JAZZ REVIEW : Leading the Band Was High Note for Trumpeter Ferguson

Maynard Ferguson says that his band is his instrument, and he’s not kidding. Ferguson spent little time playing trumpet Friday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. He spent most of the performance in front of his nine-piece Big Bop Nouveau ensemble, giving cues, stirring up the horn section and shaking the hand of every soloist.

Ferguson’s brief encounters with the instrument invariably ended on searing high notes, bringing cheers from the audience. Typically, Ferguson would enter above middle C and squirt his way up from there before tearing the horn away from his lips with a flourish. Little time was devoted to developing melody, and there was little sense that he was improvising. Indeed, every spiraling line seemed carefully scripted.

Ferguson’s real instrument, his Big Bop Nouveau band, was another matter. Led by a sizzling, three-piece trumpet section, the group delivered tight, muscular readings of tunes pulled from a forthcoming album.

An involved rendition of “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” included sudden starts and stops in a durable, full-swing-ahead tempo. Tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm rambled heartily against this background, and even Ferguson cut loose with a couple of good rips, until one especially high tone went into an out-of-control skid.

The trumpeter had more time to be thoughtful on a Spanish-flavored arrangement of “Caravan,” playing a few lyrical tones on fluegelhorn before heading skyward. He exchanged a few predictable lines with saxophonist Frahm before putting down the horn and swinging his arms at the band. He played muted trumpet on “Milestones,” but only on the theme, in tandem with the band.

The evening’s most impressive piece was Ferguson’s “Sweet Baba Suite,” a longer composition, roughly in three parts, that reflects the trumpeter’s longtime interest in Indian music and mysticism.

As bassist Hans Glawischnig droned behind him, Ferguson stepped to the mike to vocalize “ Om “ before picking up a soprano saxophone to create Middle Eastern-styled lines. Trumpeter Taylor Haskins took a halting, thought-provoking solo against this mood, before the rhythm section began to swing. Ferguson closed the piece chanting “ Shanti, shanti .”

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While the extent--and sometimes the content--of Ferguson’s trumpet playing was disappointing, the fine performance from his ensemble served to make up for it. When playing Joe Zawinul’s familiar “Birdland,” a number long used by Ferguson as a showcase for his high-end expression, the group worked with snap and exuberance.

Saxophonist Matt Wallace came out to sing “I Don’t Want To Be a Hootchie Cootchie Man Anymore” to lusty accompaniment. And the playing during the “Sweet Baba Suite” was particularly impressive for its moodiness and fire.

While Ferguson was too long absent from his trumpet during his set, pianist Peter Delano couldn’t keep his hands off the keyboard during his, which opened the concert. At 19, Delano can be excused some of the excesses of youth, especially when what he plays has such depth and character.

While Delano himself strived for an individual sound--hinting at, rather than directly emulating his influences--his quartet’s material, mostly written by the keyboardist, sounded highly derivative. His opening piece, “Zoning,” recalled John Coltrane’s “Naima.” The Spanish-flavored “Castle Speed” recalled the acoustic editions of Chick Corea’s Return To Forever band, right down to its electric-piano tones.

But Delano and company managed to impart their own personalities onto the material. The pianist has an especially moving way of constructing florid lines in billowing patterns.

Sometimes he could be too heavy-handed, as when he followed bassist Douglas Weiss’ solo on the ballad “Heart-Felt.” Still, the overall impression Delano left was one of a technically competent musician who, though not yet 20, is secure with his own, developing personality.