Maynard Ferguson To Perform At April Jazz Festival
Press Release Date: 02-23-2006
Legendary jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson will return to the Durant, Okla., area as the headliner act at the Lake Texoma Jazz Festival April 22, 2006, at the Catfish Bay Marina on Lake Texoma.
Ferguson and his Big Bop Nouveau Jazz Band will be the final group on a day filled with performances of jazz bands from Oklahoma and Texas.
Ferguson’s jazz career spans some 65 years, from his early days of leading a small band in Canada at the age of 15, to leading some of the greatest big bands in the world. Called by some a “screech artist,” Ferguson is best known for his stratospheric range on the trumpet. He has come to be renowned worldwide as one of the consummate jazz musicians of the 20th century.
He became a household name as the lead trumpet of the Stan Kenton Orchestra in the 1950s. He led bands in England in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He returned to the United States in 1974 to form his own band and deliver his famous recording of MacArthur Park.
He earned a Top-10 single and Grammy nomination for his recording of Gonna Fly Now (theme “Rocky”). His recordings of the 1970s and ’80s brought fame to Ferguson and influenced several generations of jazz musicians.
He formed the Big Bop Noveau band in the late ’80s after leading the funk-fusion band High Voltage. Noveau is dedicated to providing opportunities for young musicians to compose and arrange as they tour with “The Boss.”
Ferguson was presented the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the Juno Awards in 1977 and inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. He was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2004 by Her Excellency Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada.
The Lake Texoma Jazz Festival is jointly sponsored by the Oklahoma Arts Council, Red River Arts Council, Southeastern Oklahoma State University and the Durant High School band.
Festival co-directors Dr. Michael Miles and Tony Tiger encourage everyone to put this date on their calendars. Tickets will be limited due to seating availability and the event is expected to sell out quickly.
Tickets will go on sale March 1 at the Visual and Performing Arts box office on the SOSU campus in Durant. Please phone Jana Haggard (580-745-2088) for further information.