Today the music died

Maynard Furguson, legondary jazz trumpeter, died today at age 78. Read the details here. I was in high school, only about 16 years old, when I first heard Maynard Ferguson's awesome trumpet playing magic. I was with a group from my high school. We traveled to BGSU (Bowling Green State University) in Ohio to hear Maynard's band in concert. It was one of my first such experiences, and definitely one of the most powerful for me. I don't know if it was my impressionable age, or the pure talent of the man, but I still remember with awe the intense thrill of hearing those shrill high notes. Maynard was famous for being one of the few trumpeters who could hit a "double high-C" note, and he would do it with an oddly simplistic ease. It was in moments like this I learned at a very young age that a small number of people, working together in extreme precision, with a single-minded purpose, and being lead by an inspired soul, could achieve true perfection on earth. Seldom have I been so blessed since then. I still remember the electricity. I'm getting goosebumps writing these lines. Goodbye Maynard. You will be missed.