This May 4th Maynard would have been 93 years young. I say “young” because if you knew Maynard at all, you know he never ran out of energy and enthusiasm. And stories. Maynard did all the things a person could dream of and was really focused on seeking out the next musical adventure and (with his wife/best friend Flo’s help) making it happen. I’m still hearing that the big band jazz audience is disappearing, “there’s no money in big band”, “the people who loved Maynard are all gone”… and I wonder what dark planet those people are living on.  Just look at all the young musicians today that are learning from Maynard. Instead of bringing his band into their high school gymnasium they find him on their phones and take him to practice. How cool is that.

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