"Main Title (From the 20th Century-Fox Film "Star Wars")" Released: August 1977
New Vintage is the tenth studio album by Canadian jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, released in 1977 on Columbia Records.[1][2]
The title is likely an allusion to new recordings of two 'vintage' titles included in the track list. "Maria" was first recorded on Maynard '62 (it is presented here in a new arrangement), and "Airegin" was first recorded in 1964 for the album Color Him Wild (this new recording features the original Mike Abene arrangement). The front cover plays on this theme, presenting a trumpet in an ice bucket in place of a bottle of champagne, while on the back cover, the cork is seen popping out of the trumpet's bell.
Background and production
After unexpectedly "catching lightning in a bottle" with Conquistador, Columbia and Ferguson were eager to repeat the success. Taking the same basic ingredients of a big theme song ("Star Wars"), a couple of originals, some guest guitar work (this time provided by Steve Khan), a reworking of a classical theme (in the same vein as Primal Scream's "Pagliacci"), a couple of Bobby Militello flute solos, and looking deep into Maynard's book to revive "Airegin", for a high-energy finale, they hoped to re-create that same magic while Conquistador was still on the charts. This was also a return to using the touring band as the core of the album's sound, with only a slightly augmented brass section. The strings and background vocalists were still used to maintain the level of production and polish from the previous 2 albums.
Following the same strategy as the previous album, the album's opening track ("Main Title (From the 20th Century-Fox Film Star Wars)") was released as a single, but didn't have nearly the success as Conquistador's "Gonna Fly Now". As with other albums of this period, reviewers were not kind regarding this release, and didn't hesitate to make their contempt known. AllMusic's Matt Collar summed up how many reviewers felt, calling it "Utterly gimmicky and bereft of any actual jazz..."
Steve Khan – Electric and Acoustic 6 and 12-String Guitars, Classical Guitar (Solos on "Main Title (From the 20th Century-Fox Film "Star Wars")" and "Scheherazade")
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