By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
As a kid, Mark Ferguson wanted to go play hockey – decades later, he’s eternally grateful his parents insisted he get in his piano practice instead.
The results will be on full display Oct. 17, when the renowned jazz musician comes to Port Hope for a gig at the BLou Room.
“I just enjoyed playing for fun. I didn’t know I was going to make a profession of it,” Ferguson said in a recent interview.
His instruments included the trombone as well as the piano. He started out with classical piano lessons as a kid, then acquired the trombone habit about Grade 6 when he suddenly developed an interest and “really got into it in a big way.” Nowadays, he is about 50-50 on both instruments.
As a music teacher, however, “I actually suggest to my students that everybody should learn to play some piano – it makes so much sense for everybody.”
It’s an instrument that is linear and visual, “not like playing the horn, where it’s all in your head.”
A musician, composer, arranger/producer and music educator at both Carleton and McGill Universities, Ferguson has performed with the biggest names in the field – a list that would include Tony Bennett, Gil Evans, Nelson Riddle, Dionne Warwick, Tom Jones, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Gino Vanelli, Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, Holly Cole, Manteca, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Theatre company and Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
“I’m from Montreal. I grew up in Ottawa, moved to Toronto when I was 20 to attend Humber College, got really nice opportunities to play at the Imperial Room at the Royal York Hotel,” he recalled – opportunities like working with such legends as Ella Fitzgerald and Rosemary Clooney.
“It was sort of the end of an era,” he said wistfully.
He played on until he was about 30, then moved back to Ottawa to finish his degree at Ottawa University. This time, he ended up staying.
“I met my wife, one thing led to another,” he recalled.
“I thought about joining the RCMP Band in Ottawa in my early 20s – the thought of having benefits and a dental plan seemed so attractive. But we have managed to do just fine.”
Ferguson’s freelance work has put his talents behind some big names, and some that deserved to be bigger. For example, toting his trombone to tour with the Funk Brothers was his Motown moment. He recalls the movie Standing in the Shadow of Motown, and that’s sort of their story. They had more hits than any big name like the Beatles or Beach Boys, but never got the headlines – just hit the road and made their magic.
This month, Ferguson is looking forward to returning to Port Hope, a place he loves from his visits for the Port Hope Jazz Festival. He finds seeing the Ganaraska River run right through town thoroughly charming.
“I’ve never seen so many fishermen in my life!” he declared.
He is also looking forward to playing in the BLou Room again.
“It’s a nice room with a good piano, and I’m bringing my quartet along. I’m really excited about this,” he said.
Known as MFQ (for Mark Ferguson Quartet), it’s a group of musicians who were once his students at Carleton University some 20 years back. It will be a mini-version of being on the road again with a gig at the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery Club in Kingston on Oct. 15, a stop at the Gordon Best Theatre in Peterborough Oct. 16, and the BLou Room on the 17th.
“He’s got serious chops, and I am very excited he’s coming,” declared Albert Schultz, founder of the Hope Towns Initiative (of which the Blou Room at 48 Mill St. S. is a venture).
Schultz describes it as an “intimate performance venue with food and drink in downtown Port Hope, right on the water. It’s what we call a listening room, so it’s extremely good for things like what Mark is going to be doing.”
He agrees with Ferguson’s assessment of their beautiful grand piano, adding that “it’s an acoustically perfect space for a bite to eat and drink, but it’s all about the music.”
The BLou Room is actually a prototype for their larger plans for an 1871 music hall on the main street (next to the St. Lawrence Building), the upper two-thirds of which has been beautifully restored. The end result is envisioned as a 250-seat music hall and concert venue they hope to open by 2030 – meanwhile, the BLou Room is the prototype of what they want it to be.
There’s sort of a best-kept-secret mystique about the BLou Room. Back when it was was just an idea, they began to develop relationships with the artists they wanted to attract, and it has become a favourite among the annual Port Hope Jazz Festival crowd.
The small scale contributes to the intimacy of the venue. They only host two or three performances a month and strive to cultivate a community of music lovers to make up the audience. They eschew traditional advertising, relying instead on word-of-mouth – and the updates they send to the fans on their e-mail list. If you’re interested, e-mail albert@hopetowns.ca, put “mailing list” on the subject line, and join the scene.
And if you’re interested in a preview of Ferguson’s chops, his most recent recording is called Transformation, available on PSP records (Music Production Services)
Author: Cecilia Nasmith
