and strong leadership, a well-rehearsed orchestra could still knock the socks off young listeners.

Maynard Ferguson died in 2006.

JazzWax clip: Here's Bob Freedman's And We Listened...



And here's Don Sebesky's Fan It, Janet...

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This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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