J.J. Johnson
Encyclopedia
J. J. Johnson was a United States jazz
trombonist, composer
and arranger
. He was sometimes credited as Jay Jay Johnson.
Johnson was one of the first trombonists to embrace bebop
music. He has long been regarded as one of the leading trombonists of the post-swing era
, exerting a pervasive influence on other jazz musicians.
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 played in Benny Carter
's orchestra between 1942 and 1945, and made his first recordings in 1942 under Carter's leadership, recording 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.
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 believed to be more suited to bebop's often rapid tempos and demand for technical mastery. In 1946, Bebop "co-inventor" Dizzy Gillespie
encouraged the young trombonist's development with the comment, "I've always known that the trombone could be played different, that somebody'd catch on one of these days. Man, you're elected."
After leaving Count Basie in 1946 to play in small bebop
bands in New York clubs, Johnson toured in 1947 with Illinois Jacquet
. During this period he also began recording as a leader of small groups featuring Max Roach
, Sonny Stitt
and Bud Powell
. He performed with Charlie Parker
at the 17 December 1947 Dial Records
session following Parker's release from Camarillo State Mental Hospital
.
In 1951, with bassist Oscar Pettiford
and trumpeter Howard McGhee
, he toured the military camps of Japan
and Korea
before returning to the United States and taking a day job as a blueprint inspector. Johnson admitted later he was still thinking of nothing but music during that time, and indeed, his classic Blue Note
recordings as both a leader and with Miles Davis date from this period. Johnson's compositions Enigma and Kelo were recorded by Davis for Blue Note and J. J. was part of the Davis studio session band that recorded the jazz classic Walkin'
(1954).
, then with Savoy Records
, convinced Johnson to set up a combo with trombonist Kai Winding
: the "Jay and Kai Quintet." The trombone styles and personalities of the two musicians, although very different, blended so well that the pairing, which lasted till August, 1956, was a huge success both musically and commercially. They toured U.S. nightclubs constantly and recorded numerous albums before parting amicably, satisfied that they had fully explored (and exploited) their novel group. The duo reunited again in 1958 for a tour of Great Britain, an Impulse! studio album in 1960 and in 1968-1969 (two albums for CTI/A&M Records). In January 1967, Johnson and Winding were in an all-star line-up (alongside the likes of Clark Terry
, Charlie Shavers
and Joe Newman
) backing Sarah Vaughan
on her last-ever sessions for Mercury Records
, released as the album Sassy Swings Again
, with three of the cuts, including Billy Strayhorn
's "Take the "A" Train", being arranged by Johnson himself. The duo also made some jazz festival appearances in Japan in the early 1980s, the last shortly before Winding died in May, 1983.
and Scandinavia
. These groups (ranging from quartets to sextets) included tenor saxophonists Bobby Jaspar
and Clifford Jordan
, cornetist Nat Adderley
, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard
, pianists Tommy Flanagan
and Cedar Walton
, and drummers Elvin Jones
, Albert "Tootie" Heath, and Max Roach. His classic quartet albums First Place and Blue Trombone
, with Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Max Roach, were recorded in 1957. He also toured with the Jazz at the Philharmonic
show in 1957 and 1960, the first tour yielding a memorable live album featuring Johnson and tenor saxophonist Stan Getz
. In 1958-59 Johnson was one of three plaintiffs in a court case which hastened the abolition of the cabaret card
system.
This period overlaps a bit with the beginnings of Johnson's serious forays into Third Stream
music (see below). Periods of concentrating on writing and recording his music would alternate with tours demanding attention to his playing.
Following the six months he spent writing Perceptions (see below), late 1961 found J. J. in the studio for a date which at first might have seemed an odd pairing on paper. Andre Previn
's trio (adding Johnson as the only horn) recorded an entire album of the music of Kurt Weill
. The inventive arrangements and inspired playing of both stars bore out the producer's foresight, yet this is one of few J. J. Johnson albums which remains unreleased on CD. In 1962 J. J. toured for a number of months with Miles Davis
' sextet of that year, which went unrecorded.
Johnson's 1963 solo album J. J.'s Broadway is an excellent example of both his mature trombone
style and sound, and his arranging abilities. 1964 saw the recording of his last working band for a period of over 20 years- Proof Positive. Beginning in 1965 Johnson recorded a number of large group studio albums under his name, featuring many of his own compositions and arrangements. The late 1960s saw a radical downturn in the fortunes of many jazz musicians and Johnson was consequently heard almost exclusively on big band
-style studio records, usually backing a single soloist.
. He became an active contributor to the Third Stream
movement in jazz music, (which included such other notable musicians as Gunther Schuller
and John Lewis
), and wrote a number of large-scale works which incorporated elements of both classical and jazz music. He contributed his Poem for Brass to a Third Stream
compilation titled Music for Brass in 1957, and composed a number of original works which were performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival
in the late fifties and early sixties. In 1961, he composed a suite
in six movements, titled Perceptions, with Dizzy Gillespie
as soloist. The First International Jazz Festival, held in Washington, D.C.
in 1962, featured another extended work. In 1965 he spent time in Vienna
to perform and record his Euro Suite with a jazz-classical fusion orchestra led by Friedrich Gulda
. In 1968, a Johnson work titled Diversions was commissioned by the American Wind Symphony and performed in Pittsburgh.
convinced Johnson to move from New York to California
to compose for cinema
and television
, where he eventually scored movies such as Across 110th Street
, Cleopatra Jones
, Top of the Heap
and Willie Dynamite
, as well as TV series such as Starsky & Hutch, Mike Hammer
and The Six Million Dollar Man
. Despite his small level of success, Johnson acknowledged that racism and other prejudices kept a black jazz musician such as himself from securing the amount and quality of work he was qualified to perform. During this period, he played almost no concerts, except in 1977 and 1982 in Japan
, and in 1984 in Europe
. Despite the low profile, he did record six albums as a leader between 1977 and 1984 (including a 1984 trombone duo album with Al Grey
) and a few albums as a sideman, two with Count Basie, and on The Sting II soundtrack. During the California period he also played in the Coconut Grove orchestra of Sammy Davis, Jr.
and the TV orchestra of Carol Burnett
.
in New York City
. Tours of the United States, Europe and Japan followed as well as a return engagement to the Vanguard in July, 1988 which yielded two albums worth of material.
While on tour of Japan in December, 1988, Johnson's wife Vivian suffered a stroke which incapacitated her for her remaining three and a half years of life. During this period Johnson cancelled all work, devoting his energy to caring for his ailing wife. After her death in 1991, he dedicated an album to her on Concord
. A year later the former Carolyn Reid became his second wife, and Johnson began actively performing once again. Following this second "comeback" in 1992, Johnson's contracts with a variety of record labels, including Verve
and Antilles, resulted in five albums as a leader, from small groups to separate brass orchestra and string orchestra recordings, as well as sideman appearances with his leading disciple, trombonist Steve Turre and the vocalist Abbey Lincoln
. He earned several Grammy nominations during this period. He retired from active performing and touring in late 1996, after having performed his last concert at William Paterson College on November 10, 1996, then choosing to stay at his home in Indianapolis
where he could indulge his passion of composing and arranging music with computers and MIDI.
Later, diagnosed with prostate cancer
, he maintained a positive outlook and underwent treatment. He wrote a book of original exercises and etudes for jazz musicians, published later by Hal Leonard. A biography, titled The Musical World of J. J. Johnson, was published in 2000. On February 4, 2001, he committed suicide
by shooting himself. His funeral in Indianapolis drew jazz musicians, friends and family from around the country.
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."
The two-trombone jazz combo setup pioneered by Johnson and Winding has been imitated by more recent trombonists, with such combinations as Jim Pugh/Dave Taylor, Conrad Herwig/Steve Davis, and Michael Davis/Bill Reichenbach.
Several of his compositions, including "Wee Dot", "Lament", and "Enigma" have become jazz standard
s.
From the mid-1950s on, Johnson was a perennial polling favorite in jazz circles, even winning "Trombonist of the Year" in Down Beat
magazine during years he wasn't active. In 1970 he ceased performing in public before making a comeback in the late 1980s. He was voted into the Down Beat
Hall of Fame in 1995.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
trombonist, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
. He was sometimes credited as Jay Jay Johnson.
Johnson was one of the first trombonists to embrace bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
music. He has long been regarded as one of the leading trombonists of the post-swing era
Swing Era
The Swing era was the period of time when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States. Though the music had been around since the late 1920s and early 1930s, being played by black bands led by such artists as Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Moten, Ella Fitzgerald,...
, exerting a pervasive influence on other jazz musicians.
Big bands
After studying the piano beginning at age 9, Johnson decided to play tromboneTrombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
at the age of 14. In 1941, he started his professional career with Clarence Love, and then played with Snookum Russell
Snookum Russell
Snookum Russell was a pianist and leader of a territory band that played tobacco warehouses and dance halls in the South and Midwest in the 1930s, '40s and '50s.Members of his bands included J. J...
in 1942. In Russell's band he met the trumpeter Fats Navarro
Fats Navarro
Theodore "Fats" Navarro was an American jazz trumpet player. He was a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. He had a strong stylistic influence on many other players, most notably Clifford Brown.-Life:Navarro was born in Key West, Florida, to Cuban-Black-Chinese parentage...
, who influenced him to play in the style of the tenor saxophonist Lester Young
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
. Johnson played in Benny Carter
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognized as such by other jazz musicians who called him King...
's orchestra between 1942 and 1945, and made his first recordings in 1942 under Carter's leadership, recording his first solo (on Love for Sale) in October, 1943. In 1944, he took part in the first Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP, was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz....
concert, presented in Los Angeles and organized by Norman Granz
Norman Granz
Norman Granz was an American jazz music impresario and producer.Granz was a fundamental figure in American jazz, especially from about 1947 to 1960...
. In 1945 he joined the big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
of Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, touring and recording with him until 1946.
Bebop
While the trombone was featured prominently in dixielandDixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
and swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
music, it fell out of favor among bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
and later jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
musicians, largely because instruments with valves and keys (trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
) were believed to be more suited to bebop's often rapid tempos and demand for technical mastery. In 1946, Bebop "co-inventor" Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
encouraged the young trombonist's development with the comment, "I've always known that the trombone could be played different, that somebody'd catch on one of these days. Man, you're elected."
After leaving Count Basie in 1946 to play in small bebop
Bebop
Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...
bands in New York clubs, Johnson toured in 1947 with Illinois Jacquet
Illinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo....
. During this period he also began recording as a leader of small groups featuring Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
, Sonny Stitt
Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
and Bud Powell
Bud Powell
Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell was an American Jazz pianist. Powell has been described as one of "the two most significant pianists of the style of modern jazz that came to be known as bop", the other being his friend and contemporary Thelonious Monk...
. He performed with Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
at the 17 December 1947 Dial Records
Dial Records (1946)
Dial Records was a United States based record label specializing in bebop jazz. Dial was founded by Ross Russell in 1946, who operated the label for about a decade. Notable artists who recorded for Dial included Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach, and Milt Jackson...
session following Parker's release from Camarillo State Mental Hospital
Camarillo State Mental Hospital
Camarillo State Mental Hospital, also known as Camarillo State Hospital, was a psychiatric hospital for both developmentally disabled and mentally ill patients in Camarillo, California. The hospital closed in 1997. The site has been redeveloped as the California State University, Channel Islands...
.
In 1951, with bassist Oscar Pettiford
Oscar Pettiford
Oscar Pettiford was an American jazz double bassist, cellist and composer known particularly for his pioneering work in bebop.-Biography:...
and trumpeter Howard McGhee
Howard McGhee
Howard McGhee was one of the very first bebop jazz trumpeters, together with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and Idrees Sulieman. He was known for lightning-fast fingers and very high notes...
, he toured the military camps of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
before returning to the United States and taking a day job as a blueprint inspector. Johnson admitted later he was still thinking of nothing but music during that time, and indeed, his classic Blue Note
Blue note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
recordings as both a leader and with Miles Davis date from this period. Johnson's compositions Enigma and Kelo were recorded by Davis for Blue Note and J. J. was part of the Davis studio session band that recorded the jazz classic Walkin'
Walkin'
-Performers:*Miles Davis - Trumpet*Lucky Thompson - Tenor saxophone *J. J. Johnson - Trombone *David Schildkraut - Alto saxophone *Horace Silver - Piano*Percy Heath - Bass*Kenny Clarke - drums...
(1954).
Jay and Kai
In 1954 producer Ozzie CadenaOzzie Cadena
Oscar "Ozzie" Cadena was an American record producer with Savoy Records and Prestige Records who recorded gospel and jazz music in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and helped popularize jazz music in Los Angeles.-Background:...
, then with Savoy Records
Savoy Records
Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...
, convinced Johnson to set up a combo with trombonist Kai Winding
Kai Winding
Kai Chresten Winding was a popular Danish-born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is well known for a successful collaboration with fellow trombonist J. J. Johnson.-Biography:...
: the "Jay and Kai Quintet." The trombone styles and personalities of the two musicians, although very different, blended so well that the pairing, which lasted till August, 1956, was a huge success both musically and commercially. They toured U.S. nightclubs constantly and recorded numerous albums before parting amicably, satisfied that they had fully explored (and exploited) their novel group. The duo reunited again in 1958 for a tour of Great Britain, an Impulse! studio album in 1960 and in 1968-1969 (two albums for CTI/A&M Records). In January 1967, Johnson and Winding were in an all-star line-up (alongside the likes of Clark Terry
Clark Terry
Clark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
, Charlie Shavers
Charlie Shavers
Charles James Shavers , known as Charlie Shavers, was an American swing era jazz trumpet player who played at one time or another with Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams and Billie Holiday...
and Joe Newman
Joe Newman (trumpeter)
Joseph Dwight Newman was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and educator, best known for his time with Count Basie....
) backing Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
on her last-ever sessions for Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
, released as the album Sassy Swings Again
Sassy Swings Again
Sassy Swings Again is a 1967 studio album by Sarah Vaughan. This was Vaughan's last album for Mercury Records, and her last studio recording for four years.-Reception:...
, with three of the cuts, including Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn
William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".-Early...
's "Take the "A" Train", being arranged by Johnson himself. The duo also made some jazz festival appearances in Japan in the early 1980s, the last shortly before Winding died in May, 1983.
Solo success
Following the mid-1950s collaboration with Winding, J. J. Johnson began leading his own touring small groups for about 3 years, covering the United States, United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
. These groups (ranging from quartets to sextets) included tenor saxophonists Bobby Jaspar
Bobby Jaspar
Bobby Jaspar was a cool jazz and hard bop saxophonist, flautist and composer born in Liège, Belgium. He was married to the jazz singer Blossom Dearie....
and Clifford Jordan
Clifford Jordan
Clifford Laconia Jordan was a jazz saxophone player. While in Chicago, he performed with Max Roach, Sonny Stitt, and some rhythm and blues groups. He moved to New York City in 1957, after which he recorded three albums for Blue Note. He also recorded with Horace Silver, J.J. Johnson, Kenny...
, cornetist Nat Adderley
Nat Adderley
Nathaniel Adderley was an American jazz cornet and trumpet player who played in the hard bop and soul jazz genres. He was the brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley....
, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, pianists Tommy Flanagan
Tommy Flanagan
Thomas Lee Flanagan was an American jazz pianist born in Detroit, Michigan, particularly remembered for his work with Ella Fitzgerald...
and Cedar Walton
Cedar Walton
Cedar Anthony Walton, Junior is an American hard bop jazz pianist.-Biography:Walton grew up in Dallas, Texas. His mother was an aspiring concert pianist, and was Walton's initial teacher. She also took him to jazz performances around Dallas...
, and drummers Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
, Albert "Tootie" Heath, and Max Roach. His classic quartet albums First Place and Blue Trombone
Blue Trombone
Blue Trombone is an LP by J. J. Johnson. An early example of hard bop, the album features pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Max Roach...
, with Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Max Roach, were recorded in 1957. He also toured with the Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic
Jazz at the Philharmonic, or JATP, was the title of a series of jazz concerts, tours and recordings produced by Norman Granz....
show in 1957 and 1960, the first tour yielding a memorable live album featuring Johnson and tenor saxophonist Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
. In 1958-59 Johnson was one of three plaintiffs in a court case which hastened the abolition of the cabaret card
New York City Cabaret Card
From Prohibition until 1967, a permit called the New York City Cabaret Identification Card was required of all workers, including performers, in New York City nightclubs. Their administration was fraught with politics, and some artists' cards were revoked on specious grounds. For many performers,...
system.
This period overlaps a bit with the beginnings of Johnson's serious forays into Third Stream
Third stream
Third Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller, within a lecture at Brandeis University, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz...
music (see below). Periods of concentrating on writing and recording his music would alternate with tours demanding attention to his playing.
Following the six months he spent writing Perceptions (see below), late 1961 found J. J. in the studio for a date which at first might have seemed an odd pairing on paper. Andre Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
's trio (adding Johnson as the only horn) recorded an entire album of the music of Kurt Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
. The inventive arrangements and inspired playing of both stars bore out the producer's foresight, yet this is one of few J. J. Johnson albums which remains unreleased on CD. In 1962 J. J. toured for a number of months with Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
' sextet of that year, which went unrecorded.
Johnson's 1963 solo album J. J.'s Broadway is an excellent example of both his mature trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
style and sound, and his arranging abilities. 1964 saw the recording of his last working band for a period of over 20 years- Proof Positive. Beginning in 1965 Johnson recorded a number of large group studio albums under his name, featuring many of his own compositions and arrangements. The late 1960s saw a radical downturn in the fortunes of many jazz musicians and Johnson was consequently heard almost exclusively on big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
-style studio records, usually backing a single soloist.
The composer
From the mid-fifties, but especially the early sixties on, J. J. Johnson dedicated more and more time to compositionMusical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
. He became an active contributor to the Third Stream
Third stream
Third Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller, within a lecture at Brandeis University, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz...
movement in jazz music, (which included such other notable musicians as Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller
Gunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
and John Lewis
John Lewis (pianist)
John Aaron Lewis was an American jazz pianist and composer best known as the musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet.- Early life:...
), and wrote a number of large-scale works which incorporated elements of both classical and jazz music. He contributed his Poem for Brass to a Third Stream
Third stream
Third Stream is a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller, within a lecture at Brandeis University, to describe a musical genre which is a synthesis of classical music and jazz...
compilation titled Music for Brass in 1957, and composed a number of original works which were performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival
The Monterey Jazz Festival is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. It debuted on October 3, 1958 and was founded by San Francisco jazz radio broadcaster Jimmy Lyons.-History:...
in the late fifties and early sixties. In 1961, he composed a suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
in six movements, titled Perceptions, with Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
as soloist. The First International Jazz Festival, held in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in 1962, featured another extended work. In 1965 he spent time in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
to perform and record his Euro Suite with a jazz-classical fusion orchestra led by Friedrich Gulda
Friedrich Gulda
Friedrich Gulda was an Austrian pianist and composer who worked in both the classical and jazz fields.Born in Vienna as the son of a teacher, Gulda began learning to play the piano from Felix Pazofsky at the Wiener Volkskonservatorium, aged 7...
. In 1968, a Johnson work titled Diversions was commissioned by the American Wind Symphony and performed in Pittsburgh.
Hollywood
In 1970, Quincy JonesQuincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
convinced Johnson to move from New York to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to compose for cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, where he eventually scored movies such as Across 110th Street
Across 110th Street
Across 110th Street is a 1972 American crime-drama film starring Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, and Anthony Franciosa, and directed by Barry Shear...
, Cleopatra Jones
Cleopatra Jones
-Plot:Cleopatra Jones is a strikingly beautiful black model with an array of flamboyant outfits. Modeling, however, is only a cover for her real job as a secret government agent. Jones is a Bond-like heroine with power and influence; an object of awe for her flashy wardrobe, her ’73 silver and...
, Top of the Heap
Top of the Heap
Top of the Heap is a 1991 Fox television sitcom that was spun off from Married... with Children. Though it lasted seven episodes, it was nonetheless the most successful of three attempted Married...With Children spin-offs during the main series' run. The pilot was episode 20 of the 5th season of...
and Willie Dynamite
Willie Dynamite
Willie Dynamite is a 1974 blaxploitation film starring Roscoe Orman, Joyce Walker, Thalmus Rasulala, and Diana Sands. Willie Dynamite is a pimp in NYC who strives to be number one in the city...
, as well as TV series such as Starsky & Hutch, Mike Hammer
Mike Hammer
Michael "Mike" Hammer is a fictional detective created by the American author Mickey Spillane in the 1947 book I, the Jury .-Description:...
and The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
. Despite his small level of success, Johnson acknowledged that racism and other prejudices kept a black jazz musician such as himself from securing the amount and quality of work he was qualified to perform. During this period, he played almost no concerts, except in 1977 and 1982 in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and in 1984 in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Despite the low profile, he did record six albums as a leader between 1977 and 1984 (including a 1984 trombone duo album with Al Grey
Al Grey
Al Grey was a jazz trombonist who is most remembered for his association with the Count Basie orchestra....
) and a few albums as a sideman, two with Count Basie, and on The Sting II soundtrack. During the California period he also played in the Coconut Grove orchestra of Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
and the TV orchestra of Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
.
Return to performing
Johnson returned to performing and recording in November 1987, with an engagement at the Village VanguardVillage Vanguard
The Village Vanguard is a jazz club located at in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on February 22, 1935, by Max Gordon. At first, it also featured other forms of music such as folk music and beat poetry, but it switched to an all-jazz format in 1957.-History:Over 100 jazz...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Tours of the United States, Europe and Japan followed as well as a return engagement to the Vanguard in July, 1988 which yielded two albums worth of material.
While on tour of Japan in December, 1988, Johnson's wife Vivian suffered a stroke which incapacitated her for her remaining three and a half years of life. During this period Johnson cancelled all work, devoting his energy to caring for his ailing wife. After her death in 1991, he dedicated an album to her on Concord
Concord Records
Concord Records is a U.S. record label now based in Beverly Hills, California. Originally known as Concord Jazz, it was established in 1972 as an off-shoot of the Concord Jazz Festival in Concord, California by festival founder Carl Jefferson, a local automobile dealer and jazz fan who sold his...
. A year later the former Carolyn Reid became his second wife, and Johnson began actively performing once again. Following this second "comeback" in 1992, Johnson's contracts with a variety of record labels, including Verve
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
and Antilles, resulted in five albums as a leader, from small groups to separate brass orchestra and string orchestra recordings, as well as sideman appearances with his leading disciple, trombonist Steve Turre and the vocalist Abbey Lincoln
Abbey Lincoln
Anna Marie Wooldridge , better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the expectations of jazz audiences.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was one of many...
. He earned several Grammy nominations during this period. He retired from active performing and touring in late 1996, after having performed his last concert at William Paterson College on November 10, 1996, then choosing to stay at his home in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
where he could indulge his passion of composing and arranging music with computers and MIDI.
Later, diagnosed with prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
, he maintained a positive outlook and underwent treatment. He wrote a book of original exercises and etudes for jazz musicians, published later by Hal Leonard. A biography, titled The Musical World of J. J. Johnson, was published in 2000. On February 4, 2001, he committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by shooting himself. His funeral in Indianapolis drew jazz musicians, friends and family from around the country.
Influence
Johnson's work in the 1940s and 1950s demonstrated that the slide trombone could be played in the bebop style. Contemporary trombonist Steve TurreSteve Turre
Steve Turre is a trombonist, recording artist, arranger, and educator. In 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2006 he won the Down Beat Reader's Poll for best trombonist....
has summarized, "J. J. did for the trombone what Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
did for the saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
. 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
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
— the definitive master of this century — but, as a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
, he is in the top shelf as well."
The two-trombone jazz combo setup pioneered by Johnson and Winding has been imitated by more recent trombonists, with such combinations as Jim Pugh/Dave Taylor, Conrad Herwig/Steve Davis, and Michael Davis/Bill Reichenbach.
Several of his compositions, including "Wee Dot", "Lament", and "Enigma" have become jazz standard
Jazz standard
Jazz standards are musical compositions which are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...
s.
From the mid-1950s on, Johnson was a perennial polling favorite in jazz circles, even winning "Trombonist of the Year" in Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
magazine during years he wasn't active. In 1970 he ceased performing in public before making a comeback in the late 1980s. He was voted into the Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
Hall of Fame in 1995.
External links
- A tribute page on www.trombone.org with links to numerous interviews
- An article on a very busy month early in Johnson's career- December, 1947
- YouTube video of J. J. Johnson, Sonny Stitt and Howard McGhee on Now's The Time.
- YouTube video of J. J. Johnson and Jamey Aebersold on Just Friend's
- Album cover gallery
- An obituary on The Dead Musician Directory
- J. J. Johnson at Find-A-Grave
- "The Incredible Kai Winding, His Official Site" - has some photos of J.J. and information on the music partnership between J. J. and Kai, as well as a pictorial discography on their recordings.
- J. J. Johnson at Trombone Page of the World