Sherman Ferguson with Kenny Burrell and John Heard

Sherman Eugene Ferguson (October 31, 1944 – January 22, 2006) was an American

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 ...

drummer. For a time he was a member of the jazz trio Heard Ranier Ferguson.

Background

Ferguson once said that when people asked him what he did, he wouldn't tell them he was a musician, he'd say he was a jazz musician. He said he was proud of it and he would wear it as a statement on his forehead if he could.Los Angeles Times January 31, 200
Obituaries Sherman Ferguson, 61; Drummer Played With Top Names in Jazz
/ref> He also wrote liner notes and was a contributing writer. He wrote liner notes and articles for jazz magazines such as Bird and L.A. Jazz Scene. Ferguson first played professionally around 1963, working with

Charles Earland Charles Earland (May 24, 1941 – December 11, 1999) was an American jazz organist. Biography Earland was born in Philadelphia and learned to play the saxophone in high school. He played tenor with Jimmy McGriff at the age of 17 and in 1960 fo ...

Shirley Scott Shirley Scott (March 14, 1934 – March 10, 2002) was an American jazz organist. Her music was noted for its mixture of bebop, blues, and gospel elements. She was known by the nickname "Queen of the Organ". Life and career Scott was born in P ...

, Don Patterson, and Groove Holmes. he also recorded frequently with

Pat Martino Pat Martino (born Patrick Carmen Azzara; August 25, 1944 – November 1, 2021) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. He has been cited as one of the greatest guitarists in jazz. Early life Martino was born Patrick Carmen Azzara in Philad ...

. Concomitantly he worked as a child tutor for the Model Cities program in Philadelphia. He was a founding member of

Catalyst Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

, a

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

ensemble, in 1970, remaining with them until their breakup. He then moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, where he became a prolific

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

, playing on albums by

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

, and

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

among many others.Allmusi
Sherman Ferguson Artist Biography by Jason Ankeny
/ref> He formed a trio with John Heard and Tom Ranier. He taught

jazz theory Jazz harmony is the music theory, theory and practice of how chord (music), chords are used in jazz music. Jazz bears certain similarities to other practices in the tradition of Western harmony, such as many chord progressions, and the incorpora ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, UC-Irvine, and

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a Public university, public Historically Black colleges and universities, historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and ...

. He released the album ''Welcome to My Vision'', on his own label Jazz-a-nance in 2002. Among the tracks on the album were "Lush Life", "Lester Left Town" and Bobby Watson's "Monk He See, Monk He Do". The band comprised Ferguson on drums, saxophonists Louis Van Taylor and Carl Randall and bassist Trevor Ware.JazzTimes November 200
Sherman Ferguson's JazzUnion Welcome to My Vision By Larry Appelbaum
/ref> On January 22, 2006, Ferguson died at his La Crescenta home aged 61. The death was a result of

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

Discography

As leader

* Sherman Ferguson's Jazz Union, ''Welcome to My Vision'' With Catalyst * ''Catalyst'' (

Cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...

, 1972) * ''Perception'' (

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

, 1973) * ''Unity'' (Muse, 1974) * ''A Tear and a Smile'' (Muse, 1976) * '' Heard Ranier Ferguson'' ( ITI, 1983)

As sideman

With

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige Records, Prestige, Blue Note, Verve Records, Verve, CTI Records, CTI, Muse Records, Muse, and Concord Records, Conco ...

* '' Handcrafted'' (Muse, 1978) * '' Kenny Burrell Live at the Village Vanguard'' (Muse, 1978

980 Year 980 ( CMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Peace is concluded between Emperor Otto II (the Red) and King Lothair III (or Lothair IV) at Margut, ending the Franco-Germa ...

* '' Kenny Burrell in New York'' (Muse, 1978 981 *'' Then Along Came Kenny'' (Evidence, 1993

996 Year 996 ( CMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * February - Chotoku Incident: Fujiwara no Korechika and Takaie shoot an arrow at Retired Emperor Kazan. * 2 March: Emperor ...

With

George Cables George Andrew Cables (born November 14, 1944) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Early life Cables was born in New York City, United States. He was initially taught piano by his mother. He then studied at the High School of Performing Art ...

* '' Morning Song'' (HighNote, 1980

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * "008", a fictional 00 Agent In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the derived films, the 00 Section of MI6 is considered the secret service's elite. A 00 (pronounced "Double O") is a field agent who ho ...

With

*'' Another Time, Another Place'' (Evening Star, 1996) with

Phil Woods Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer. Biography Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began t ...

*'' Benny Carter Songbook'' (MusicMasters, 1996) *'' New York Nights'' (MusicMasters 1997) *'' Benny Carter Songbook Volume II'' (MusicMasters, 1997) With

Warne Marsh Warne Marion Marsh (October 26, 1927 – December 18, 1987) was an American tenor saxophonist. Born in Los Angeles, his playing first came to prominence in the 1950s as a protégé of pianist Lennie Tristano and earned attention in the 1970s as ...

* '' Two Days in the Life of...'' (Interplay, 1987) With

* '' Desperado'' (Prestige, 1970) * '' Pat Martino/Live!'' (Muse, 1972

974 Year 974 ( CMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Battle of Danevirke: Emperor Otto II defeats the rebel forces of King Harald I, who has invaded Nordalbingia (modern-day Ho ...

* ''

Consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...

'' (Muse, 1974) * '' Interchange'' (Muse, 1994) With

Tete Montoliu Vicenç Montoliu i Massana, better known as Tete Montoliu (28 March 1933 – 24 August 1997) was a Spanish jazz pianist from Catalonia, Spain. Born blind, he learnt braille music at age seven. His styles varied from hard bop, through Afro-Cuban, ...

* ''

Carmina The ''Odes'' () are a collection in four books of Latin lyric poems by Horace. The Horatian ode format and style has been emulated since by other poets. Books 1 to 3 were published in 23 BC. A fourth book, consisting of 15 poems, was published ...

'' (Jazzizz, 1984) With

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

* '' Crescent with Love'' (Evidence/Venus, 1992) * ''Ballads with Love'' (Venus, 1992) With

Bud Shank Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...

* '' California Concert'' (Contemporary, 1985) with Shorty Rogers * '' Serious Swingers'' (Contemporary, 1987) with Bill Perkins

References

*Jason Ankeny, Sherman Fergusonat

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 ...

Listening In: An Interview with Sherman Ferguson
by Bob Rosenbaum, Los Angeles, September 1981 (PDF file)

External links

Sherman Ferguson's Jazz Union: Welcome to My Vision . . . (2003) by Jack Bowers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Sherman 1944 births 2006 deaths American jazz drummers Singers from Pennsylvania UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music faculty University of California, Irvine faculty Jackson State University faculty 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American singers Jazz musicians from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Catalyst (band) members Heard Ranier Ferguson members Drummers from Philadelphia