Maynard Ferguson and his Big Bop Noveau band recently came through Portland, and we had a party!  First, the band members came by the shop to try mouthpieces… and our ears are still ringing!  Reggie Watkins (music director and trombonist) ended up liking one of our new small shank trombone mouthpiece prototypes, which he has used ever since!  Band manager (and Maynard’s nephew) Pete Ferguson – who plays in the trumpet section – demonstrated not only his musical skills during the concert, but also his organizational skills managing the band’s logistics.  An important decision for Pete that day was finding the fastest possible route to the best Indian restaurant in Portland!  Since everyone knows that musicians perform much better after eating Indian food, our shop members took the entire band out for dinner.  After eating as much curry as possible, Maynard and the band played at a local venue, and as usual Maynard was in fine form!  “The Boss” could not resist a comment from the stage during the show on how he plays Monette mouthpieces – and that new Monette mouthpieces are sometimes hand-delivered with an order of masala dosa on the side! (a reference to the old Chicago shop visit days with Ed Sargent…). Maynard has played our “LT” MFII mouthpiece now for several years, and it continues to be an extremely popular mainstream (pun intended) lead mouthpiece.

Maynard Ferguson (The Boss) and Monette Director of Operations, Tom Raney.  Maynard's band was in town and that is always an opportunity to have some Indian food and catch up.  Maynard’s band visited the shop on a recent tour. We are thrilled to have Maynard using our new MF II lead mouthpiece! Former Maynard lead player Lynn Nicholson now uses our new MFII mouthpiece, and we are excited to have him as a new client!