John Howell
Doc Severinsen
Lammar Wright, Jr.
Rolf Ericson
Maynard Ferguson
I have listed them according to the parts they would nominally be playing - Howell as lead, Severinsen second, etc. I'm making the assumption that Richards' wrote for the normal section of four trumpets, and as the extra 5th trumpet Maynard Ferguson would 'take his pick' from the trumpet parts as a whole, and work something out in rehearsal or on the day. We know from the various bio-discographies of Barnet that he performed this arrangement over a period of a few months in early '49.
My working assumption is that Maynard was reading the 4th trumpet part. That's where the chord changes for the solo he takes are written, so he would have to be watching them and therefore be sitting or standing in the section where he could see them - probably right next to the 4th trumpet (Rolf Ericson, I'm guessing). He might have been right in the middle of the section and 'cross-reading' - Rolf (on the 4th part ) on one side, and either John Howell or Doc on lead to his other side) - so he could see the first trumpet part and playing some of the unison higher parts, but taking the solo cues from the 4th part.
But there is an even more telling clue. On this 4th trumpet part are what looks like his own personal touches - literally, penciled-in amendments that match exactly what he's playing - right there on the part.
Here are the last two pages of the 4th trumpet part.
(click to enlarge)
The audio clip below begins at letter T, Barnet's tenor right on that bar.
As you see, from letter U till just after letter V, penciled-in above the normal 4th trumpet notes, are the exact notes Maynard plays on the recording. As manuscript they don't look pretty; they look like they could've been written while holding a trumpet under your arm, maybe sitting at an angle. They are more pitches to hit rather than rhythms.
So though I can't tell for certain that they were written at the run-through for this chart on the day - to me, it sure looks like it. Either that, or somebody's got hold of a version of this chart (maybe to play in their own band?) and scrawled-in the ad-lib screams Maynard plays near the end. But if they did, wouldn't they try to write out the MF ad-libs a little better? Anyway, my gut feeling is there's a very good chance we are looking at the very pages Maynard was playing off that day.
Even though the big bands were on their way out, there were still daily, weekly news updates about the current situation of these famous bandleaders, Charlie Barnet being one of them. It was entertainment news. Just take a look at this excerpt from Downbeat magazine in 1949, to see just how much this music was an integral part of show-biz life back then. This from Downbeat March 25, 1949, eight days after the recording of the Rhapsody:
This is fascinating. If you read some of the articles in Downbeat and Variety from early 1949, you see the Barnet and other bands being talked about - people actually cared about who's now playing trumpet with Barnet, trombone with Woody Herman...what? It's a whole different world.
Here's another excerpt from Downbeat just about Barnet new trumpet section. (I apologize for the quality, this was off a library microfilm.)
In Barnet's autobiography, "Those Swingin' Years" (p.145) we get this: "that was the best trumpet section I ever heard" - and that means a lot coming from Harry James.
Barnet put it like this:
"Second first trumpet player"? - that's how good they were. Doc Severinsen was, like Maynard, very young then too. Ray Wetzel wasn't on this date, I think he might have joined that band later, as the above photos date from after the March 17 recording. So it's a toss-up between John Howell and Severinsen for who's playing the lead part; both could do it great. And we also have Lammar Wright, Jr - so there we have a wild card; I guess he could be playing any part except MF's. But I'll still go for my original idea that Ericson on 4th, Wright on 3rd, Severinsen on 2nd, Howell on lead, with Maynard cross-reading.
Barnet, as I mentioned above, came from a wealthy family, I believe the railroad business so he could finance his band even at a time many other bandleaders were struggling. 1949 is in fact the official year the big band era 'died', according to mainstream history. To kill them even quicker, many bandleaders were persuaded to feature the modern sounds of jazz - even Benny Goodman had a 'bop band' for a while in '49.
Charlie Barnet was one of the first bandleaders to feature multi-racial groups. His idol was Duke Ellington and there was a distinct Dukish vibe to his band. It was loose, to say the least. Musically he wasn't afraid to feature bold versions of jazz classics at a time when it really mattered. Not only the chart we're talking about, but his version of "All The Things You Are" - also featuring Maynard Ferguson - was pulled because Jerome Kern's widow complained. This from Jim Conkling, the producer of these classic recordings:
from 'Maynard!' by Ralph Jungheim, p.52
At that time, the new sounds of modern jazz really had the power to shock people. Let's see what Barnet had to say about it in his autobiography:
So these were very different times; lawsuits from publishers over jazz arrangements?
We should be so popular!
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