Maynard Ferguson's Big Bop Nouveau, London

By Mike Hobart

Published: August 5 2005 03:00

At the end of Ferguson's brashly invigorating mix of brassy, big-band jazz, upmarket musicianship and Las Vegas musical cheese, the audience rose to their feet, an unprecedented event for a late second set on a Monday night at Ronnie's. Partly this was due to the loyalty of his fan base - he received a star's greeting the moment he set foot on stage - but it also showed how successful he was in balancing musical showmanship with traditional jazz virtues.

Ferguson was never known for the subtleties of his trumpet technique, though he still strings together the occasional well-crafted phrase. His renown lies more in his spectacularly powerful high note playing, which is so full-on that it grabs audiences by the throat. Now in his late 70s, he restricts these trademark stratospheric blasts to a few warmly received bars on each number, though he did indulge in a bit of high-note jousting with the lead trumpeter Patrick Hession.

The meat of the evening came more from the well signposted arrangements, a scattering of excellent jazz solos and an outstanding young drummer, Stockton Hellbing, who marked the dynamics, propelled the band and turned in an imaginative, cymbal-swishing solo on "Girl from Ipanema" that included tapping out the melody on his snare.

In one bathetic moment, Ferguson strung his earlier hits together, starting with "MacArthur Park", introducing them, tongue firmly in cheek, as "the MF medley, the source of my incredible wealth". But most of the evening was given over to well-known jazz material such as Miles Davis "Milestones" - a brilliant up-tempo muted trumpet feature for Ernie Hammas - rolling 12-bar blues and the occasional show tune.

The skin-tight arrangements transformed these old warhorses with slinky saxophones, fanfare trumpets and funky rhythms. Tricky brass passages, sometimes unaccompanied, featured baritone saxophone swooping to high trumpet; or a full section would unexpectedly break into mellow sax harmonies or jagged unison be-bop. The supporting quartet, led by the saxophonist Christian Brewer, was sensitive and lyrical, making up a great jazz night out.

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