INDIANA'S LEGEND IN JAZZ

JAZZ TROMBONIST EXTRAORDINARY

J. J. JOHNSON

"The great seismic upheaval in jazz was bebop. It change the language, from that pronounced by Louis Armstrong to something new. And in the first days of that great upheaval, there seemed to be one dazzling virtuoso on each instrument who personified the new way the music was to be played. The saxophonist, and the fountainhead, was Charlie Parker. The trumpeter was Dizzy Gillespie. The pianist was But Powell. And the trombonist was J. J. Johnson". From:cd Heroes J J Johnson Verve 314 528 864-2

"J.J. Johnson was born James Louis in Indianapolis on January 22, 1924. At the age of 9, he studied piano with a church organist and became very interested in music during his second year at Crispus Attucks High School. The only school instrument available to him at the time was a baritone saxophone. J.J. played this instrument for a very short time and, at the age of fourteen, picked up the trombone, playing in the high school band as well as the brass marching band of the YMCA. By the time he was eighteen, J.J. left home to play with Snookum Russel's band, of which Fats Navarro was also a member. He went on to play with other legendary jazzers Benny Carter (from '42-5), Count Basie (from '45-6), and Illinois Jacquet (from '47-9). The earliest recordings of J.J. are with the Benny Carter Orchestra, although he functioned only as a section player. Johnson's first recorded solo, only twelve measures long, was with this group on the Capitol label on the track Love for Sale". From the Book: The Musical World of J.J. Johnson (Studies in Jazz, No. 35) by Joshua Berrett, Louis G. Bourgois

Remembering JJ Johnson in Better Days