Search - Maynard Ferguson :: M.F.Horn 2 & The Ballad Style of Maynard Ferguson

The "MF Horn 2" tracks are required listening; the rest is a

Steve Frazier | Seattle | 09/12/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Maynard Ferguson's late 60's and 70's LPs have been re-released as CD's in a rather haphazard way but at least his most important LP's of the period are finally making it to CD. If you are Maynard collector, you need to have this CD because it contains some of the key tracks that helped revive Maynard's career in the early 70's.



This CD consists of the music from two different LP's out of the four LP's that Maynard recorded for British Columbia, largely with a British band, during 1968-72, when he was living in the UK.



One of the LP's included here is the first LP Maynard recorded during his 4-year stint in Britain, called "The Ballad Style of Maynard Ferguson." It was recorded in 1969 and is included on this CD as tracks 9 through 19.



The second LP included on this CD is the real gem here -- the LP was called "MF Horn 2," and it was the 4th LP that Maynard recorded with a British band (recorded in 1972). "MF Horn 2" is represented here as tracks 1 through 8.



The difference between the two is pretty striking (see comments below), and you really can mark the resurgence in Maynard's career by noting the difference between the two.



By now, the schedule of Maynard LP re-releases has gotten totally confusing. To clear up the early 70's chronology (as near as I can tell), the order of his LP's and their CD re-release status is like this:

- Ballad Style of Maynard Ferguson (included here)

- MF Horn (now out on CD - get it)

- Maynard Ferguson (now out on CD - get it)

- MF Horn 2 (included here)

- MF Horn 3 (which has been released by the same British label that did this)

- Live at Jimmy's, aka MF Horn 4 & 5 (which has been packaged with the MF Horn 3 CD re-release.).

- Then finally "Chameleon," which has been out for awhile on CD (get it). That takes Maynard up to the mid-70's, and generally most of his work after that has been available for some time.



So, the key tracks on this CD -- the "MF Horn 2" tracks 1 through 8 -- fall right in the middle of Maynard's mid-career revival and are, indeed, required listening to Maynard devotees. They're representative of his early 70's style -- mostly pop/rock standards of the day done in a jazz/rock/pop hybrid style with a lot of horns, a lot of bass, and lots of screamin' soloing by Maynard.



"Give it One," the opener on this CD, is a Maynard classic, and a staple of his live concerts in the 70's, along with "Hey Jude," the final cut of the MF Horn 2 album. "Spinning Wheel" is an interesting arrangement of a pop classic; as is "Shaft".



So, any guesses why these two albums were laid down on this CD in reverse chronological order? I think it's because the 1969 ballad tracks are such snoozers that it would have been too jarring to put them first on the CD. As a result, the way this CD is arranged, you have 8 pretty lively tracks first and then suddenly at track 9 this CD falls into a deep sleep that's a bit jarring.



True, it's great to hear Maynard cut loose on some pop ballads (esp. Maria and Somewhere), and his high-register playing is, as usual, completely amazing. But the arrangements are so sickly-sweet, and the song choice so dated, that it really is hard to listen to most of the ballad tracks more than once. It's for trumpet geeks only, I'm afraid, and even for them it can be hard slog to sit through.



Net:

- This is not the best place to start an early 70's Maynard collection (I would start w/"Maynard Ferguson," "Chameleon," or the new "MF Horn 3" & "Live at Jimmy's" two-CD set that is promised soon).

- If you are out to get a complete set of Maynard, of course, you have to own the MF Horn 2 tracks, and they are worth the price of admission here.



Think of this as a required purchase of MF Horn 2 and the other tracks are thrown in for free.



My final rating is a mix: kudos to the record company for prying away the rights from Columbia to get this re-issued; 10 stars for some god-like trumpet playing; 5 stars for "Give it One" alone; and some heavy penalty points for some of the ballad tracks.



Finally: R.I.P. Maynard -- a great musician, a great educator, and a great entertainer."

A Great Album Coupled With A Puzzling One...Finally on CD

Douglas R. Miner | 09/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I was among the many who pre-ordered this package from Amazon, with no little anticipation. I first heard the MF Horn 2 material a year after it was released in 1972, and in the last thirty-odd years have gone through at least half-a-dozen copies of the LP. The "Ballad Style" material was unknown to me until the advent of eBay, but I never considered myself well-heeled enough to justify the $200 plus price tag. I must say that I can not recall being as wound up waiting for a CD to arrive in the mail...then the suspense of finally ripping off the shrinkwrap and dropping the disc in the player...truly sublime! At least it was until I heard the music. Don't misunderstand, I am genuinely grateful to have this music in CD format. But, folks, with all due respect to Dutton/Vocalion, I have to say that after some 25 years of digital recording and mastering, I thought we had come farther in our quest for sonic nirvana. Arguably, the MF Horn 2 tracks do sound just exactly like the LP. No harm, no foul, unless your ears are like mine, and have always thought that the mix was a little muddy in the bottom; or that some of the lead trumpet lines could have been a bit more prominent in the mix (most notably the high F# [concert E] in the bridge of 'Shaft'). Maybe I'm losing my hearing. All in all, I prefer my own home-computer digital audio rendering of this material to that of this CD. Enough has already been said about the truncated electric piano solo on "Country Road". The rest of the program, "The Ballad Style of Maynard Ferguson" really belongs in a whole different bag...it's a pleasant listen, sort of like a slightly hipper Bert Kaempfert album from the same period. In 1969, easy listening was still a significant segment of the LP market, and arranger Keith Mansfield had done his share of session work with pop stars (some Tom Jones singles come to mind). It's not really surprising that CBS would test the waters with some pop tunes. It's a tactic that Roulette had used with Maynard in the early 60's and that Columbia would use again several years later with the post MF Horn albums. "The Ballad Style..." in all is hardly to be considered essential MF listening; however, moments of absolute beauty can be found here and there (check out "Somewhere"). THANKS MUCH to Dutton/Vocalion for finally bringing this music out."

MF2 / Ballad Style

Michael Minn | New York City | 03/15/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have to reluctantly agree with other reviewers that this collection is not the best representation of Ferguson's work. While those of us that grew up listening to MF2 have a sentimental attachment to it, it is firmly a product of its time. Only two of the eight cuts are original compositions and, in my opinion, they have aged better than the other six covers of pop tunes of the day. For those unfamiliar with Ferguson's early 70's work, the first MF Horn album, or the MF 3/4/5 collection would be a better starting point. For those looking for first introduction to Maynard, his 1950's recordings are recommended, such as: "Wow - The Formative Years", "Verve Jazz Masters 52", the Birdland Dreamband CDs or any of the things he did with Kenton.



But unlike some other reviewers, I would suggest that the "Ballad Style" half of the CD is, in some ways, more interesting than MF2. Ferguson rarely recorded with strings and it's nice to hear him in a large ensemble context. While the MF Horn albums stayed in print well into the 80s, the Ballad Style album apparently came and went fairly quickly and may represent previously unheard material even to those who followed Maynard closely. That being said, with the exception of the two fairly good West Side Story cuts (which he also recorded on other albums with different arrangements), the song selection is tepid late-60's pop or show tunes and Maynard does not seem terribly comfortable with the material or the orchestrations. But it can be very interesting and instructive to hear how a performer deals with adversity and those with a deep interest in Maynard should definitely hear these tracks, at least once.



The sound quality of MF2 is pretty good, and although I don't know how it compares with the Wounded Bird CD of the same material, it's on par with the vinyl versions in my closet. On the other hand, the sound quality of the "Ballad Style" cuts is cloudy, although it's hard to know whether that is because of the quality of the original recordings (probable), the condition of the master tapes (that probably sat untouched for 35 years), or the decisions of the mastering engineer (unlikely).



A comment was made about a mastering problem with a few seconds cut off the beginning of "Country Road". It's an amorphous improvised electric piano introduction and unless you are intimately familiar with the cut as it was originally released, you probably won't notice the missing seconds."