Customer Reviews

Message From Birdland

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For nearly two decades, CD releases of vintage Maynard recordings from the 1950s and early 1960s have had a bad habit of appearing briefly on the market and then disappearing. It remains to be seen whether the classic tracks released since Maynard's passing in August 2006 will be more durable, but just in case, buy this one before it goes away. These tracks first appeared on CD as part of a 1994 release titled "The Complete Roulette Recordings of the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra," but that set is long gone.
This 1959 live performance at Birdland in New York features hot arrangements and hot solos from every section of the band. Three of Maynard's best arrangers - tenor saxophonist Willie Maiden and trombonists Slide Hampton and Don Sebesky - are on this session, and their writing is well represented in the selections. Slide Hampton's work is particularly impressive: his original composition "The Mark of Jazz," his arrangement of Sonny Rollins' "Oleo," and his unique treatment of the standard "Stella by Starlight," which starts in the typical ballad style but builds continuously to the surprise ending. The CD is worth the investment for these three charts alone.
Other noteworthy sidemen on this session are Don Ellis on trumpet, Joe Zawinul on piano, and Jimmy Ford on alto sax, who plays up a storm on all of his solos.
The original LP release included the first seven tracks. The CD has five bonus tracks, two of which are alternate takes. The others are the trumpet section feature "Three More Foxes" (a little slower tempo than Maynard's two later recordings of this chart, but great solos), "Sea Isle Stomp" (a hard-driving Don Sebesky chart with equally hard-driving solos), and a short get-off-the-stage rendition of the band's theme "Blue Birdland" (with some talking by the club's announcer).
This was Maynard's finest era. In this album he clearly demonstrates that he could do more than just play high and loud - he could improvise with the best of them, keeping the great jazz licks flowing at any tempo. This is exciting stuff, a must-have for Maynard fans and anyone who digs jazz trumpet and high-octane big band music.

I purchased the monophonic LP around 1965. A few years ago I downloaded the tracks (also by Blue Note Mosaic) from Galaxy. For anyone wondering about the mastering quality of this CD, it is perfect--as superb as any Japanese CD in fact. There's no fake reverb added, no digital "enhancement" junk--just a true reproduction of the analog audio, which has a kind of "Newport" quality to it.

And it sizzles, as does Maynard's Conn CONNstellation trumpet and his band. Just wait till you hear "Stella by Starlight," an extended performance of a killer arrangement that features many of the band's soloists, including drummer Frankie Dunlop and alto saxophonist Jimmy Ford, who was a part of the early bebop scene but was seldom recorded.

By the way, another great Roulette release was Maynard's MESSAGE FROM NEWPORT, an outstanding session even if it was actually recorded in the studio, not on the bandstand at Freebody Park. Like my all-time favorite Maynard album SWINGIN' MY WAY THROUGH COLLEGE, I don't think MESSAGE is currently available, though LP copies of MESSAGE are plentiful on eBay.

And I wonder if Maynard's 1961 Newport performance was recorded/released ever. Then there's another out-of-print Maynard-Newport, that I've never heard, NEWPORT SUITE from 1960 I believe. And yes Mosaic has released the complete Roulette sessions...but my wallet is not quite as complete.

THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS BUT AMAZON SAYS I'M NOT IN GOOD STANDING. I CAN NO LONGER REPLY TO YOUR COMMENTS.

This band was smoking hot from about 1957-60. Sometimes it was called the Birdland Dream Band. The album was recorded in June 1959. Many top notch soloists were in this group. Such as Jimmy Ford, who was called The White Bird. Jimmy had previously played tenor at the Royal Roost with Tadd Dameron and recorded on alto with Red Rodney. Particularly, his sound was Birdlike on The Mark of Jazz (two takes), his exciting urgency and fluency are evidenced particularly well also on Oleo and Stella By Starlight. Carmen Leggio had a steaming tenor solo on the alternate take of The Mark Of Jazz. Jerry Tyree has a nice trumpet solo on Oleo as does pianist Joe Zawinul. Arrangements and fine trombone playing on many tunes by Slide Hampton. Frankie Dunlop drove things well on drums. Hopefully two other currently unavailable albums will be rereleased. They are Message From Newport and Newport Suite. But, for the time being be ready to blast off on this album.

I HAVE THIS ALBUM IN 331/3 THANKS FOR REDOING IT, AND UPDATING THE EXTRA TRACKS AND PEWEE MARQUET. IT MAKES ME FEEL JUST LIKE I WAS SITTING IN THE JAZZ CORNER OF THE WORLD.

This collection is the best I've seen for this big band legend. Great arrangements and as always extraordinary trumpet solos by the master.

1. I'm going to admit up front, that I'm not from the 1950 Maynard era (I wasn't even born then). With that being said, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate good music from that era, however probably not as much as someone who saw / listened to Maynard during this time.

2. The main problem with this CD is that the recording (as expected) reflects the limited technology of the time. Thus for anyone who is not accustomed to listening to recordings from this era, it might come as a... disappointment to hear the various imperfections of the recording (ex: overt distortion at times).

3. Thus, if one is a diehard Maynard fan from the "old days", then this recording is probably a must buy. For the "new generation" Maynard fans (ie something from the Carnaval era), expecting or wanting to hear music without distortion or various overt recording imperfections, then you will probably want to pass on this recording. As per one of the reviewers, just to hear the most excellent version of Stella by Starlight was worth the price of this CD.