I said 'hey'

As is often a case when there is a major news event the public is obsessed with, all other events get pushed out of the way. One can remember how the death of Mother Teresa was quickly eclipsed by the death of Princess Diana. Or how, when the Rwandan Genocide (which went on to kill a million people in 100 days) broke out, it wasn't was newsworthy as the suicide of Kurt Cobain. News, unfortunately, is the result of what sells easily to the public.

As we all know, the John Michael Karr is the media's latest obsession...this morning Beth and I got to see the very newsorthy coverage of a live video feed of the plane carrying Karr from LA to Colorado...I was on pins and needles...a great use of the media's time...not...

As I checked the news on MSNBC this morning, I did notice a headline, buried down in the front page and replaced the next hour: "Trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, dead at 78" I'm sure most don't recognize that name. He never achived the popular following of say Miles Davis or Dizzy Gillespie, and was mostly dismissed by jazz purists, but among his fans (primarily other trumpet players, I'm sure) he was magical.

What made him so good? He could play very high notes. Well, it's more than that...but it is what he's most known for. For those who haven't played the trumpet or other brass instruments, this is probably hard to appreciate. Playing exceptionally high notes, especially in a controlled manner is quite difficult to do. I still remember listening to him with my fellow trumpet players in high school. We'd pass the tape player back and forth on the bus on our way to different schools to play in the pep band. We were awestruck. Trumpet players, especially, are a cocky bunch, always trying to one-up one another by playing higher notes...but, there is no competing with Maynard...listening to him knocks the wind out of you. I was fortunate enough to see Maynard in concert a few years ago and was again awestruck at his talent.

I've long since given up playing the trumpet...I sold my crappy, old student model for $100 to someone just picking up the instrument. I don't even listen to Maynard that often, I really couldn't say that he's among my favorite musicians. When his songs come up on my iPod, I usually skip past them, on to the rock/pop choices that dominate my playlists...I'm a lyrics guy, what can I say? And honestly, a lot of his songs are fairly cheesy, musically speaking. A lot of them are jazzed up versions of 70's disco music. He is well known for his rendition of the Rocky theme song "Gonna Fly Now" He has also played the theme to the original Star Trek and the theme song to the movie "Shaft" Like I said...cheesy. But, the way he plays those trumpet solos still get me excited.

Like I said, I got the privilige of seeing Maynard perform a couple of years ago. Beth and I went to see him at Jazz Alley in Seattle. We weren't able to get great seats up front, so we sat towards the back, near the bar. While waiting for the show to begin, watching some no name group on stage, I'm sure, I notice a door to the side of the club open and an older, portly man enter and walk towards the back. I realized that this is Maynard himself, from the few pictures I have seen. He passes right by where we are sitting. Casually I say "hey"...he said "hey" back. The performance was great, of course, an answer to a childhood dream tucked away but not forgotten.

I remember talking to my former boss upon learning that he used to play the trumpet in college. I asked him if he had heard of Maynard Ferguson so I could share my story of seeing him in concert. He said that he and his friends liked to listen to him and were amazed at his talent. As I listened to Maynard on my iPod, the first time in a while, I realized that he may never be very well known, there will always be young trumpet players listening, floored my this man's "chops" I know that for a couple of band-geeks in the mid-90's, he was a magician.