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Jim Ferguson

I was born James Warner Ferguson in Jefferson City, Missouri on December 10, 1950, the third child of James Austin and Fern Webb Ferguson. My father had been a high-school music teacher for much of the previous two decades, but by the time I was born, he had gone into church music. Before my second birthday, my family moved to South Carolina, where Dad took a music position in a large metropolitan church. I began singing in the childrens' choir when I was four years old. (Since Dad was in charge of the music program, I didn't miss many rehearsals.) When I got a little older, my parents started me on piano lessons with the church organist, but even though I continued the piano lessons into my teens, I was always more interested in singing.

In my junior year of high school, I began studying voice with a teacher at the University of South Carolina. Then, during my senior year, I bought a string bass. The impetus for that purchase was the score of a youth musical being performed at church. It called for a bass in the rhythm section, and though Dad had never wanted me in popular music because of the stereotyped "performer's lifestyle," he let me play for the youth choir. I continued my voice study at Carolina, and after I graduated from high school, I entered the School of Music with a major in voice. It wasn't until after my freshman year that I started my first formal bass lessons.

I kept switching from program to program, always staying in the School of Music, but finding it difficult to lock into a musical direction. Then George Naff, a graduate student and jazz pianist, took me into a practice room and told me to play on every beat. He said not to worry -- I'd soon be playing the right notes. It wasn't long before I began to get calls from older musicians who wanted a real bass, even if the player was less than experienced. Guitarist Terry Rosen, formerly with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis and Nancy Wilson, was one who was willing to help me tackle the learning curve in exchange for having the sound of the string bass in his group; trumpeter Johnny Helms, a Woody Herman and Clark Terry alumnus, was another major influence and help. These two musicians are most responsible for my on-the-job jazz training.

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Album Review

Tanya Dennis: White Sails Blue Skies

Read "White Sails Blue Skies" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Ok. Perhaps you were not a fan of the Netflix smash hit, Narcos. The series was brutal, but it did have its placid moments. Its theme, “Tuyo," performed by the Brazilian singer Narciso Amarante, defined “hypnotic." Netflix, of course, allows viewers to skip repetitive series introductions, but no one skipped “Tuyo." “Where You Are," a Dennis original, suffers not at all by comparison with “Tuyo." You may drift through her “White Sails" in a kind of fog after hearing “Where ...

233
Album Review

Lenny Breau: Swingin' on a Seven-String

Read "Swingin' on a Seven-String" reviewed by John Kelman


While guitarist Lenny Breau's innovations may not seem so significant now, he was like a bolt of lightning when he emerged in the '70s out of Manitoba, Canada. A true self-accompanist who integrated virtuosic skills in jazz, country, and flamenco into an unmistakable voice, Breau made his guitar sound like an ensemble. Legend has it that Chet Atkins was walking down the hall of a Nashville studio and, hearing music coming out of one of the rooms, said to himself, ...

215
Album Review

Jim Ferguson: Deep Summer Music

Read "Deep Summer Music" reviewed by Jim Santella


Which season of the year is the most romantic?

Jim Ferguson sings of the romance that exists for all seasons. For his latest album he's selected a program of songs that dig deep; they tug at your heartstrings. Samples may be found at his web site . The session includes standards from Matt Dennis, Rodgers & Hart, Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen and Yip Harburg, as well as a handful of Ferguson's originals. These songs represent a romantic spirit for ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

White Sails Blue Skies

Paloma Records
2021

buy

Haunted Heart

Self Produced
2007

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Swingin' on a...

Art of Life Records
2005

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