Musicians - J. J. Johnson

Home > Listing Index > Musicians > J. J. Johnson

	Musicians - J. J. Johnson

J. J. Johnson (born James Louis Johnson) in Indianapolis, Indiana, (January 22, 1924 - February 4, 2001), was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.

Johnson was in the first order of modern jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins and Oscar Pettiford. He recorded a number of popular albums with fellow trombonist Kai Winding, as well as many solo albums, and was a sideman on many classic jazz recordings. Several of his compositions, including "Wee Dot", "Lament" and "Enigma" are considered jazz standards. He was part of the Third Stream movement in jazz music in the late 1950s and early 1960s and wrote a number of large-scale works which incorporated elements of both classical and jazz music.

In 1970 he ceased performing in public for most of 17 years, before a comeback in the late 1980s. From the mid fifties on, he was a perennial polling favorite in jazz circles, even winning Down Beat's "Trombonist of the Year" during years he wasn't active. Voted into Down Beat's Hall of Fame in 1995, J. J. Johnson's recording career spanned 54 years, from 1942 to 1996.

He has long been seen as the greatest trombonist of the post-Swing Era, a pervasive influence on other jazz musicians, and one of jazz's legendary figures.

Biography

Big Bands

After studying the piano beginning at age 9, Johnson decided to play trombone at the age of 14. In 1941, he started his professional career with Clarence Love, and then played with Snookum Russell in 1942. In Russell's band he met the trumpeter Fats Navarro, who influenced him to play in the style of the tenor saxophonist Lester Young. Johnson went on to play in Benny Carter's orchestra between 1942 and 1945 with whom he made his first recordings in 1942 and recorded his first solo (on Love for Sale) in October, 1943. In 1944, he took part in the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert, presented in Los Angeles and organized by Norman Granz. In 1945 he joined the big band of Count Basie, touring and recording with him until 1946.

Bebop

While the trombone was featured prominently in dixieland and swing music, it fell out of favor among bebop and later jazz fusion musicians, largely because instruments with valves and keys (trumpet, saxophone) were more suited to bebop's often rapid tempos and demand for technical mastery. Johnson's work in the 1940s and 1950s defied both musicians and the public's perception that the slide trombone could not keep up in the bebop style. Fellow trombonist Steve Turre has summarized, "J.J. did for the trombone what Charlie Parker did for the saxophone. And all of us that are playing today wouldn't be playing the way we're playing if it wasn't for what he did. And not only, of course, is he the master of the trombone -- the definitive master of this century -- but, as a composer and arranger, he is in the top shelf as well."

After leaving Basie in 1946 to play in small bebop bands in New York clubs, Johnson wound up touring during 1947 with Illinois Jacquet. Also during this period he began recording as a leader of small groups, featuring Max Roach, Sonny Stitt and Bud Powell. His incredible accuracy at manipulating the slide trombone (many people who hadn't seen him play thought he must have been playing a valve instrument), contributed to the acceptance of the instrument in a genre where tempi were often very fast and the melodies very chromatic and rhythmically complex. He was present as a sideman in December, 1947 with Charlie Parker in the Dial Records session following Bird's release from Camarillo.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for J. J. Johnson ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article J. J. Johnson; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay