Jazz trumpeter extraordinaire Maynard Ferguson dies at 78

VENTURA, Calif. -- Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, known for his soaring high notes and for his hit recording of "Gonna Fly Now," which lent the musical muscle to the "Rocky" movies, has died. He was 78.\nFerguson, who lived in nearby Ojai, died Wednesday night at Community Memorial Hospital of kidney and liver failure from an abdominal infection, friend and manager Steve Schankman said Thursday.\nFerguson's four daughters, Kim, Lisa, Corby and Wilder, and other family members were at his side when he died, he said.\n"Someone just said, 'Gabriel, move over to second trumpet,'" Schankman said from his St. Louis office. "He was the last of the greats. That era is closed. There is no Kenton, no Basie, no Ellington and now, no Ferguson."\nBorn into a musical family in Montreal, Ferguson began playing the piano and violin at age 4, took up the trumpet at 9 and soloed with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Orchestra at 11, then quit school at 15 to pursue a career in music.\nThe next year he was leading his own dance band, the first of a number of big bands and smaller ensembles he eventually fronted in a career that produced more than 60 albums and three Grammy nominations.