Maynard Ferguson - Primal Scream

Maynard Ferguson's Primal Scream is the work of a bad M.F.

Maynard Ferguson - Primal Scream
Columbia, 1976

I'll buy anything that has Bob James name on it, and that's how I ended up with this record. I have to say that I feel as if I will never run out of Bob James records to buy. He easily could have been the hardest working musician of the 70s. The only person I can think of that holds a candle to Bob James is Ron Carter. These two men were on every album made in the 70s.

Bob James produced this album. It has that great 70s Bob James feel, and it features the cast of musical characters you would expect to see on an album produced by Bob James.

Eric Gale, Ralph MacDonald, Gary King, Steve Gadd. Chick Corea makes an appearance on a track titled "Cheshire Cat".

A notable track is "Pagliacci" which Ferguson performed at the closing ceremonies of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.


When I bought this album, my good friend Dale Hamlin was in town for a visit. He pointed out this pretty funny section on the back of the album jacket.

 Now, I believe what is going on here is that Ferguson used his own initials to signify that the instruments were from his own design. However, hilarity ensued when Dale read the section as, "Maynard Ferguson plays a Mutha' Fuckin' Horn Trumpet..." Funny. As. Hell.

I hope there was a bit of intentional double entendre written into the way that was worded.

If you need some music to keep you going, may I suggest my Mixcloud mix, "Big Love" - a mixture of funk, soul, Latin jazz, Brazilian, and a little bit of deep house thrown in for good measure.

Record Collecting: Hank Crawford - Wildflower

Hank Crawford - Wildflower
Kudu, 1973
Produced by Creed Taylor
Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder
Arranged and Conducted by Bob James
Features Bob Cranshaw, Idris Muhammad, Joe Beck, and Ralph MacDonald.

I learned early on in my record collecting to buy anything with Creed Taylor's signature on it. I was thinking today about the magnitude of the role Taylor played in music. I wonder if there is a book on him. I wish Gilles Peterson would do a show dedicated to his music.

This album is some straight up cool 70s shit. It makes you want to start saying stuff like, "What's happening, slick?" and "My man! Everything is copacetic." You gotta walk with some rhythm when music like this is playing.

It opens with an instrumental cover of "Corazon", my favorite Carole King song. (Continuing my habit of reviewing other albums inside of the reviews I am writing: Carole King's album, Fantasy, is incredible and often overlooked. It features Harvey Mason and Tom Scott.) The album keeps getting better from there. The B-side starts with a 9 minute + cover of Stevie Wonder's "You've Got It Bad Girl". Totally worth picking up if you run across it.