Editing Maynard Ferguson (section)

===Return to the U.S.===
[[File:Maynard Ferguson.jpg|thumb|Ferguson in San Francisco, 1978]]
Ferguson moved to New York City in 1973, then relocated to [[Ojai, California]] less than two years later. He replaced the British band members with American musicians while reducing membership<ref name="New Grove" /> to twelve: four trumpets, two trombones, three saxophones, and a three-piece rhythm section. Albums from this period include ''[[M.F. Horn 4&5: Live At Jimmy's]]'' and [[Chameleon (Maynard Ferguson album)|''Chameleon'']], recorded in 1973 and 1974 in New York. Ferguson took advantage of the burgeoning jazz education movement by hiring musicians from colleges with jazz programs, such as [[Berklee College of Music]], [[North Texas State University]] and the [[University of Miami]]. He performed for young audiences and gave master classes in colleges and high schools. This strategy helped him develop an audience that sustained him for the rest of his career.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

In 1975, Ferguson began working with [[Bob James (musician)|Bob James]] on a series of commercially successful albums with large groups of [[session musician]]s, including strings, vocalists, and guest soloists. The first of these albums was ''[[Primal Scream (Maynard Ferguson album)|Primal Scream]]'', featuring [[Chick Corea]], Mark Colby, [[Steve Gadd]], and [[Bobby Militello]]. The second, ''[[Conquistador (Maynard Ferguson album)|Conquistador]]'' (1976) yielded a No. 22 pop single, "[[Gonna Fly Now]]" from the movie ''[[Rocky]]'', earning him a gold album. He maintained a hectic touring schedule. The commercial success included adding a guitarist and an additional percussionist to his band's line-up. In mid-1976, Ferguson performed a solo trumpet piece for the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Montreal, symbolically "blowing out the flame".

Ferguson became frustrated with Columbia over the inability to use his working band on albums, and to play jazz songs on them. His contract with Columbia ended after the release of the album ''Hollywood'' (1982), produced by bassist [[Stanley Clarke]]. During that time, he recorded an instrumental version of the [[Michael Jackson]] song "[[Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough]]"; the song would later be used by [[Rede Globo]] as the theme song of ''[[Vídeo Show]]'', which ran on the network between 1983 and 2019.

Ferguson recorded three big band albums with smaller labels before forming High Voltage, a fusion septet, in 1986.<ref name="AMG"/> This smaller ensemble, which featured multi-reed player Denis DiBlasio, gave Ferguson the freedom explore in a less structured format. High Voltage recorded two albums, produced by Jim Exon, his manager and son in law.