Customer Reviews

Conquistador

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In 1977, I attended my 3rd MF concert at the Prom Center in St. Paul. Conquistador done live convinced me to expand my own musical horizons, and drove me to become a better ensemble player, but more than that, infused me with the passion to improvise. The entire band filtered into the audience while Maynard and the rhythm section remained onstage, one musician every 20 feet or so, and created an aural vision which to this day blows me away - Mark Colby stood within 6 feet of me and the power and passion he wrung out of his tenor sax during his extended solo absolutely stunned me. I think I forgot to breathe.
It may have been Maynard's first appearance in a jump suit, or maybe the first time he showed up with bi-focals, which he joked about self-depracatingly, but the vision did not detract from the power...it elevated his considerable reputation. If you ever doubt Maynard's technical virtuousity, take one of his vinyl albums from the MF Horn to Conquistador era, and play it at 16 rpm, so he sounds like he's playing a trombone...your ear cannot hear it when he plays, but Maynard actually hits and clearly intones more notes per second than you would have thought possible. The Lip is quicker than the Ear.
The defining tune at the height of Maynard's Columbia era isn't Theme from Rocky, it is Conquistador. Listen and live the Power of "Boss".

Speaking as a schooled musician (both classical and jazz) I implore all jazz purists to get off their high horses and admit that conquistador is one of the benchmark albums of great brass driven jazz/rock. With around 100 albums to his credit over the past 49 years, Maynard has touched upon various styles of jazz, big band and smaller combos and in the 70's, big surprise! rock and disco! Was such a direction commercially motivated? Most certainly. Most of the jazz greats who were still active at the time had found themselves admitting the influence of rock and funk. Heck, Miles Davis initiated this move towards rock in the late 60's!
The fact is, good music is good music whether its played on all acoustic instruments to a swing beat or electrified to a disco rock beat. Maynard and all his collaborators on Conquistador elevate potentially banal forms,(disco) and make something that is driven, funky, beautiful and exciting in the highest sense. And hearing something like "Star Trek" or Mr.Mellow in all their 70's inflected arrangements brings an indulgent smile to my face everytime! By all means, check out earlier Maynard too! There's a rich lode of great music to be mined. (Provided you can find them on CD: What a crime.) But don't miss out on this album or "Carnival" (on Wounded Bird Records) and Columbia! how about reissuing "MF Horn 2" Been waiting 15 years for it!

I agree with other reviewers - great album to start with for someone who's never heard MF. It was for me back in 1982. Rocky is nothing shy of aural adrenaline, but the two songs that really hit me are Conquistador(very haunting) and Soar Like an Eagle (every day becomes a hot sunny summer day and life is great). Star Trek (too much disco, though not as much as MF got into on Pagliacci, Rocky II, etc.) and The Fly just don't do it for me, keeping this from being 5 stars.

I had this album on vinyl when it came out in the 70's and wanted it on CD. Classic, Classic Maynard Ferguson!

When I first got his album,I thought I listen to some several songs that were even good like "Conquistador","Mister Mellow","Gonna Fly Now", and "The Fly" were even my 4 favorites on this album. I remember when I got it on CD, I hear that he's doing a great work on "Gonna Fly Now" and "The Fly" which me made some jazz chops on the trumpet just like I got his second album called "M.F. Horn 3". He usually make a great line of trumpet notes to make every high note fly like a piccolo. He even does that kind of trumpet style. I think I enjoy listen to his album he did with good brass work from the trumpets and slow sound from gutiarist George Benson in "Mister Mellow".

Maynard Ferguson is without a doubt a great trumpet player, a great band leader, and a wonderful judge of talent as evidenced by his ability to surround himself with some of the best jazz musicians in the world. What he lacked during the 1970's was a clear vision of what he wanted to be. Just when he had built a strong momentum with "Live at Jimmy's" and "Chameleon he takes a left turn into "Primal Scream" and this collection. "Conquistador" shows Maynard at his indecisive best (or worst). A great version of Theme from Rocky (which actually got air-play on top 40 radio) is then followed by a trite ditty called Mister Mellow. There's even lyrics ("Mister Mellow, Mister Meeellllooow"). Star Trek is good if only to hear the awesome flute of Bobby Militelo(?). The title song is hauntingly good and The Fly isn't too bad as a device to let Mark Colby out to wow you on sax. The biggest problem this album had was the success it had due to Rocky. For the next three or so albums Maynard tried to duplicate that success using other movie themes (Star Wars, Rocky II, and a quick re-release of Star Trek when they started making movies of it again). It wasn't until after the albums "Festival" and "Hot" that he started to retrace his routes and get back to just playing the music he liked. This isn't a bad collection, it's just not where I would recommend you start if looking for your first Maynard CD.

I have the vinyl edition from the 70's. It was wonderful getting this on CD. Crisp, Clean, clear and packed with energy. No one ever played trumpet better.

I've always enjoyed Maynard's big band stuff but this is a bit too blatantly commercial. There are some good players here, but the music is not great jazz. It is something to be heard as background music but it's not a "Play it over and over and find new levels of joy and appreciation each and every time" kind of album. It was commercially successful for him (and "Rocky" theme composer Bill Conti, too!) but not superlative. Bobby Militello is outstanding in his flute work here. And George Benson and the other guest artists are fine, too. Just not as much fun as Maynard's earlier stuff for me...

Like a true Conquistador, this album lays siege to listeners until you have surrendured to the haunting trumpet calls in Conquistador. This tune if fantastic, from lyrical sweet melody to menacing march of the conquering horn section. This single tune overshadows the rest of the album, but does not undermine it. Gonna Fly Now is Maynard's pop classic and pratically his secondary theme song behind Blue Birdland. The Fly, unfortunately can't be over too soon. Bob James does some wonderful things as he Soars Like and Eagle into the future; always a pleasure. Mister Mellow is pleasant treat with George Benson stepping in to tune up this chill-out tune, relaxing and enjoyable. I've always liked the melody from the Theme From Star Trek, so it's hard to ruin that for me even if it takes on a pop feel, but Star Trek, with Bobby Militello is reminiscent of his solo in Pagliacci on Maynard's Primal Scream album, so that keeps it together for me on this tune.

A very enjoyable album with Maynard's typical experiements into popdom to try to capture more than just the jazz crowd.

Kevin Bret
CEO, Kevin Brett Studios, Inc.
Author: "The Way of the Martial Artist: Achieving Success in Martial Arts and in Life"
The Way of the Martial Artist: Achieving Success in Martial Arts and in Life!

Producer: The Art of Intelligent Driving (DVD)
The Art of Intelligent Driving

This recording takes me to those "Good Ole Days" back in high school. In '77, our marching band performed Gonna Fly Now for our football routine as part of a three song ensumble. Maynard's arrrangment is better by leaps and bounds over the original by Bill Conti. I used to practice it at home, playing my trombone along with the record. We competed at the "Parade of Champions" that year in Philadelphia using this routine: there was no compitition!
Maynard had this in common with Kenton: when they released a new album, you never knew just exactly what you were getting. Both were willing to experiment with new sounds and technics! This is a must have for big band jazz lovers of all ages!