My friends had an album by trumpeter Maynard Ferguson that had the most wonderful version of “Maria” from West Side Story, but now I can’t figure out what album it must have been.
I thought it was “Conquistador”, but now I have that album on CD and Maria’s not there.
They had the album in 1976 or 1977. I’m pretty sure it was on 8-track tape - could it be there was an 8-track “Conquistador” that had more on it than the CD does now?
Anybody recognize this?
Original album - Previous cite was compilation
I don’t think either of these albums is it.
I know several versions of Maria have been available on several albums, but neither of these two look familiar.
I neglected to say in the OP that I explored a few Maynard-related sites without seeing anything I recognized.
The version of Maria I am remembering sounded like a studio performance, and IMHO it had more of the mid-to-late-70’s Maynard sound, which is a sort of highly engineered pop sound, as opposed to his older big band sound of, say, Macarthur Park, or what sounds to me like a nightclub sound like The Fox Hunt on MFHorn 4&5 (IIRC), or the trademark Birdland sound.
Forgive my characterizations - I’m not that good with music and am groping around here. I am sure if Maynard himself read my attempts at description, we’d see that fantastic lower abdominal heaving as he laughed. Still, the version of Maria I remember is eerily beautiful, pop sound or not!