Label Artists

Don Ellis

Don Ellis was a jazz trumpeter, drummer, bandleader, recording artist, arranger and composer (The French Connection is one of his best scores).

Born in Los Angeles in on July 25, 1934, he died of a heart attack at his home in North Hollywood on December 17, 1978.

Ellis is perhaps best known for his unusual and complex meters, he often used 9/4, 5/8, 7/8, 9/8, and 19/4 time signatures, he also worked in quarter-tone melodic structures and had his own 4 valve quarter tone trumpet. In later years, he played a "superbone," a combination valve and slide trombone also the "Firebird Trumpet", slide trumpet both instruments designed by Maynard Ferguson.

Ellis received Grammy nominations for Live at Monterey (1967), Electric Bath (1968), The New Don Ellis Band Goes Underground (1969), Don Ellis at Fillmore (1970), and "Theme from The French Connection" (1972). "Theme from The French Connection" won the Grammy for "Best Instrumental Arrangement" in 1972.

We are delighted here at Sleepy Night Records to have the opportunity to release this CD about this amazing musical genius that is...Don Ellis.

Maynard Ferguson

Jazz legend Maynard Ferguson far surpasses the title "trumpet player"; he is an internationally famous big-band leader, one of the world's great brass players, and instrument designer, record producer, composer, arranger, producer of film soundtracks, and dedicated teacher.

He is also a three-time Grammy Award nominee and Down Beat magazine award winner. The prolific bandleader has recorded over 60 albums in his lifetime. The alumni list of his band members over four decades reads like a Who's Who of the jazz world: Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Bill Chase, Bob James, Slide Hampton, Wayne Shorter, Greg Bissonette, Peter Erskine, Joe Zawinul, Willie Maiden, and Don Ellis are just some of the greats Ferguson's bands have bred.

Ferguson emerged from big-band swing and worked his way through jazz, bebop, rock, funk, disco, and fusion. When he wasn't actually playing his horn, he conducted, cueing his men, or just snapped his fingers and enjoyed the music. He has been a hustler, a tireless worker, and remarkably generous with his musical abilities.

Few careers have spanned so many different forms of music, tribute indeed to Ferguson's flexibility and staying power.

In 1968 and 1969 Ferguson taught at the Krishnamurtl-based Rhishi Valley School near Madras, India, which widened both his spiritual and musical horizons. He took his family with him to India, and they eventually moved to England.

There Ferguson toured as the leader of a band called Top Brass. He also manufactured personally designed trumpets and mouthpieces from his home in Manchester. This lead to a friendship with Ernie Garside who was responsible for managing MF and helped him put together British Big Band which started the new phase of his career.

In 1969 Ernie Garside arranged for Ferguson to sign with CBS Records in England and created a repertoire for his new British band in which pop and rock songs were rearranged into a big band format, with electronic amplification. This was Ferguson's response to the psychedelic sixties. He produced contemporary arrangements of late 1960s and early 1970s hits like "MacArthur Park" and the Beatles' "Hey Jude." Ferguson's recording of "Gonna Fly Now," - the theme from the hit film Rocky - catapulted Maynard into mainstream popularity with a Top-10 single, a gold album, and a Grammy nomination in 1978.

His album Conquistador, from which "Gonna Fly Now" sprang, earned Ferguson an unusual place in the history of music; with Conquistador, he alone was able to crack the pop charts in 1977. Ferguson's efforts helped rekindle the public's interest in big bands; his fanfare solos, along with his expertise on several brass instruments - often demonstrated in a single performance - set a dazzling example of sheer technical virtuosity.

Maynard Ferguson died in August 2006. "Gabriel the Angel" now has competition in Heaven and is now playing 2nd trumpet!

Sean G

Sean G is "The Lonely Boy" ...coming soon!

www.thelonelyboy.co.uk

Website: www.Sean-G.com

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