take my breath away

One of the best writing teachers I've ever had said that, for marketability, it's best not to write about things that are close to your heart, while you're in the heat of the moment. No one else is feeling what you're feeling, and you'll tend to forget that if it's really poignant for you at the time. It's easy to go off into uncharted waters with your readers, and subsequently lose them completely.

I'm going to take that chance.

I'll preface with the fact that this was the grand finale concert of a jazz festival devoted as a tribute to Maynard Ferguson. Jazz charts aside, Maynard Ferguson has even topped the pop charts. The man combined two of my very favorite artists in much of what his band did -- Maynard Ferguson (ha), and Stan Kenton, whose band he played in early in his career. Kenton's ballads are part of his (Kenton's) signature sound. If you've ever heard "I've Never Been in Love Before" or "Then I'll Be Tired of You," you probably have a taste of what that means. He screams his heart out, and then drops the bottom out of it until it's barely a whisper, and you have to lean forward a little so as not to miss anything. It was really fun to hear a lot of that Kenton personality in these Ferguson charts. What a blend.

My dear friend flippin said tonight, "One of the things I love about jazz is that it does things with music that an orchestra shouldn't do." His comment sums up a lot of what we heard at this concert.

"Stratospheric" is a term commonly used to describe Maynard Ferguson's playing. He warped that trumpet of his -- and his flugel horn, and his trombone, and his baritone, so we saw tonight -- into sounds that should never be able to come out of a piece of brass. It brings to life the very instrument itself and makes you think that, if you could touch it, you'd feel something special. "The high work" was always done by Maynard Ferguson.

The second half of this concert really blew me away. (Although, if you asked my date, he'd say that started with the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy chart that scared me halfway out of my seat with its opening chord - that was probably in the first 45 minutes of the night.)

It opened with video of Maynard Ferguson himself, taking the audience through his glory days of the 70's (what a collar) all the way up to one of the last performances of his life, in July 2006 in New York City. He died on August 23 of the same year. What a player. The guy was a showman, and toward the end of his life you could see it giving him just this immense satisfaction to sit next to that baby grand and sing through that instrument. It was kind of a sobering experience to watch. You think about the things in your life that YOU have that kind of reverence for.

So the lights go up on the all-star band of the night. Couldn't have asked for better casting. Men who have played for many meaningful bands -a lot of Maynard Ferguson's own. What else, for a tribute concert? BYU's got more clout than I realized. This includes the lead player from Tower of Power. :)

Second ballad, second half. The show was excellent up til this point, but that ballad dropped my jaw, pulled my hand to my heart and melted me to my seat. The trumpet player, Eric Mata-something, just made you want to lie down, and then Steve Lindeman pulled this lyrical magic out of nowhere - I swear, it was Chopin - and laid into that piano. I couldn't handle it. I was almost gone, but after "Danny Boy," flippin inquired after the condition of my heart. My hand stayed where it was.

Of course, the band wasn't done with us, yet.

"MacArthur Park." I have a penchant during many performances to want to call people (usually family) and let them hear a snippet of what's going on via speakerphone. I know, it's bad. Anyway, my dad educated us growing up on lots of Maynard Ferguson, and this is one of the most recognizable of all of his charts. I can't tell you how rough it was on me to have zero reception at this point in the concert. (Don't worry, my phone brightness was set to zero.)

You know that feeling where you just really wish Dad could be there to hear this? Where you feel almost lonely that he isn't sitting in the chair next to you so you can give him a sideways glance to confirm that he is, indeed, enjoying this as much as you knew he would? You feel this physical reminder of the fact that your family is 1200 miles away and can't be here with you to share in the joy and emotion of this moment, because you know for them it would also be pure elation.

I missed you tonight, Dad.

So the concert finished out on a good note. A standing ovation for that living fountain of expression. A complete experience, until Ray Smith turned around and said, "All right, here's what you've all been waiting for."

(Another key Ray Smith quote from the night - "I was watching this on YouTube...")

He was right, by the way. Their encore turned out to be the song flippin and I had been refraining from talking about during the entire concert.

Has anyone ever heard "Birdland?"

Sorry. That may have been one of the moments where I lost you,readers. If they'd have said that sentence over the mike tonight, though, you wouldn't be able to hear yourself think right now because of the roar from the audience.

Instead, they just started to play. We were beside ourselves. When I think of Maynard Ferguson, I think of "Birdland." flippin has the recording of the guys who actually wrote the song first (The Weather Report). I can't say anymore about this song right now because I'm too emotional:). I'll lose you the rest of the way.

In short, I believe this concert overshadowed the former placeholder for "best jazz concert of my life" -- Count Basie's band. (This might be because I saw Count Basie's band something like five or six years ago. The memory has faded.) I felt like the luckiest girl in the world tonight. What a legend.

May everyone have a passion. May everyone feel this way sometime soon.

**

My only two disappointments:

• No flute solos.

• No "Route 66." Admittedly not a Maynard Ferguson standard. I like it anyway.

The detail-ish highlights of the night:

• a couple of HOT drum solos. I nearly finished flippin's comment, which described the man well: "To be a good drummer, you have to have two things: A sense of rhythm, and a sense of humor."

• A TRICK during "MacArthur Park," in which the band started to leave the solo section, gave a good intro back into the main idea of the song, and then - JUST KIDDING! - pulled out one last solo! Are you kidding me? Beautiful!

• one trumpet solo in particular that made me laugh like crazy, it was so genius

• that freaking hot surprise ballad stuff from Lindeman

• the fact that BYU's own Ray Smith directed that all-star band

• the way Dennis diBlasio hugged his colleagues after the solos

• The way Ray Smith didn't kill flippin with his claw-cane (this was a small worry for a short time)

• the fact that I took a PERFECT person with me for this concert. I know we'll still be friends, even after that concert. (I worry about that sometimes, especially in the really good concerts. I make a fool out of myself at jazz concerts...but the really good ones are particularly embarrassing. I've been known to go alone to these concerts, rather than go with someone who just doesn't understand.)