Maynard Ferguson Quotes

The three great moments of my life had to be the concerts of Ellington in 1938, Dizzy in '48, and Ella in '52.

A few years later, my Uncle David took me to the Earle Theatre to hear Duke Ellington.

I think John Coltrane is one of the great American heroes, like Abraham Lincoln and Emily Dickinson.

I got a poster from Columbia Records, and there's Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Ellington, Count Basie - everybody in that poster has died, I'm the only one left. And great players like Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan, it's hard to believe they're gone because we were all so close. But I believe in the future and the tradition will go on.

For years, Jazz At The Philharmonic albums were the only ones of their kind.

I got a chance to listen to and watch Thelonious Monk and his quartet play two shows a night, for six weeks. It was a great education. There was my university, man.

I like to go hear jazz late-night up in Harlem.

As for my band, well, my mentors were Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Jimmie Lunceford, and no one had a band more smartly dressed than Duke.

And I used to listen to a lot of jazz.

As a kid, I used to go see all the jazz players, Oscar Peterson, Stan Kenton, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespe.

My father was incredible on trumpet and played with the likes of Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

I have always loved jazz music and as a teen growing up in New York City and then later on as an adult have great memories of the jazz clubs that were all located on 52nd Street. I still catch as many jazz shows as I can when I am in New York. And when I perform, I have my jazz quartet by my side. Jazz musicians keep things spontaneous and very "live," which is the way I like to perform.

There used to be a club in new york called Bradley's - I've never been there, it closed in the 80's - but I used to study with Junior Mance, and he would tell me about Bradley's. It was a very important place for a generation of jazz musicians in New York. It was really all about pianists there.

Most of the bands that I really hold in my heart - you don't think about them as bands; they're just the soundtrack of your life.

...he went into the sitting room, put on a Duke Ellington record he had bought after seeing Gene Hackman sitting on the overnight bus in The Conversation to the sound of some fragile piano notes that were the loneliest Harry had ever heard.

When you think about John Coltrane, in my opinion - and I think I share this opinion with a lot of people - his approach to music changed other people's approach to music.

My father was a huge jazz fan, so I remember him playing Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn, and Count Basie.

I always use the Rolling Stones as the whipping boy for this, but they still play old songs as 90% of their set, and we would die if that were the case.

Herb Wong was an incredible man. We met when I was performing with Clark Terry at the Wichita Jazz Festival around 1974.

You don't fully appreciate your band until you're away from them.

My aunt Ruth Brown was a jazz musician. I got hooked on it at a young age, understanding what John Coltrane was doing playing two notes on the saxophone at the same time, which is impossible.

I was a huge prog rock fan as a kid in high school, and I'm so thankful for that.

Growing up, I always considered the Grand Ole Opry to be hallowed ground.

I've played with jazz and toyed with it when I used to live near the St. Nicholas Pub in Harlem.

I used to sing in jazz clubs with a friend until she went another way.