Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone
Composed by Bill Withers, Arranged by Steve Wiest
Recorded in 2006 on the Maynard Ferguson recording “The One and Only”
(originally posted on social media 4 May, 2026)
Many people think of the fourth of May as “Star Wars Day” (May the 4th be with you😛) or perhaps Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond Day (5/4) but for LOTS of folks, especially those of us who went to “MF University”, May 4th is the birthday and celebration of the great trumpet and band leader legend, Maynard Ferguson.
Maynard or “Boss” as we called him back in the 1980s was one of the most joyful, kind, and supportive people I have ever known. I am STILL learning from my years with him. As I have happily and proudly acknowledged on many occasions, a HUGE portion of EVERYTHING that I have now is because I was in the Ferguson Musical Family. What a joy and a privilege. When it comes to Mighty Maynard, I often paraphrase Robert Lamm’s great comment about his friend the late Terry Kath: “Maynard is often in my dreams. And it always seems contemporary.”
And so it goes…
Another joy and honor for me was to be on Boss’s final album “The One and Only.” I realized quite a major dream on that one with my arrangement of Bill Withers classic Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone …writing a “shout chorus” to feature Maynard himself blowing over the top of it as only he could. What a THRILL!
On this one, I played a solo (another THRILL) tenor sax great Chip McNeil took a typically epic and artful journey after myself, then Wayne Bergeron played his trademark swinging stratospheric lead trumpet while Maynard realized my dream. SUCH A DEAL!
As an aside, with some of these charts that had already been in the book for awhile like this one (Maynard famously would announce it on the road as “Ain’t No Sunshine ‘TILL She’s Gone”🙃) we adapted them for the record. In my case, I needed to write backgrounds (“solo enhancers” as Brookmeyer would say) for the two solo sections. As I used a piano to write back then, the good folks at the Blue Note in Greenwich Village (NY) let me come in early one day to play their famous Bosendorfer grand piano. What-the-WHAT! I’ll never forget that: me and the Bosendorfer alone in the world-famous Blue Note writing backgrounds for a Maynard album. The surreal nature of this was NOT lost on that young lad from Hattiesburg Mississippi… tell you WHAT!
Boss would have been 100 in May of 2027 if he were still physically with us. But as he is musically always a part of this world, let’s dig him wailing away here on Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone. Of special note is the decrescendo at the end where you only hear Maynard’s air blowing through the harmon mute. WOWZA!
Happy Birthday Boss, I sure am glad you were born. 🙏❤️
