Cheap Carnival (Music) (Maynard Ferguson) Price

Not great, but it's still Maynard Ferguson...
For those who consider themselves Maynard Ferguson fans, one of the most inexplicable problems in terms of collecting his work on CD has been the dearth of releases from Maynard's years on Columbia Records. These years were certainly not always his greatest in terms of the quality of the LPs - "Hollywood" and "It's My Time" leap immediately to mind - but, even on those mediocre, commercially-oriented releases, there was some incredible playing by both the band and its leader. So it's rather surprising that Wounded Bird Records chose "Carnival", Ferguson's 1978 album, to issue on CD when there are several Columbia titles that rank among his best ("MF Horn II", "Live at Jimmy's") yet to be put onto CD.

That having been said, it's still wonderful to have "Carnival" on CD. Despite the attempt at another Top 40 hit that would permeate several post-"Rocky" MF albums - on this one, it's the tepid "Theme from 'Battlestar Gallactica'" - there are some lovely moments on this album, particularly on Biff Hannon's creative arrangement of "Over the Rainbow" (with one of Bobby Militello's always-imaginative flute solos) and on the title cut, which features some fine ensemble playing by the woodwinds. Jazz purists usually cringe when MF is mentioned, but "Stella By Starlight" gets a very straight, traditional big band reading that works well, and highlights Maynard's outstanding band from those years. There are more jazz/funk remakes of pop hits than necessary, with EWF's "Fantasy" working and Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" not, and too much quasi-disco stomping as well. But, through it all, there is the amazing Maynard Ferguson trumpet - which, even on less-than-stellar material, is worth the price of admission. If only for "Rainbow", "Stella", and, of course, "Birdland", this one is worth owning.