''Primal Scream'' is the eighth

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

album by Canadian trumpeter

Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. ''Primal Scream'' marks the beginning of the second phase of Ferguson's career with Columbia, where his live big band sound is set aside in favor of lavish studio productions. The album credits reveal an

all-star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

ensemble made up of New York's finest musicians, along with backing vocalists and strings were recruited for this release. While most of the tracks would remain studio creations only, his rendition of "Pagliacci" would become a concert feature for his touring band, and was heard by millions when he performed it as part of the closing ceremonies of the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

in Montreal.

Reviews

Maynard's late-70s recordings were generally not well received by jazz purists, but

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Jim Newsom described ''Primal Scream'' by saying "Ferguson's trademark trumpet playing is featured in all its screaming glory..."

Reissues

In 2004 ''Primal Scream'' was reissued by

Wounded Bird Records Wounded Bird Records is an American compact disc only re-issue record label that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from popular and lesser known artists. Most of the Wounded Bird catalogue is licen ...

Track listing

All tracks arranged and conducted by

Jay Chattaway Jay Chattaway (born July 8, 1946) is an American composer of film and television scores. He is mainly known for his work as composer for several ''Star Trek'' television series: '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nin ...

Personnel

All credits adapted from album cover.

Musicians

* Maynard Ferguson: trumpet

Rhythm

* Drums:

Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American jazz fusion drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and most highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction i ...

* Bass: Gary King *

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

Eric Gale Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and jazz fusion guitarist. Biography Eric Gale was born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. His grandfather was English, and Gale had relatives in Venezuela and Bar ...

, Jeff Mironov, Jerry Friedman * Percussion:

Ralph MacDonald Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011) was an American percussionist, steelpan virtuoso, songwriter, musical arranger, and record producer. His compositions include " Where Is the Love", a Grammy Award winner for the due ...

* Piano,

Arp Synthesizer ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan R. Pearlman, Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the ...

Clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

: Bob James *

Electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

and Mini Moog Synthesizer:

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

("The Cheshire Cat Walk" only)

Reeds

* Flute and

Baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

: Bobby Militello *

Soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

Tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

: Mark Colby *

Alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

David Sanborn David William Sanborn (July 30, 1945 – May 12, 2024) was an American alto saxophonist. He worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age o ...

* Tenor Saxophone:

Joe Farrell Joseph Carl Firrantello (December 16, 1937 – January 10, 1986), known as Joe Farrell, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who primarily performed as a saxophonist and flutist. He is best known for a series of albums under his own name o ...

Brass

* Trumpet:

Marvin Stamm Marvin Louis Stamm (born May 23, 1939) is an American jazz trumpeter. Career Stamm was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Stamm began on trumpet at age twelve. He attended North Texas State University, where he was a member of the One ...

* Trumpet and

Flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

: Jon Faddis, Bernie Glow, Stan Mark * Trombone: Tony Studd *

Bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

: David Taylor, Paul Faulise * French Horns: Brooks Tillotson, Earl Chapin

Singers

Patti Austin Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American Grammy Award-winning R&B, pop, and jazz singer and songwriter best known for " Baby, Come to Me", her 1982 duet with James Ingram, which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 after its re-release ...

* Lani Groves * Hilda Harris

Strings

* Violins: David Nadien, Max Ellen, Harry Cykman, Paul Gershman, Emanuel Green, Charles Libove, Joseph Malin, Frederick Buldi * Violas: Theodore Israel, Emanuel Vardi * Celli: Alan Schulman, Charles McCracken

Production

* Record producer by: Bob James * Arranged and Conducted by:

* Recorded and Mixed by: Joe Jorgenson * Additional Engineering by: Gerry Block *

Mastering Engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...

: Jack Ashkinazy *

Cover Photo Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album art ...

: David Arky, John Barrett * Cover Design: John Berg, Andy Engel

Solos

* All Trumpet: Maynard Ferguson * Soprano sax solo on ''Invitation'': Mark Colby * Tenor Sax solo on ''Primal Scream'' and ''Cheshire Cat'': Mark Colby * Synthesizer solo on ''Cheshire Cat'': Chick Corea * Flute solo on ''Pagliacci'' and ''Swamp'': Bobby Militello

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1976 albums Columbia Records albums Maynard Ferguson albums