And Justice For.....

So we pray. 

We pray for Ferguson. 

We pray for unity in the Church. 

Calls to prayer are always in order. Although prayers in the abstract seem to divert us from the moment that is. Calls to prayer also presuppose that people haven't been praying all along...which seems presumptuous. 

But what are we praying for? 

If the sum of our prayers is to match outcomes with our preferences then whatever it is we're praying, it's more like "our will, not Thine be done."

Micah tells us that the Lord requires us to "do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God."

To "do" justice is not an act of passivity. It is to match one's engagement in the world with at least as much spiritual energy exerted in the utterance of the prayers in the first place. Jesus' prayer is that God's realm and will "be done on earth as it is in heaven."

It is an advocacy for a world where the justice we seek is not retributive...that's the justice we're wired to exact if left to our own devices. It's the kind wherein we want make sure the good guys and bad guys each get exactly what they both deserve. And guess who gets to determine that?

Justice we pray for is measured by how the least of us, the ones without voice and representation, the ones on the outside looking in have access, place, voice and value measured against those who, by nothing more arbitrary than their birth claim ownership to all of the above. 

It is not justice hoped for. It is justice worked for. 

Otherwise, as people in power, we are just like those to whom another prophet once spoke:

"For from the least to the greatest of them,everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, “Peace, peace,”
when there is no peace.
They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;
yet they were not ashamed,
they did not know how to blush." Jer. 6.13-15. 

Lord have mercy. 

Christ have mercy. 

Lord have mercy. 

Move Over Gabriel

The last “great” trumpet player of the big band era is gone. From his family's press release: Walter "Maynard" Ferguson, one of the most influential musicians and band leaders in the history of Jazz, passed away August 23rd at 8:00 pm Pacific Time at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California.

For any trumpet player, you have your favorites. And I have many, even more than this post will allow.

Some are more technically proficient than others. Others coax sound and emote differently. Others reveal their skill through the tonality they convey from the horn.

Doc is often overlooked for how well he played his horn mostly because of his overexposure on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Man, what I’d give for that band to be back playing every night in the age of digital sound. Of course, that's back when that show worth a damn to watch.

No, I'm not a "Jay" fan. See my post from August, 2005 - "In the World of What Should Have Been & Would Be If I Were King--"The Tonight Show, Starring David Letterman," if you have any thoughts on that one, or want to see mine.

Here is a clip from The Late Show with David Letterman on the first show after Johnny Carson's death. It features Doc, Tommy Newsom, and Ed Shaughnessy from the NBC Orchestra. "Here's That Rainy Day" was one of Johnny's favorites, and something you'd expect of Dave to line up as a tribute. As you watch this, keep in mind, Doc, on flugelhorn is about 80 years old. Is it his best performance ever?

Hardly, but the cat can still bring it.




Some Trumpet players bring the soul of the instrument out unlike anyone else before or since. And there have been some really fine horn players over the years. Unquestionably, though, there is one name and one name only for whom the label "Master" applies – Miles.

My high school band mate, Melvin, fancied himself Miles Davis.

He would stand like him when he played. He captured the "breathiness" of his soulful playing. At the time, I was not at a place where I could appreciate it. Miles didn’t impact me fully until my late college days, but Melvin introduced him to me in high school, and he’s been a companion, along with Coltrane, ever since. When I think "trumpet" and "jazz," I think of only one name - Miles.

You'll find no one to play with such effortless mastery.

Enjoy this clip from 1959.



See, when I was learning my instrument, I didn’t care so much about the soul of the instrument, I just wanted to play – to scream – to play as high as I could – because at that time, my idol was MF, Maynard Ferguson.

Maynard could play higher than anyone I’ve ever heard. It was unreal, even impossible, yet, there it was. Super C was nothing to him. The highest I could ever get in my prime was G above high C. And I was dying to hit that.

Stratospheric was a label attributed to MF's talent.

Maynard's penchant for lip trills is unrivaled, and may never be matched. It takes masterful control of breath support to do that.

My first Maynard album was “Conquistador.” It was that album that featured “Gonna Fly Now” from Rocky.

Every high school band played Maynard’s version of that song.

Modulated down, significantly, of course.

Maynard's albums were among the regularly played on my stereo. My Holton Trumpet is based on Maynard's trumpet - the economy version, of course.

I saw him in concert in Memphis when I was in college. In the words of my high school jazz band teacher, Jackie Thomas, it was a "monster."

As the years have gone by and I've tried to recover a number of recordings that mattered to me in digital form, I've had my eye on Maynard's work.

As I've grown older I've found my favorite recordings of Maynard were not from the latter part of his career - those recordings that I had as a teenager and young adult. I'm taken more by his work as a kid - when he got his start, with Stan Kenton, and later on his own.

This clip is a performance from Stan Kenton's Innovations Orchestra, as they performed on Toast of the Town, hosted by Ed Sullivan, which would later become The Ed Sullivan Show. This piece, self-titled, "Maynard," features a 22 year old lively trumpeter just flat out bringing it. This is from somewhere in the early 50's. The video quality is poor, but you get the point of how special this guy was.

I'm still waiting for a re-release of some of that material, because I'm not going to pay collector's prices for what's out there.



The Boss.

The Lip.

The Screamer.

Maynard was the man.

In a press release upon his death, it was said that someone in the family commented that Gabriel was going to have to move to 2nd chair -

Maynard's in the house.