SOUND AND VISION

RC revisits a classic music TV or film moment Maynard Ferguson, Jon Hendricks, Sylvia McNeill, Arrival, Vemu Makunda The World Of Maynard Ferguson (LWT/ITV broadcast 23 August 1970)

- By David Noades

It was August 1970 when the good people of Britain were introduced to “The World” of Canadian jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson. With a career spanning 20 years and with as many albums under his belt, Fergie (to his friends) was already a respected master of the trumpet on the jazz scene in America, and was now living in England. He was already the house band for The Simon Dee Show but here he was allowed to go a bit wild.

Broadcast late on a Sunday night, this was a showcase for the man’s music and his spiritual beliefs alongside some special guests. Since it was produced by Bryan Izzard, you knew you were in for a musical and a visual treat, and it doesn’t disappoint. It kicks off with Maynard and his band, made up of top British jazz session players, arriving by coach at the now demolished LWT studios in Wembley. The producer adds some humour here with the band rushing headlong into the studio because they’re late, in the process bumping into a tea lady and the harassed floor manager. Then Ferguson, clad in an unflattering grey polyester safari suit, breathlessly introduces the show and the first number. Composed by Keith Mansfield (based on a KPM library track), L Dopa is an intricate, multi-sectioned piece, albeit a shorter version of the infectious 12-minute epic found on Ferguson’s latest Mansfield-produced album MF Horn. It features some superb sax solos from Pete King and Danny Moss and of course Fergie on both trumpet and trombone.