shakuhachi
Veteran Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2012
Posts: 195
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 Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:21 am Post subject: Maynard's UK mouthpiece FBL |
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For all interested about Maynard during his UK period regarding the FBL stuff I would like to share some information I gathered during my privat research:
As it might be known Maynard within this period was mainly managed by Ernie Garside, who at that time managed a Music club called "Club 43" in Manchester/UK. A lot of famous american musicians have had gigs there in late 60th and early 70th.
MR. Garside was a trumpeter as well and can be seen in some YouTube clips like "At the Top" later in 1974 (together with
Lynn Nicholson).
Garside might be known as well as being part of the "Sleepy Night Records" label offering the "Lost Tapes" volumes 1-3 which contain a lot of so far not published tracks with Maynard, some recorded life in this club with simple analogue technique.
Since I got some FBL mouthpieces from a Lady in UK offering them on eBay I am interested in clearing up the circumstances about Maynard, Jack Bell and their business making the FBL mouthpieces an the Liberator trumpet.
Because the Lady offering that stuff in eBay is married with her husband in his second marriage and his first marriage was with a doughter of Jack Bell's first marriage we have had some interesting conversations via email about the subject. Jack devorced from his first wife and remarried a Lady who died before Jack and left him in adverse conditions. Because
of that it comes to some house clearing where a lot of FBL moutpieces where found unsold. A part was offered by Mannings Musical UK (mostly FBL TD) an by the Lady on eBay.
Jack Bell was not a real mouthpiece craftsman as often stated but he was a trumpet player in the Manchester area with some reputation as well. Ob course this was not his only job: he was a taxi driver in his fathers business as well. Because Mr. Garside at that time was gathering some musicians in the Manchester area for a Big Band rehearsal in Club 43 Jack was
surly included in the early bands having Maynard on front. The mouthpiece and trumpet business was not as expected and Jack later invested with more success in manufactoring drum sticks like the ones used by the drummer of Led Zeppelin (Bonham).
But I was asking myself when exactly the FBL tory started and found the following in some Magizine:
Announcement Crescendo Magazine March 1967
this reads like that:
| Quote: | Invest for a lifetime in a
MAYNARD FERGUSON mouthpiece.
Designed and used by M.F. to give more range, power, endurance, comfort and control. All this plus the right sound. Models for trumpet, cornet and flugelhorn.
SEE YOUR DEALER NOW
Trade enquiries only to:
FERGUSON, BELL LTD.
(Directors:Jack Bell managing, Maynard Ferguson technical)
P.O. Box 343, Piece Hall Yard, Kirkgate, Bradford I, Yorks.
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Together with the following statement of Mr. Garside it is clear, that the FBL mouthpiece business between Maynard and Jack starte early in 1967:
| Quote: | "In 1967 I'd booked Maynard to play as a solo at my Club 43 in Manchester, had the tickets printed and everything, but he didn't show up," recalled the trumpeter Ernie Garside:
"Through no fault of Maynard's he wasn't told of the booking. When he came to Manchester later to publicise a new mouthpiece I told him about the booking and he was distraught. He immediately offered to play at the club for the next week to make up for it. He was travelling in an old Dormobile and I helped him to unload it. There were a lot of fibre cases, which, it turned out, contained the music library for his big bands. I had a 12-piece rehearsal band that met on Sunday afternoons and I asked him if I could borrow some of the charts for that Sunday. He came along to the rehearsal and was so pleased that we brought the band into the club to play behind him. It went so well we were hugging ourselves and he decided to stay in Manchester and lead the band as his own. Because he was Canadian he wasn't subject to the Ministry of Works restrictions on American musicians."
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About UK Promoter Ernie Garside club 43 Manchester - from Club history:
| Quote: | | "Everyone thought that the boss man at the 43 was Ernie Garside and he certainly fronted the operation and did most of the bookings but, I think that Ernie was originally the doorman and the man with the money was 'Scrivens'. When I first met Ernie, his proper job was painting and decorating but he'd been a band boy for the Stan Kenton Orchestra when they came over here on tour. He knew all the local jazzers, most of the London lot and quite a few of the Americans. He was a friend of Maynard Ferguson, the high note trumpet man from the Kenton Band and when Maynard moved over here, he at first lived with Ernie. Ernie managed Maynard for a while and sometimes played fourth or fifth trumpet with Maynard's big band." |
Maynard's Mouthpiece UK: FBL - Ferguson Bell Limited - and Liberator Trumpet as told by George Bastow, another
taxi official in the Manchester area :
| Quote: | "In that capacity he was closely associated with another Bradford taxi driver, Jack Bell, who was at one time vice-chairman of the National Federation of Taxicab Associations.
Jack, who began by driving his father's taxi cabs in the 1940s, used to be known as "Spam" because of his penchant for the Spam fritters available at the café in Union Street, where many taxi drivers ate. He was connected with the cab trade until his death in December, 2000, in a caravan in the United States. His body was flown back to Britain for a funeral at Tong Church at which the son of the vicar played the Trumpet Voluntary.
That was very fitting because taxi driving was only one of Jack's jobs. He was also a jazz trumpeter of some repute (at one time he played at the Villa Marina on the Isle of Man with Gordon Tetley, who died the other week).
It was in the world of jazz that he met acclaimed fellow trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, who was at that time playing with the Stan Kenton Band.
Georg Bastow tells me: "Bell and Ferguson started a company manufacturing mouthpieces for trumpets They also marketed a trumpet called The Liberator. The trumpet project wasn't very successful but everywhere he went Jack was told that there was a big demand for drumsticks."
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Hope this little hints give some light on the history of the FBL mouthpieces designed personally by Maynard
and managed by Jack which I like so much.
By the way: the later Holton MF3 for me seems closest (rimwise) to the FBL TM (I own both), but a tiny bit shallower.
May be Holton MF3 equals the unknown FBL "no marking" (sometimes reffered as TS) the most. But currently I like
the FBL TM more then all the shallower historical MF pieces like Giardinelli MF1 or the "Holy Grail". |
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