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Custom Maynard Ferguson Tribute Print
Sales Benefit Maynard Ferguson Institute
for Jazz Studies
February 2007
For questions or ordering contact Will directly at willhammond@mac.com.
 It
is with great pride that I announce the completion of my "Tonality"
project paying tribute to my lifelong idol Maynard Ferguson.
As you may recall this project started nearly two years ago
as a way for me to give something back to for the years of
inspiration that Maynard has given me. Were it not for the
incredible generosity of Kevin Seeley I would never have been
able to finish it. Some of these charts are nearly impossible
to find and I had to purchase several that I could not find
elsewhere. First, a little background:
Several years ago I was shown a lighting technique by photographic
master Lee Varis called "False Color". As a special effects
photographer for over 20 years I was impressed with technical
aspects of the effect but at the time I could not see a practical
application for it. For many years I have kept "pet projects"
in the back of my mind, one of which was to do a piece in
tribute to one of my artistic mentors, Maynard Ferguson.
In 1981 or so Maynard donated one of his personal trumpets
to a charity auction benefiting the Jazz Educators Association
and I was fortunate enough to win the auction and I still
have the horn to this day. Also about that time, I went to
see Maynard perform at the Metro Technical School in Kansas
City, MO and I met a fellow about my age who told me he was
some to be Maynard's tour manager. He gave me his red foil
embossed card (which I still have) and he stuck around for
a few years as well; Ed Sargent. Over the next 25 years I
saw Maynard play dozens of times and at nearly every show
I would run into Ed, (sometimes he remembered me, sometimes
not but he was always gracious and friendly, how he kept track
of so many fans I'll never know) and chat about the Maynard
and the band. On several occasions Ed arranged for me to meet
the great man and in 1995 Maynard asked me what I was doing
for a living and I mentioned that although I was still doing
effects photography, I have started teaching digital imaging.
Maynard made a comment that has changed my life forever, it's
the reason I am an educator today. He said "Will, you should
focus on teaching, what is the use of having skills if you
can't pass them on to someone else?" Then and there I decided
to create a piece of art honoring Maynard for his endless
work as a jazz educator. I just wasn't sure what kind of piece
I wanted to do.
In October of 2003 I had the pleasure of seeing Maynard perform
at the Touhill Center in St. Louis, a celebration of Maynard's
75th birthday. Many of Maynard's alumni played as well as
Arturo Sandoval and it was and amazing night. At the backstage
party I had the good fortune to meet another of my long time
idols Denis DiBlasio, Maynard's former music director and
founder of the Maynard Ferguson Institute for Jazz Studies
at Rowan University. He and I discussed the possibility of
my doing a couple of pieces of artwork for the school. Denis
explained to me that although Rowan University did have the
MFIJS, it remained largely unfunded as any contributions to
the institute were put into the general fund and only about
$1000 were in the MFIJS endowment. Given the enormous amount
that Maynard has given the world of Jazz and Jazz education
I decided to explore the creation of a limited edition art
piece to raise money for the institute. Denis put me in touch
with Maynard's business manager at the time and the project
was immediately shelved by her as other, more pressing projects
were given priority. In 2004 I saw Maynard perform in Cherry
Hill, NJ and Ed mentioned that Maynard would be doing another
recording, possibly a live album in the next year and that
we should keep in touch about the MFIJS project. Backstage
at Finalé in St. Louis, Thanksgiving weekend of 2005, Ed arranged
for Maynard to autographed his donated horn for me. When Maynard
signed my horn and he realized which horn he was signing he
leaned toward me and laughed "I wondered what ever happened
to this thing, I hope me signing this doesn't kill my new
endorsement deal with Dave Monette". It is one of the most
cherished moments in my life and have the horn displayed in
my library. I mentioned to Ed that I was still interested
in doing some artwork for Maynard and in Early spring of 2006
Ed asked if I would put together a few concepts for CD covers.
With the MF Horn 6 album late into the production cycle my
concepts seemed more appropriate for Maynard's next studio
album to be recorded in late summer of 2006.
Ed put me in touch with Dave Monette in an attempt to get
my hands on one of Maynard's trumpets to be photographed.
Dave Monette told me that Maynard's horn's were 24k gold plated
and that lead time was in excess of 6 months for a horn. To
thwart the long lead time Dave sent his shop horn to be cleaned
up and plated and FedEx'ed to me (at his expense!!! ) to photograph
for the cover of the new studio album. I shot the thing from
every imaginable angle using the false color technique from
years ago and sent it back the same day I received it. Getting
one shot at an image always make me nervous but the results
were amazing. I sent the concept images off to Ed and he presented
them to Maynard. The Boss loved them but I mentioned that
the images were not complete. Ed and I talked several times
over the next few months planning for me to spend some time
with the band on the tour bus to take some candid shot for
the inside covers of the studio CD. I was to meet up with
the band after the Las Vegas gig in September. Gabriel had
other plans.
When the world lost Maynard on August 23, 2006 a great part
of my life was lost as well. Maynard was my greatest artistic
inspiration, no matter what the circumstances the show always
went on and even when Maynard was under the weather, even
in a wheelchair, he knocked the audiences out with his power,
fire and energy. With the sudden turmoil of Maynard's loss,
the Ferguson family decided to go in another direction with
the new, and yet unreleased studio album, cover so I have
decided to continue the project n my own. After months of
designing, searching and reworking "Tonality" is finished.
Concept:
Photograph Maynard's trumpet in a way that captures the aura
and colorful styles of Maynard and his music. I wanted the
background to reflect the colors of the trumpet, almost as
though the aura of the horn was infusing the music itself.
For the background, I wanted to use Maynard's most significant
charts. These were the charts that changed my life, from different
era's. I wanted people to see the charts as Maynard had played
them.
Media:
This image was to be BIG, really big. I wanted to be able
to read the music and see the grain in the gold on the horn.
The image of the horn was captured digitally in three separate
shots. The final file, with all layers (101 of them) weighed
in at a whopping 1.6 gigabytes. The final digital file was
output to the finest photographic paper available, archival
photographs to capture the true colors of the image, something
inkjet simply can't do. I did not want my art to fade two
years from now as most, even the finest inkjet prints are
prone to do. A Durst Lambda photographic printer was used
to create the final 24" x 24" custom photographs, which by
it's very nature is a considerably more expensive way to produce
images.
Mission:
Each of the 100 original custom prints will be numbered and
signed by me and sold at a price of $125 ea. All profits,
above the cost of the photographic printing and shipping will
be donated to the Maynard Ferguson Institute of Jazz Studied
at Rowan University in the name of each purchaser. I will
except no compensation of any kind for this image. I see it
as a small repayment for a lifetime of inspiration and enjoyment
that Maynard gave me. My goal is to raise $10,000 for the
institute.
Maynard gave his entire life to the world of music, I personally
will never be able to fully repay Maynard's generosity, inspiration
and kindness toward me so let's call this a down payment.
Kindest regards,
Will Hammond
For questions or ordering contact Will directly at willhammond@mac.com.
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