Watermelon Man – Late 1960s
Maynard Ferguson
The brilliant trumpeter and his British big band
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Maynard Ferguson was a phenomenon who, when he arrived on the American jazz scene in the late 1940s, could hit higher notes than any other trumpeter up to that point.
He never lost that ability through decades of gigs and travels although he could also play very credible solos in his lower registers.
Ferguson led his finest big band in the United States during 1958-64, lived in India for a period, and then spent a few years in England where he led an excellent orchestra.
It is from that latter period that this performance of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” dates.
Ferguson, tenor-saxophonist Brian Smith and pianist Pete Jackson all make colorful statements during a soulful version of the Latin jazz standard.
-Scott Yanow
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