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    J J Johnson

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    J.J. Johnson was considered one of the greatest jazz trombonists of all time. He pioneered the bebop style of jazz trombone in the 1940s and worked with legendary artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Throughout his career, Johnson focused on performing, composing original pieces, and writing for television and film scores. He is renowned for his rich tone, virtuosic playing, and ability to play with soul, influencing jazz trombonists worldwide.

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    J J Johnson

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    J.J. Johnson was considered one of the greatest jazz trombonists of all time. He pioneered the bebop style of jazz trombone in the 1940s and worked with legendary artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Throughout his career, Johnson focused on performing, composing original pieces, and writing for television and film scores. He is renowned for his rich tone, virtuosic playing, and ability to play with soul, influencing jazz trombonists worldwide.

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    J.J. Johnson was considered one of the greatest jazz trombonists of all time. He pioneered the bebop style of jazz trombone in the 1940s and worked with legendary artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Throughout his career, Johnson focused on performing, composing original pieces, and writing for television and film scores. He is renowned for his rich tone, virtuosic playing, and ability to play with soul, influencing jazz trombonists worldwide.

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    J J Johnson

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    J.J. Johnson was considered one of the greatest jazz trombonists of all time. He pioneered the bebop style of jazz trombone in the 1940s and worked with legendary artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Throughout his career, Johnson focused on performing, composing original pieces, and writing for television and film scores. He is renowned for his rich tone, virtuosic playing, and ability to play with soul, influencing jazz trombonists worldwide.

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    Mike Kehoe

    MUSE 250
    Brass Artist Research Project
    This project focuses on both my current instrument (trombone) and my least
    studied area of music (jazz). In the search for famous jazz trombonists, J.J. Johnson
    appeared repeatedly. Often considered one of the greatest jazz trombonists of all time,
    James Louis (J.J.) Johnson was born in Indianapolis on January 22nd, 1924. He ushered
    in a new era of bebop music, working with renowned artists such as Dizzy Gillespie,
    Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.
    Johnson first began on piano, not moving to trombone until high school.
    Ironically, he had wanted to play saxophone and did not originally want to play the
    trombone. He first began performing with territory bands in the first half of the 1940s,
    only four years after he had started playing trombone. He got opportunities to perform
    with renowned jazz musicians, such as Benny Carter, Count Basie and Illinois Jacquet.
    He began to perform his revolutionary bebop sound on trombone in the second half of the
    decade, setting a completely new standard and genre for the jazz trombonist. His unique
    style quickly gained him attention in the music world. He began composing in the early
    1950s, followed by his joining with Danish trombonist Kai Winding. The group had a
    rather unusual instrumentation of two trombones and a rhythm section. In 1956, Johnson
    left the group to find a new musical challenge for himself.
    Johnson began to focus more on composition, writing for brass ensembles and
    even beginning to write for television and film scores in 1970. After parting with
    Winding, he wrote several famous pieces: Poem for Brass, El Camino Real, and
    Perceptions. He began to break into the film industry with music for Shaft, Cleopatra

    Jones, and some television such as The Six Million Dollar Man. While he focused on
    composition at the time, he still made occasional jazz recordings. Johnson spent
    seventeen years out in Hollywood with his family, writing for television and film scores.
    Johnson then moved back to Indianapolis in 1987 to write more for jazz
    ensembles once again and record jazz. After seventeen years, he came back to jazz fulltime. He worked with some ensembles, performing his last album, The Brass Orchestra,
    in 1996. He retired from trombone performance in 1997, yet continued to work on his
    compositions. Johnson began to suffer from prostate cancer, and committed suicide on
    February 4th, 2001. He married twice during his lifetime, remarrying after his first wifes
    death. Johnson has two sons, Kevin and William, and a stepdaughter, Mikita.
    Johnsons work still lives on today, his performances serving as a model for jazz
    trombonists worldwide. His rich, dark tone and ease of performance deceives the
    listeners ear, making his music sound natural and almost easy. His lyric, virtuosic
    playing with such strong musical flow challenges even the best jazz trombonists today.
    His ability to play with soul also made his performance as a jazz trombonist such an
    iconic sound to jazz and bebop. One of Johnsons most famous pieces is from 1957, and
    it is called Blue Trombone. The instrumentation (other than J.J.) involves Tommy
    Flanagan on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Max Roach on drums.
    J.J. Johnson serves as an outstanding model for any type of trombonist, jazz or
    not. His intonation quality and sensitivity to the music demonstrates qualities of any
    strong musician. Johnson certainly made a significant splash in the world of jazz, and he
    paved the way for jazz trombonists (particularly in the route of bebop). His virtuosic and

    free-flowing performance, along with his challenging original compositions, will forever
    earn him a name in the history of jazz.

    References
    Bernotas, B. (n.d.). An Interview with J. J. Johnson. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from
    http://trombone.org/articles/library/jjjohnson-int.asp
    ClassicalPlus - Jazz Artist - J.J. Johnson. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
    http://www.gmn.com/artists/artist.asp?id=2040
    J.J. Johnson - Blue Trombone 1957 [Advertisement]. (2014, January 18). Retrieved April
    20, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvgf0yPAqGI
    J. J. Johnson: 1924-2001. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2016, from
    http://www.jazzhouse.org/gone/lastpost2.php3?edit=981455192
    J.J. Johnson. (2005). J.J. Johnson: Thirteen Original Songs [CD]. Jamey Aebersold Jazz.
    Sullivan, L. T. (n.d.). Discography. Retrieved April 22, 2016, from
    http://jjjohnson.jazzgiants.net/biography/discography/

    Discography
    Albums

    1949: J. J. Johnson (Savoy)

    1949: J. J. Johnsons Jazz Quintets

    1949: J. J. Johnsons Boppers (Fantasy)

    1949: J. J. Johnson with Sonny Stitt (OJC)

    1952: Jazz South Pacific (Savoy)

    1953: The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 1 Blue Note

    1955: The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2 Blue Note

    1957: First Place American Jazz Classics

    1957: Blue Trombone American Jazz Classics

    1957: Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson at the Opera House

    1960: J.J. Inc. Columbia

    1963: J.J.s Broadway (Verve)

    1964: J.J.! (RCA)

    1964: Proof Positive (Impulse!)

    1965: Goodies (RCA)

    1966: The Total (RCA)

    1966: Broadway Express (RCA)

    1977: The Yokohama Concert Pablo

    1977: Chain Reaction: Yokohama Concert, Vol. 2 Pablo (released in 2002)

    1979: Pinnacles OJC

    1982: Aurex Jazz Festival 82 All Star Jam Somethin Else Classics TOCJ

    1983: Jackson, Johnson, Brown and Company Fantasy

    1983: Well Be Together Again J.J. Johnson and Joe Pass OJC

    1984: Things Are Getting Better All the Time (w/ Al Grey) OJC

    1988: Quintergy Antilles

    1988: Standards Antilles

    1992: Vivian Concord

    1992: Lets Hang Out Verve

    1994: Carnegie Hall Salutes the Jazz Masters Verve

    1994: Tangence (with the Robert Farnon Orchestra) Verve

    1996: The Brass Orchestra Verve

    1998: Heroes Verve


    With Kai Winding as co-leader

    1954: Jay and Kai (Savoy)

    1954: An Afternoon at Birdland

    1954: Jay and Kai (Prestige)

    1955: K + J.J. (Bethlehem)

    1955: Nuf Said (Bethlehem)

    1956: Trombone for Two (Columbia)

    1956: Jay and Kai (Columbia)

    1956: Jay and Kai + 6 (Columbia)

    1960: The Great Kai & J. J. (Impulse!)

    1968: Israel (A&M/CTI)

    1968: Betwixt & Between (A&M/CTI)

    1969: Stonebone (A&M/CTI (Japan))


    As sideman
    With Cannonball Adderley

    Julian Cannonball Adderley (EmArcy, 1955)


    With Nat Adderley

    Sayin Somethin (Atlantic, 1966)


    With Count Basie

    Basie Jam (1973)

    Count Basie with Joe Turner The Bosses (1973)

    Count Basie- Kansas City 7 (Pablo, 1980) Pablo


    With Kenny Burrell

    Night Song (Verve, 1969)


    With Miles Davis

    The Birth of the Cool (Capitol, 1949)

    Walkin (Prestige, 1954)


    With Paul Desmond

    Summertime (A&M/CTI, 1968)


    With Kenny Dorham

    Afro-Cuban (Blue Note, 1955)


    With Dizzy Gillespie

    Dee Gee Days: The Savoy Sessions (Savoy, 1951-52 [1976])

    Afro (Norgran, 1954)

    Dizzy and Strings (Norgran, 1954)

    Perceptions (Verve, 1961) composer and arranger


    With Benny Golson

    The Modern Touch (Riverside, 1957)


    With Coleman Hawkins

    The Hawk Flies High (1957)


    With Milt Jackson

    Bebop (East West, 1988)


    With Elvin Jones

    And Then Again (Atlantic, 1965)

    With Oliver Nelson

    Happenings with Hank Jones (Impulse!, 1966)


    With Chico OFarrill

    Nine Flags (Impulse!, 1966)


    With Sonny Rollins

    Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1957)


    With Moacir Santos

    Carnival of the Spirits (Blue Note, 1975)


    With Lalo Schifrin

    New Fantasy (Verve, 1964)

    Once a Thief and Other Themes (Verve, 1965)


    With Horace Silver

    The Cape Verdean Blues (Blue Note, 1965)


    With Steve Turre

    Steve Turre (Verve, 1996)


    Soundtracks

    Across 110th Street (c. 1972) Rykodisc 10706

    Willie Dynamite Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1974) Hip-O Select


    B000362202

    Cleopatra Jones Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to (1974) Warner Bros.


    B00005B471

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