Nuns’ Island new Maynard Ferguson park

By P.A.Sévigny

During a recent Verdun borough council meeting, Mayor Claude Trudel told APRIDS (Association des Propriétaires et Résidents de l’Île Des Soeurs) President Pierre Jobin work would soon begin on the borough’s new park located near the posh Pointe du Sud district on Nuns’ Island. City jazz fans will be pleased to know the borough intends to name its new park after the world famous jazz musician, Maynard Ferguson, who was born and raised in Verdun.

While the borough originally planned to build the park a ecade ago, it took almost ten years before the island’s ongoing residential development could provide the proper opportunity for the work to begin on the central city’s long-promised $1.2 million infrastructure investment. Trudel also made a point of telling Jobin the city would use its money to pay for the park’s construction which is why the park’s $1.2 Million price tag did not show up in the borough’s 2010 budget. Work is scheduled to begin in 2010 and the park is expected to be ready for its official opening in 2011.

Ferguson’s musical career took off during the brief post-war period when the city’s booming club scene put Montreal on the cutting edge of the continent’s arts and entertainment scene. He soon became an internationally known jazz musician. who imposed his own signature style upon the big band sound of the ‘fifties as well as on the so-called be-bop movement which defined jazz during the latter parts of the 20th century. He recorded over 50 albums with many of the century’s greatest musicians and will always be known as the author of ‘Gonna Fly Now’-better known as the theme song in Sylvester Stallone.s ‘Rocky’ which won three Oscars.