Customer Reviews

New Vintage

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

 

 

Maynard Ferguson's "New Vintage" dates from 1977, around the middle of his contract with Columbia Records. His Columbia recordings were very pop oriented and extremely successful commercially, though when heard today are clearly a product of their time. Ferguson released one album per year and then toured the world, often performing in high school auditoriums and encouraging jazz education with an extremely exciting 12-piece band.

Ferguson's Columbia recordings fall into three vague periods. The first set, from "Alive and Well in London" (1969) to "Chameleon" (1974), featured a vicious band performing both straight-ahead and jazz-rock fusion charts recorded in real-time. His middle period, from "Primal Scream" (1975) to "New Vintage" (1977) incorporated studio musicians and guest soloists and
used extensive studio technique and signal processing. "Conquistidor" (1976) even yielded a top-40 hit, the theme from "Rocky." The recordings from the final period, from "Carnival" (1978) to "Hollywood" (1981), are a mixed bag, often betraying the strain for commercial acceptability, including more obligatory movie/TV themes (Rocky II, Battlestar Galactica), rigid pop covers (Baker Street, Star, 9-to-5), strange hybrid charts featuring background vocals (How Ya Doin' Baby, Toma Topa Woman), some excellent originals (Carnival, Spirit of St. Fredrick, Dayride) and a few straight-ahead standard gems (Aregin, Stella by Starlight, Naima).

"New Vintage" hails from the middle period and has a more cohesive band sound than the studio constructions of "Conquistidor" or "Primal Scream." All but one of the six charts were arranged by Jay Chattaway, who began his career writing for the U.S. Navy and followed his 70's band arranging work with a very successful film/TV scoring career, including hours of music for all the reincarnations of the Star Trek TV series. His moderately funky and accessible arrangements and compositions define the sound of "Primal Scream," "Conquistidor," and "New Vintage."

"New Vintage" follows the formula of "Conquistidor" almost track for track. "Star Wars" has pop hit written all over it, although it did not achieve the chart status of "Rocky." "Oasis" is the smooth brother of "Mister Mellow." A funky "Maria" equals "Star Trek" all the way to the freakish triple-high C nestled in the fade-out of the song. "El Vuelo" is an ersatz Spanish composition
similar to "Conquistidor." "Scheherazade" is a pop-funk classical adaptation in the mold of "Pagliacci" (from "Primal Scream"). "Aregin" is the odd-man out, a frantic traditional bop arrangement by Mike Abene that sounds especially clean with the album's dry production style and make you long for Ferguson's halcyon days with Stan Kenton's band in the early 50's.

While Ferguson's playing lacks the superhuman clarity of his work in the early 50's (he was 48 years old at the time of the recording), in some ways his lyrical tendencies mesh better with the soft-funk of "New Vintage" than the traditional jazz he pursued immediately before and after his Columbia days. The soloists are excellent, including a young Peter Erskine, saxophonist Mark Colby, flautist Bobby Militello and saxophonist Mike Migliore. Most of the sidemen were Ferguson's live band and given the passion and virtuosity they displayed in concert, it is a shame that their talent is often masked by the production technique and intentionally lukewarm scoring.

For those of us band geeks that came of age during this period, those high notes conjure happy memories of band trips and jazz festivals. While Ferguson's best Columbia recordings are, arguably, the early 70's MF-Horn series, none of those recordings are yet available on CD. The three mid-70's recordings have their own charm for those willing to take the time trip, and "New Vintage" may be the best of the bunch.

"New Vintage" is the album that best defines Ferguson's style in this period.
Beginning with his signing with Columbia Records, MF and his orchestra performed jazz/rock versions of well-known pop tunes and TV/movie theme songs. Big Bands had employed this tactic for many years, and this album shows some of Ferguson's best examples of this practice. "Theme from Star Wars", "Maria" (from West Side Story) and the love theme from "Scheherezade" are all very good arrangements, and the latter two have taken a place as some of the most popular Ferguson songs of the era.
Maynard's retake on the Sonny Rollins classic "Airegin" is a remake of a great arrangement done by an earlier version of the band. It isn't as good as the original. but it's still good work.
Ferguson would have been better off ending the album there, but unfortunately, he filled up the space with "Vuelo" and "Oasis". Both songs are pleasant enough, but way too long; while "Vuelo" shows MF's penchant for Spanish/Latin music, both pieces threaten to put the listener to sleep; they're both filler.
Bottom line: "New Vintage" is a very good LP that could have been an unbelieveable EP. I would have released an EP that sold for a couple dollars less.
Ferguson's performance on the album is great; there have been albums where you can tell he had been on the road or that it was the 14th take, or he did two shows the night before; in other words, he sounds tired. NOT SO HERE. His sound and timbre are in great shape, as is his intonation. His solos are a little overdone, but that's Maynard at this point in his career.
Bottom line: If you like Maynard Ferguson, you will love the highlights on this CD, but you'll also be disappointed with the lowlights. I still give the album four stars because the good cuts are that much better than the bad ones; it's still well worth the price because of that alone. As Ferguson turns 75, it's a great example of some of the best he's offered over the years.

Well, well well, I have got to declare that this album contains all that whitehot Ferguson firepower that us devotees have come to expect, and more!!! Maynard really unleashes the full hi-chops artillery. Some fans might be offended by the blatant porny sounding arrangements, however, for my pure MF listening pleasure, Scherezade is top shelf (listen out for Maynard's backing babes and the 'stylish' MF violin cadenza at the start), Oasis is smooth ecstasy, and as for the second half of Maria, BAM! As for Star Wars, I think George Lucas should really consider making Maynard an honourary Jedi and use him on the upcoming film, Episode III. Finally, the CD cover art is the epitome of MF in his full glory. CHECK IT OUT!

Buy this MFGOLD Now!!!

As I recall this was the album between Conquistador and Carnival. During this period Maynard was working with an arranger named Jay Chattaway, who would later do a lot of music for one of the Star Trek shows. "Maria" from West Side Story has always been my favorite track on this one, and the band brings the house down with "Star Wars". "Scheherazade"--how many people can pronounce that at first glance?-- is another powerful example of Maynard and his band coming together powerfully and perfectly. Great album. But then Maynard gave so many of them! I've been replacing my old Maynard albums with CDs and it's such a treat. Haven't listened to these in many years. Now that I'm a member of AARP I enjoy turning the younger generation on to Maynard. Hopefully that's you!

Perhaps because I grew up in the mid-70's, and was first introduced to Maynard Ferguson's music during this time, I prefer the recordings from 75-82 (Primal Scream, Conquistador, Carnival, New Vintage, It's My Time, Hollywood).

To some, they may sound a bit too perfect or over-produced, but to me they sound clean. Many of the recordings before 75 and after 82 sound like a high school band recorded with a cealing microphone.

Using Studio-quality drummers such as Steve Gadd and Peter Erskine enhanced the overall quality of the recordings. Take average musicians and add a top-notch drummer and you've got a chance at making decent music. Kudos to Maynard Ferguson and may he rest in peace as he brought so much joy to the lives of his long-term fans. Fads may come and go, but Maynard's music stands the test of time!

Many of us who play trumpet learned by playing along with MF and Mangione records in the seventies. There is some overly commercial stuff here, but Airegin is worth the price of the CD. It is an old Slide Hampton chart, and Peter Erskine's drumming here rivals Buddy Rich even on a good day. Mike Migliore and Biff Hannon solo as if they'd been stuck playing disco for the whole rest of the session (I wonder why). It is also nice to hear MF come in on lead trumpet during the "shout chorus" before the A section at the end. And Erskine's last last seven notes are incredibly hip.

This Maynard album is one of his best ever.It has a great production and the songs are simply fantastic.I saw Maynard in concert in 1978 and 1989.He was the best trumpet player i ever heard.

I'm excited to finally have Maynard Ferguson's NEW VINTAGE on CD, because growing up in the 1970s I discovered Maynard's trumpet virtuosity from his albums coming out at that time, and this one was my favorite. It's great to hear it without inner groove distortion, surface noise, and all the other irritations we used to tolerate on LP records! Still, NEW VINTAGE had terrific sound quality for an LP, and the CD sound is even better.

When this album came out in 1977, Maynard was in the middle of his jazz-pop fusion phase that some jazz purists fuss about, but I like the best of it that much of NEW VINTAGE represents. Unlike other reviewers here, my favorite track on this has always been "Oasis," not only for the music itself but also because I love the mellow sound of Maynard playing flugelhorn on that one. As some have pointed out, the "Main Title" from "Star Wars" does sound like it's striving to be another hit to copy Maynard's success with "Gonna Fly Now," but WOW it's exciting nonetheless. And although I love Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral piece "Scheherazade," I feel like the arrangement of it on here is just not very good, and I don't like the raspy flute there either. I've always found it humorous that the album ends with the straight jazz number "Airegin," which is an exciting up tempo piece. It's as if Maynard missed his earlier career when he was playing straight jazz.

As other reviewers have rhapsodized about, Maynard's horn playing on this whole album is thrilling. In fact, all the musicians on here sound terrific. Another that stands out is Mark Colby on saxophones, partly because I love the "Oasis" piece that he's prominent on. I should also note the beautiful cover of the trumpet in ice - I may frame my original LP cover. Incidentally, most of the text and photos that are reproduced from the original LP are absurdly small on a CD and should have been re-done. For that carelessness, as well as some excesses on NEW VINTAGE such as "Scheherazade," I gave this CD 4 stars instead of 5.

In sum, NEW VINTAGE is not the best of Maynard Ferguson's recordings, and it's not straight jazz if you want that, but I highly recommend it for the great performances and as a good example of jazz-pop fusion.

Like so many musicians growing up in the late 60s and early 70s, I was exposed to Maynard's music as his commercialism started to put him over the top. Some of his album cuts sound muddy and even become unlistenable because they are little more than a vehicle for his showmanship, and this album is no exception. The best cut on this album, in my opinion, is "Maria." He backs off on the showboating long enough to let the sweetness of the song shine through, and it makes you want to hit the repeat button. If you can't download the MP3, then buy the CD if only for this one track. It's worth it.

Maynard Ferguson understood that jazz can have a lasting impact on the lives of young people and should be enjoyed by as many listeners as possible.

His years with Columbia Records/CBS, Inc. found him delving into arrangements for popular songs, conducting workshops for high-school and college musicians & performing gigs in high-school auditoriums or other "non-traditional" settings for a performer with such legendary credentials.

This 1977 release is an outstanding example of how Ferguson would mix pop, Main Title (From the 20th Century-Fox Film "Star Wars") and Maria (From "West Side Story"), with other selections - Scheherazade, El Vuelo (The Flight) and Airegin - to showcase his big band and soloists, along with giving him space for his hot chops on trumpet.

Ferguson survived the big band era and the rise of rock-n-roll by understanding the universal message of music. He may have been from the old-school, but his vision was always of a new vintage.