Search - Maynard Ferguson :: Conquistador

A Bit corny?

01/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Speaking as a schooled musician (both classical and jazz) I implore all jazz purists to get off their high horses and admit that conquistador is one of the benchmark albums of great brass driven jazz/rock. With around 100 albums to his credit over the past 49 years, Maynard has touched upon various styles of jazz, big band and smaller combos and in the 70's, big surprise! rock and disco! Was such a direction commercially motivated? Most certainly. Most of the jazz greats who were still active at the time had found themselves admitting the influence of rock and funk. Heck, Miles Davis initiated this move towards rock in the late 60's!
The fact is, good music is good music whether its played on all acoustic instruments to a swing beat or electrified to a disco rock beat. Maynard and all his collaborators on Conquistador elevate potentially banal forms,(disco) and make something that is driven, funky, beautiful and exciting in the highest sense. And hearing something like "Star Trek" or Mr.Mellow in all their 70's inflected arrangements brings an indulgent smile to my face everytime! By all means, check out earlier Maynard too! There's a rich lode of great music to be mined. (Provided you can find them on CD: What a crime.) But don't miss out on this album or "Carnival" (on Wounded Bird Records) and Columbia! how about reissuing "MF Horn 2" Been waiting 15 years for it!"