June 17, 1977: Bobby Militello with the Maynard Ferguson band

 

One of Buffalo’s musical legends in his early days.

Gusto June 17, 1977

Maynard & Bobby

          “If it wasn’t for Buffalo and Rochester,” Maynard Ferguson said, sweeping his hands to include his entire 13-man ensemble, “this would be a trio.”

          No doubt about it. Graduates of the Eastman School of Music and the Buffalo club scene dominate the band in this, Ferguson’s finest hour.

          For the first time in years, the Montreal-born trumpeter is on top of Billboard’s jazz charts. His “Conquistador” album and “Theme from ‘Rocky’” single are proving that big-band sound mixed with modern rhythm can be a stunning pop success too.

          Ferguson will make one more stop here June 25 in Shea’s Buffalo before embarking on a tour around the world. Perhaps it’s his way of bringing his musicians home to say goodbye to their families. Or maybe Bobby Militello had something to do with it.

          Militello’s the one sitting up in the front row on the right. Baritone sax. Right next to another Buffalonian, Mike Migliore. A couple years ago, before Migliore went with Ferguson, they were playing together in a local jazz group New Wave.

          When Ferguson had an opening in October 1975, Migliore figured Militello was just the man to fill it. The phone call came at 3 o’clock one Monday morning.

          “I had to borrow a baritone from Dick Griffo,” Militello said before Ferguson’s sold-out concert here last month in Eduardo’s. “I’d never played it for any length of time before. I played alto, tenor, soprano, clarinet, flute. Now baritone’s all I play. And flute.”

          But Militello’s more than a sideman. He’s also the road manager. He rides in the front of the tour bus in the seat next to Ferguson. He straightens out transportation, hotels, clubs and concert halls. He collects the money, keeps the books and pays the other guys in the band.

          “When I started with the band, his daughter Kim was doing road management,” he said, “but then she had too much to do in New York. I’ve been doing it now for five months. There’s extra pay for it, but to do it for Maynard is an honor in itself. He’s got so much together.”

          Ferguson was one of Militello’s boyhood heroes. Right after Benny Goodman. It all started when he was in fourth grade at School 77.

          “One day I went and saw ‘The Benny Goodman Story’ and I freaked out,” he said. “I went to get a clarinet the next day. It was $4 to rent one for a year at that time. Four dollars a year and you take care of the horn. I took gooood care of the horn.

          “The first album we had in the house was ‘Maynard Ferguson Live at Newport.’ He was my idol and inspiration. I’d met him just as a fan. My mother used to take me to the Town Casino and the Royal Arms to see him. It was like there was no place else I wanted to be.”

          A teacher at Lafayette High School, Sam Scamacca, encouraged Militello’s musical ambitions and introduced him to music store owner John Sedola. He took lessons, worked in the store and hung around Sedola for five years.

          Next he spent time in a show group in Detroit, singing as well as playing horn. Finally he managed the band. When he came home, he played bass behind singer Toni Castellani and formed a hard-playing band called Moxie, which he also managed. In between, he worked in Mulligan’s, his older brother Mike’s club.

          “My brother gave me quite an education in business and handling people,” Militello said. “Somebody told me once that the show was one thing and the business was another, but one is just as important as the other. If you don’t do the both well, your business is hampered.”

          Good insight, but it didn’t keep him from forgetting a crucial item the first time he stepped onto a bandstand for Ferguson.

          “See this strap?” he said. “I walked out without it. I ran back to get it and by the time I came back, they’d started without me. I thought he’d think I was some kind of weirdo. But he got into a joke thing about it and made me feel good right off the bat. Everybody laughed. Maynard’s so loose.

          “Once you know where Maynard’s at, you become comfortable. He walks out of the dressing room, he gets to that mike and he plays his --- off.

          “If you don’t produce, you’re the slacker, the thing that doesn’t shine. There are no slack nights with Maynard. He does it every night. When a cat can do that, you go out and give 100, 120 percent.

          “That first tune, ‘Blue Birdland,’ is a warm-up for the band and a walk-on for Maynard. After that he gives us one at some ridiculous tempo and really gets the band going. You put that energy out for the whole night.

          “Immediately after the gig, you party. Because you aren’t ready to come down yet. Tonight, right after we’re done, we drive to Montreal. Nobody’s allowed to smoke on the bus, but he lets us drink.

          “We go roughly for a three-month stretch and then take a month off,” he said. “Sometimes we go 11 weeks on and two weeks off. When I come home, I play with New Wave and I go sit in with everybody.

          “Last year we spent 9½ months on the road. I love to travel. Everybody on the bus digs traveling. When you come, you’re glad, but by the time the break is over, you’re really ready to get back on the bus. The bus is really a great place to be.

          “There’s beer, food, stereos, 300 different cassettes, books to read. For me, there’s paperwork and scheduling. After a year, you can even sleep on the bus. During the Blizzard, we were the only thing happening in some cities.

          “I don’t really think too much about tomorrow. After all, one night I was sitting in my room and five days later this happened. One night changed everything, made it 1,000 times bigger. When the time comes, it’ll leap at me. Right now, I see myself with Maynard for quite a time.”

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IN THE PHOTO: Maynard Ferguson with his band in a 1977 publicity photo. Bobby Militello is the guy sitting far right.

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FOOTNOTE: Bobby Militello is a Buffalo treasure. After his stint with Maynard, which included six albums, he went to L.A., worked freelance and took the Paul Desmond seat in Dave Brubeck’s combo until Brubeck passed away in 2012. In all, he has appeared on more than 150 albums with a variety of artists.

          Between Brubeck gigs, he came back home in 1991 and played for pops conductor Doc Severinson of “Tonight Show” fame with the Buffalo Philharmonic and for two years with Severinson’s band on the TV show and on tours.

Later in the ‘90s, he helped rescue the Tralfamadore Café and in 2008, with his companion Lisa Taravella, opened Citta di Militello, a very nice Italian restaurant in a plaza on Wehrle Drive in Amherst which lasted until 2014. Inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 1995, he’s still gigging locally with a quartet. Look him up on his website at bobbymilitello.com.