Nial Ferguson

By the early '80s, trumpeter Maynard Ferguson's disco-heavy "jazz" albums, so commercially viable through the previous decade, had already begun losing their hip cachet. Disco itself was on the wane and Ferguson, with his jumpsuits, smoky sunglasses, and obscenely high trumpet playing, was quickly becoming a parody of himself. Thusly, jazz fans in 1982 were generously bequeathed Hollywood, easily one of the ex-Kenton-ite's worst career efforts. Produced by bassist extraordinaire Stanley Clarke (who also supplied the title track), the result is an airbrushed and extroverted pop pastiche of dancefloor-ready songs that have absolutely nothing to do with jazz. Basically, by this point the MF Band was churning out well-produced, if predictable, instrumental versions of pop tunes with little if any improvisation…