Personnel:
Maynard Ferguson (tp, vtb), Milt Bernhart (tb), Bud Shank, Herb Geller (as), Bob Cooper (ts), Bob Gordon (bs), Russ Freeman, Claude Williamson (p), Curtis Counce, John Simmons (b), Shelly Manne, Max Roach (d)
Reference: FSRCD 383
Bar code: 8427328603836
For these two jam sessions Maynard Ferguson assembled two different groups made up of his friends, musicians with whom he had lived and worked for several years. On the first of the sessions presented on this CD we can hear Bud Shank on alto sax, Bob Cooper on tenor sax, Bob Gordon on baritone sax, Russ Freeman on piano, Curtis Counce on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums. Also on this date Maynard is featured on the piece "Somebody loves me" with a valve-trombone solo.
On the segond session, Herb Geller replaces Shank, Milt Bernhart is added on trombone and the rhythm section is now made up of Claude Williamson on piano, John Simmons on bass, and drummer Max Roach, who was living at the time on the West Coast and playing at the Lighthouse. Until then, Maynard has always felt restricted by the standard length of blowing time on recordings, even on supposedly unlimited time records. And, like most musicians he was acutely conscious of the reproduction of sound. He suffered from the lack of both. That's why it can be said that Maynard was never really heard as a soloist before he made these recordings in February 1954.
