The first two words that come to mind whenever I’ve thought about Maynard-and that has been quite often over the years since leaving his band in 1978 to join Weather Report-are “gracious” and ...

...he is gone, but his music lives on, just as does the music of Ellington and Basie et al. Maynard Ferguson grinned with delight as the sounds of "Blue Birdland roared from a big band of 14 ...