J. J. Johnson

J. J. Johnson (Jan. 22, 1924 — Feb. 4, 2001) was an American trombonist, composer, and arranger from Indianapolis whose catalog includes The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, J.J. Inc., and Proof Positive. He recorded with Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, and Kai Winding, then moved into film scoring with the 1970s blaxploitation productions Across 110th Street, Cleopatra Jones, and Willie Dynamite.

Background

J. J. Johnson was born James Louis Johnson on Jan. 22, 1924, in Indianapolis, Indiana. His mother, Nina Gieger Johnson, arranged music lessons for her children. Johnson studied piano between ages nine and eleven with the family church organist and briefly played baritone saxophone at school. He took up trombone at fourteen when classmates needed a trombonist for an amateur band. Johnson attended Crispus Attucks High School, where he concentrated on music and English and played trombone in the school band and YMCA marching band.

Johnson spent his high-school years in informal sessions with classmates and around clubs on Indiana Avenue. Clarence Love hired him for his first formal engagement in September 1941 at Sunset Terrace, an Indianapolis nightclub. Johnson graduated that year and joined the Love regional touring band as a professional trombonist.

In March 1942, Johnson began an eight-month stint with pianist and bandleader Snookum Russell. They worked with trumpeter Fats Navarro, an early model for Johnson, who also studied tenor saxophonist Lester Young. Post-Russell, Johnson returned to Indianapolis, where local musicians recommended the young talent to saxophonist and bandleader Benny Carter.

Early Credits

Johnson remained with Benny Carter for thirty months and recorded his first solo in October 1943 on “Love for Sale.” Norman Granz included Johnson in the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert on July 2, 1944, in Los Angeles. Count Basie hired Johnson in May 1945 for a year of concerts and sessions with the Basie orchestra.

Johnson left the Basie orchestra in 1946 for small-group work in New York. Savoy arranged his first leader session on June 26 with alto saxophonist Cecil Payne, pianist Bud Powell, bassist Leonard Gaskin, and drummer Max Roach. The quintet cut “Jay Bird,” “Coppin’ the Bop,” “Jay Jay,” and “Mad Be Bop.”

Johnson returned to Savoy in December 1947 with baritone saxophonist Leo Parker, then led a May 1949 quintet with tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins. He also recorded with Charlie Parker and joined Miles Davis for sessions associated with Birth of the Cool.

On May 26, 1949, Prestige recorded Johnson and Rollins on four cuts — “Elysee,” “Opus V,” “Hilo,” and “Fox Hunt” — with Gaskin, Roach, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, and pianist John Lewis. Prestige issued the four Johnson performances on one side of the 1951 ten-inch LP Modern Jazz Trombones, with four unrelated Kai Winding recordings on the opposite side. Johnson first recorded alongside Winding in the 1953 Trombone Rapport sessions. In 1954, Johnson formed a co-led group with the Danish-American trombonist.

Discography:

• Modern Jazz Trombones (1951 • Kai Winding and His All Stars / Jay Jay Johnson and His All Stars)
• Jay Jay Johnson With Clifford Brown (1953 • Jay Jay Johnson Sextet)
• The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 2 (1955)
• The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 3 (1955 • Jay Jay Johnson Quintet)
• Trombone for Two (1956 • J. J. Johnson & Kai Winding)
• 4 Trombones (1957 • Kai Winding + J.J. Johnson + Bennie Green + Willie Dennis and featuring John Lewis & Charlie Mingus)
• First Place (1957)
• J Is for Jazz (1957 • The J.J. Johnson Quintet)
• J. J. Johnson’s Jazz Quintets (1957)
• Music for Brass (1957 • Gunther Schuller, John Lewis, Jimmy Giuffre, J. J. Johnson & Dimitri Mitropoulos)
• Dial J.J. 5 (1958)
• Blue Trombone (1959)
• Really Livin’ (1959 • The J.J. Johnson Sextet)
• J. J. Johnson, Trombone and Voices (1960)
• J.J. Inc. (1961 • The J.J. Johnson Sextet)
• The Great Kai & J.J. (1961 • J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding)
• A Touch of Satin (1962)
• Play Kurt Weill’s Mack the Knife & Bilbao-Song (1962 • André Previn & J. J. Johnson)
• J.J.’s Broadway (1963)
• J.J.! (1965)
• Proof Positive (1965)
• Broadway Express (1966)
• The Total J.J. Johnson (1966)
• Israel (1968 • K. & J.J.)
• Betwixt & Between (1969 • J & K)
• Man and Boy (OST, 1971)
• Across 110th Street (OST, 1972 • Bobby Womack / J. J. Johnson)
• Cleopatra Jones (1973)
• Willie Dynamite (OST, 1974)
• Concepts in Blue (1980)
• Pinnacles (1980)
• Jackson, Johnson, Brown & Company (1983 • Jackson, Johnson, Brown & Company)
• Things Are Getting Better All the Time (1984 • J. J. Johnson & Al Grey)