Maynard was shrewd, and Maynard was quick, and he managed to beat almost everyone to the punch -- sorry -- when he recorded the theme from Rocky and watched it rise to number 28 on the pop charts.
As blatant as Ferguson's rendition is, it was still the best rendition of the Bill Conti tune at the time (a lot better than the composer's own number one version) -- and Maynard Ferguson's heroic propensity for high notes and his underdog status as a hitmaker make it easy to link him with his celluloid counterpart.
It is also the best track on an otherwise overloaded Jay Chattaway production, where the combination of the chrome-plated Chattaway hand and list of noted supporting players (George Benson, Joe Farrell, Bob James, the young Jon Faddis, Julian Priester, Harvey Mason, etc.) nearly overwhelms the Ferguson big band and even Ferguson himself.
The title track has a certain flamboyant grandeur emanating both from Ferguson and the electronic brigade that dominates the tune, yet Benson's fluid cameo and Ferguson's obbligatos are wasted by the irritating female voices on "Mister Mellow." This record gave Maynard Ferguson the largest amount of exposure that he ever had; the Faustian tradeoff is that it often sounds gimmicky today.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gonna Fly NowCarol Connors, Bill Conti, Ayn Robbins | Maynard Ferguson | Play | 04:21 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Conquistador (Album Version) | Maynard Ferguson | Play | 07:31 | 17 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | Mister Mellow (Album Version) | Maynard Ferguson | Play | 06:27 | 14 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | Theme From Star Trek (Album Version) | Maynard Ferguson | Play | 06:18 | 14 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | Soar Like An Eagle (Album Version) | Maynard Ferguson | Play | 06:35 | 15 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | The Fly (Album Version) | Maynard Ferguson | Play | 04:32 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 35 mins | 82 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wayne Andre | Trombone |
| 2 | Kenny Ascher | Keyboards |
| 3 | Patti Austin | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 4 | Bob Belden | Reissue Producer |
| 5 | George Benson | Guest Artist, Guitar, Soloist |
| 6 | Richard Berg | Vocals |
| 7 | Steven Berkowitz | A&R |
| 8 | Ellen Bernfeld | Vocals |
| 9 | James Bossy | Trumpet |
| 10 | Randy Brecker | Guest Artist, Trumpet |
| 11 | Alfred Brown | Strings |
| 12 | Jay Chattaway | Arranger, Composer, Conductor, Original Recording Producer, Producer |
| 13 | Vivian Cherry | Vocals |
| 14 | Mark Cobby | Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor) |
| 15 | Mark Colby | Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor), Soloist |
| 16 | John Collier | Artwork, Cover Painting, Paintings |
| 17 | Carol Connors | Composer |
| 18 | Bill Conti | Composer |
| 19 | Tom Copi | Photography |
| 20 | Donald Corrado | French Horn |
| 21 | Alexander Courage | Composer |
| 22 | Harry Cykman | Strings |
| 23 | Max Ellen | Strings |
| 24 | Peter Erskine | Drums, Guest Artist |
| 25 | Jon Faddis | Trumpet |
| 26 | Joe Farrell | Guest Artist, Sax (Tenor) |
| 27 | Paul Faulise | Trombone |
| 28 | Maynard Ferguson | Associate Producer, Composer, Flugelhorn, Horn, Primary Artist, Soloist, Trumpet |
| 29 | Seth Foster | Mastering |
| 30 | Howard Fritzson | Art Direction |
| 31 | Eric Gale | Guitar |
| 32 | Paul Gershman | Strings |
| 33 | Bernie Glow | Trumpet |
| 34 | Lani Groves | Vocals |
| 35 | Gwen Guthrie | Vocals |
| 36 | Biff Hannon | Keyboards |
| 37 | Bill Hannon | Keyboards |
| 38 | Roger Homefield | Trombone |
| 39 | Don Hunstein | Photography |
| 40 | Bob James | Arranger, Composer, Conductor, Executive Producer, Guest Artist, Keyboards, Piano, Soloist |
| 41 | Hilary James | Arranger, Conductor, Executive Producer, Keyboards, Piano |
| 42 | Gordon Johnson | Bass |
| 43 | Joe Jorgensen | Engineer |
| 44 | Gary King | Bass |
| 45 | Harold Kohon | Strings |
| 46 | Phil Kraus | Drums |
| 47 | Urve Kuusik | Photography |
| 48 | Jeff Layton | Guitar, Soloist |
| 49 | Will Lee | Bass, Guest Artist |
| 50 | Charles Libove | Strings |
| 51 | Harry Lookofsky | Strings |
| 52 | Guiseppe Loon | Trumpet |
| 53 | Ralph MacDonald | Percussion |
| 54 | Stan Mark | Trumpet, Trumpet Calls |
| 55 | Irvin "Marky" Markowitz | Trumpet |
| 56 | Randall Martin | Reissue Design |
| 57 | Harvey Mason, Sr. | Drums, Guest Artist |
| 58 | Charles McCracken | Strings |
| 59 | Vladimir Meller | Mastering |
| 60 | Mike Migliore | Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Soloist |
| 61 | Bobby Militello | Flute, Sax (Baritone), Soloist |
| 62 | Marvin Morgenstern | Strings |
| 63 | Joe Mosello | Trumpet, Trumpet Calls |
| 64 | Eugene J. Moye | Strings |
| 65 | David Nadien | Strings |
| 66 | Martin Nelson | Vocals |
| 67 | Marty Nelson | Vocals |
| 68 | Dennis Noday | Trumpet, Trumpet Calls |
| 69 | Linda November | Vocals |
| 70 | Max Pollikoff | Strings |
| 71 | Dean Pratt | Liner Notes |
| 72 | Julian Priester | Trombone |
| 73 | Randy Purcell | Trombone |
| 74 | Lance Quinn | Guitar |
| 75 | Matthew Raimondi | Strings |
| 76 | Ayn Robbins | Composer |
| 77 | Tony Romano | Engineer, Sounds |
| 78 | Seth Rothstein | Project Director |
| 79 | Alan Rubin | Trumpet |
| 80 | Darren Salmieri | Artist Coordination |
| 81 | Albert Scheonmaker | Strings |
| 82 | Paula Scher | Design |
| 83 | Allan Schwartzberg | Drums |
| 84 | Alan Shulman | Strings |
| 85 | Richard Sortomme | Strings |
| 86 | Marvin Stamm | Trumpet |
| 87 | David Taylor | Trombone |
| 88 | Brooks Tillotson | French Horn |
| 89 | Ron Tooley | Trumpet, Trumpet Calls |
| 90 | Emanuel Vardi | Strings |
| 91 | Mark Wilder | Mastering |
| 92 | George Young | Sax (Alto) |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |