I'm not sure many of you know Maynard beyond his work on the Rocky theme (Gonna Fly Now), but he was one of my inspirations while studying music in college.
"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
Was he one of your instructors or something? Is there anything about his horn playing that you directly apply to the bass, or do you mean he was influential on a theoretical level?
Well... even though I was a bass player professionally, my passion was in brass (trumpet, french horn, and baritone). I studied and performed mostly on trumpet and baritone when I was in college. That's where my fascination with Maynard came from.
I'm just happy someone else here knows who he was!
"Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other."
I like a lot of Jazz too, but mostly Bop era stuff. I wish I was Coltrane on guitar (fat chance, I know).
I'm thinking about getting a sax actually. Just a cheap one. Not aiming for anything serious, but I'd like to start approaching music from a completely different angle right now. If anything, it'd help me look at my main instrument in new ways.