Maynard Ferguson - Storm (1983)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD.

I was perusing some jazz album charts from 1983 - as one does - saw this album mentioned and remembered buying it when I was in high school. Well, couple that memory with an admitted eBay problem plus a PayPal balance, and yada yada yada, this CD appeared in my mailbox [spoiler alert: more than one 1983 jazz CD may have arrived in said mailbox at the time].

And this album is just as I remember, more jazz than pop, four good tracks, three forgettable tracks, and one track so bad I'd wiped it from my memory. Still, you buy a Ferguson CD to hear screaming trumpet and Maynard is in fine form here, for the most part. There's no liner notes on my CD insert, but this Discogs post claims the cuts were "recorded live to two tracks on June 23 and 24, 1982 at Ocean Way Recorders, Hollywood, California" which explains the occasional clam and tuning issues. Despite its drawbacks, I'm glad I got a chance to revisit the album.

Billboard, July 30, 1983, p. 53

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz: #38
• Radio & Records Jazz Radio National Airplay: #7

Tracks: The best track is clever arrangement of the theme to Sesame Street, which greatly appealed to me as a teenager and I still dig it. The other three keepers are Admiral's Horn, Hit In The Head, and the Strayhorn standard, Take the A Train. Skip the other standard, As Time Goes By. Despite a stellar arrangement and great saxophone work throughout, Maynard sings and that's more than this guy can handle.

The Grammy nomination mentioned above was for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the cover of Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough on the Hollywood album. It lost to the Flock Of Seagulls song, DNA.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  I've told this bit before, but my fellow trumpeters and I loved Maynard in high school, but my college trumpet-playing classmates looked down on him. Screw 'em. If I want to blast Sesame Street on the Markmobile's Pioneer tape deck as I cruise around rural northeast Texas with my car windows down, I'll damn sure do it. And did.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Master of the Stratosphere (1997)
Hollywood (1982)
The Best Of Maynard Ferguson (1980)
Chameleon (1974)/Conquistador (1977)/Hot (1979)