On the South Side

Maynard Ferguson died Thursday night at the age of 78. I’ve read several good obituaries tonight and I encourage anyone to read them. ( Here’s a list. ) I’m just going to tell you my story of Maynard and me. The year was 1972; I was in 8th grade at Woodward Elementary and I had been playing trumpet for about a year. In those days it was predetermined that you would go off to Cleveland High School which was a mile up the road. That’s what my dad did, that’s what I’d do. Well, during this era up at Cleveland there was a band director named Ed Levinski and he had developed a group of young trumpet players that were simply fantastic. (Many of them went on to become pros.) Well, our family was friends with the family of one of the guys and one night my dad said we’re going up to see a show at Cleveland. A trumpet player named Maynard Ferguson. Of course I’d never heard of him, but I was thrilled to be getting a look at the high school and I was planning on joining the band when I got the