J.J. Johnson - The Eminent J.J. Johnson Volume 1
Released - January 1956
WOR Studios, NYC, June 22, 1953
Clifford Brown, trumpet; Jay Jay Johnson, trombone; Jimmy Heath, tenor, baritone sax; John Lewis, piano; Percy Heath, bass; Kenny Clarke, drums.
BN503-3 tk.4 Capri
BN504-0 tk.5 Lover Man
BN505-0 tk.6 Turnpike
BN506-2 tk.11 Sketch One
BN508-0 tk.14 Get Happy
Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, September 24, 1954
Jay Jay Johnson, trombone; Wynton Kelly, piano; Charles Mingus, bass; Kenny Clarke, drums; "Sabu" Martinez, congas #1-3,5.
1. tk.2 Too Marvelous For Words
2. tk.4 Jay
3. tk.5 Old Devil Moon
4. tk.7 It's You Or No One
5. tk.11 Coffee Pot
Session Photos
Photos: Francis Wolff
Track Listing
| Side One | ||
| Title | Author | Recording Date |
| Turnpike | J. J. Johnson | 22-Jun-53 |
| Lover Man | Jimmy Davis, Roger ("Ram") Ramirez, James Sherman | 22-Jun-53 |
| Get Happy | Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler | 22-Jun-53 |
| Sketch 1 | John Lewis | 22-Jun-53 |
| Capri | Gigi Gryce | 22-Jun-53 |
| Side Two | ||
| Jay | J. J. Johnson | 24-Sep-54 |
| Old Devil Moon | E. Y. Harburg, Burton Lane | 24-Sep-54 |
| It's You Or No One | Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne | 24-Sep-54 |
| Too Marvelous For Words | Johnny Mercer, Richard A. Whiting | 24-Sep-54 |
| Coffee Pot | J. J. Johnson | 24-Sep-54 |
Credits
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Liner Notes
It was not until the summer of 1955 that J.J. Johnson, name band musician and soloist respected and imitated during the past decade by innumerable performers all over the world, finally won a Down Beat poll. In informed quarters there were audible murmurs of "About time too"; in other sympathetic hip circles the reaction was "Better late than never."
Blue Note record fans were way ahead of the critics who awarded Jay Jay this belated crown. The amazing young trombonist has been an important part of the Blue Note catalog ever since his first appearance years ago with Howard McGhee's All Stars on BLP5012.. He was heard as sideman with Miles Davis on BLP 1501 and BLP 1502 and with Kenny Dorham on BLP 5065. in addition to appearing as a leader in the three outstanding sessions listed and described below.
The place of Jay Jay Johnson in jazz history parallels that of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker on their respective instruments. He was the first, and by all odds the foremost, of those who showed in the mid-1940s that it was possible to translate the rhythmic, melodic and harmonic innovations of bop into terms of that cumbersome and not too easily manipulated instrument, the slide trombone.
Jay Jay earned his nickname from his fist and last initials: he was born James Louis Johnson. A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, he showed his first musical talent as a pianist in 1935, when he was eleven years old, and took up trombone three years later. After working with Clarence Love and Snookum Russell in 1941-2, he acquired his first taste of widespread recognition as a member of the Benny Carter band, with which he toured from late '42 until '45 (Max Roach was a member of the orchestra during this period). When Count Basie decided a new sound was needed in his trombone section, Jay Jay was the one who instilled it, for several months in 1945-6. Then came a long period of free-lancing with various combos in the hectic whirl of the jumping Fifty-second Street of those days. Jay Jay freelanced with Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman and a flock of bop units. For more than a year he was on the road with Illinois Jacquet's band.
By this time Jay Jay was the acknowledged king of his style in modern jazz circles. A board of critics and musicians assembled by Esquire had elected him the new trombone star of the year in 1946. Before long his fame had reached international proportions. With the advent of war in the Far East, Jay Jay teamed up with Oscar Pettiford in a USO unit that entertained the troops in Korea and Japan. On returning home, though, Jay Jay found that the bottom seemed to be falling out of the music business. The pickings were so lean during the next few months that in August, 1952 he took a job as a blueprint inspector at a Sperry factory in Long Island, limiting his musical activities to an occasional one-night gig or record session. Then things began looking up again, and in June 1954 Jay was able to give up his daytime chores to return to the occupation for which his talent and years of patient practice had originally designed him. "Coffee Pot" from 1954. He has worked pretty steadily since then, often in partnership with Kai Winding. During all the ups and downs he has never lost the esteem in which jazzmen and fans always held him.
Jay Jay's sessions for Blue Note form a striking illustration of the variety of ideas, styles and moods with which he has associated himself over the years. Each session shows a new setting, a different approach and an equally attractive presentation of the unique Johnson facility.
JAY JAY JOHNSON SEXTET with CLIFFORD BROWN
Jay Jay's companions on this date are Clifford Brown, the extraordinary young trumpet star from Wilmington, Delaware, already familiar to Blue Note listeners from numerous other LP appearances; Jimmy 'Little Bird' Heath on tenor and baritone sax and his brother Percy Heath on bass; John Lewis, the brilliant pianist and arranger; and Kenny Clarke, paterfamilias of the modern drum school.
Turnpike is built on a simple, jumping two-note phrase around the tonic. Observe Clifford Browns use of the “cycle of fifths” chord pattern on his second solo chorus; the others follow suit in their solos.
Lover Man, has been recorded dozens of times, but never more charmingly than in this trombone solo version, played by Jay Jay throughout except for an eight-bar piano interlude.
Get Happy is the 1929 Harold Arlen composition long familiar as a standard among jazzmen. Note the particularly happy blend on the release of the opening chorus and the loose agility of Jay Jays two solo choruses An interesting feature is the rhythmic suspension effect in the last eight measures of each chorus. Clifford Brown's solo shows a superb sense of continuity; John Lewis, too, turns in two fine choruses.
Sketch 1 might aptly be titled John Lewis' Mind At Work. An ingenious sample of Lewis' ability to make the most out of a modest instrumentation, it employs a variety of approaches; Jimmy Heath playing a melodic baritone line against brass unison, Clifford Brown playing muted double-time effects against abrupt punctuation, a typical Jay Jay solo, then a return to the original slow mood and a simple unison horn ending.
Capri is a fast original by former Hampton saxophonist Gigi Gryce, built on a rising and falling phrase. All four soloisis contribute handsomely; a special point of interest is the Jimmy Heath tenor solo which seems to suggest how he got his nickname, for his style is strongly reminiscent of the rare tenor saxophone contributions of Charlie Parker.
It Could Happen to You, Jay Jay performs this beautiful tune in a style that combines o respect for the melody with a reflection of his individual personality.
JAY JAY JOHNSON QUINTET with MINGUS, KELLY
In this unusual session Jay Jay maintains the musical interest of the group, participating as the only horn man involved and changing the overall sound by the inclusion of Sabu Martinez. Sabu is one of the younger generation in the Afro-Cuban drum dynasty of which Chano Pozo may be said to have been the founding father. Wynton Kelly, the pianist. is a youthful star born in December, 1931, in Jamaica, B.W.I. Both before and offer his Army service, which ended in June, 1954, he was a member of Dizzy Gillespie’s combo. Wynton was featured in his own LP on BLP5025?. The rhythm section is completed by Kenny Clarke and the very able Charlie Mingus.
Joy is an up-tempo blues in which Wynton, Jay Jay and Sabu are all heard to an advantage and ingenious use is made of modulations.
Old Devil Moon, a 1946 product of Finian's Rainbow, starts in mysterioso style with a captivating introduction in which Mingus sets a vamp. Sabu keeps busy throughout. Wynton has some very Cuban moments, and generally the tune is invested with a new and unconventional spirit.
The 1948 song Its You Or No One is a Julie Styne-Sammy Cohn Opus first introduced to jazz lovers by Sarah Vaughan. The unexpected key change in the second eight measures undoubtedly explain why this tune appeals so much to musicians.
Too Marvelous for Words. Two things to watch for are, first, the fine balance and blend between the two drummers, and second, the effective use of rhythmic breaks of three-beat intervals behind some passages of Jay Jay's solo.
Coffee Pot, a fast-moving 32-bar original by Johnson, features him on the second chorus accompanied by just Mingus and Clarke. Wynton Kelly’s choruses seem to show some Bud Powell influence, plus his own brand of single-line originality.
Time After Time was one of the better pop songs of 1947 (you may remember having heard Sarah Vaughan do it). Here it makes a fine solo vehicle for Jay Jay in one of his more melodic moods.
JAY JAY JOHNSON QUINTET with MOBLEY, SILVER
Still another type of group is represented by this session. Here the blend is that of two horns that belong together as naturally as the two hands of a pianist; trombone and tenor sax. Honk Mobley, Jay Jay's choice on tenor, is a Gillespie alumnus whose work with Horace Silver on BLP5058? and BLP5062? attracted favorable attention. Horace also, of course, is too familiar to Blue Note customers to need any introduction here, while Kenny Clarke remains on drums as the one constant element of the three otherwise variegated Johnson sessions. Paul Chambers, a youthful and highly schooled musician, has come to prominence during the past year as a member of the Johnson-Winding quintet.
"Daylie" Double, composed by Jay Jay, is dedicated to the popular Chicago disc jockey Daddio Daylie. A simple melodic theme on which the tenor is used mostly in thirds, it offers a point of departure for all the soloists, including a last chorus in which Jay Jay and Hank trade four-bar phrases with Clarke, then return to the ensemble theme and land on a major seventh ending.
Pennies From Heaven, a standard among jozzmen ever since Basie recorded it some 19 years ago, opens unexpectedly with Chambers playing the melody of the last half-chorus. Then the two horns enter to play a variant theme in both unison and harmony. Jay Jay takes the second chorus, muted, while Horace lays out in the rhythmic accompaniment. Mobley's solo shows unusually fine sense of time and control.
You're Mine You, a tune that has been too rarely recorded, was produced by the same team (Edwin Heyman and Johnny Green) that wrote Body and Soul, Jay Jay takes the melody solo, in a style that is at once languorous and sentimental yet vigorous and virile.
Groovin' is a medium-slow original with a truly groovy feel to which the two-beat bass work and funky piano background contribute conspicuously. For our money, Horace almost steals the show on this one with his authentically blues-like yet unmistakably modern 16-bar contribution. After a return to the theme, there is an old-timey “blue seventh” ending.
On Portrait of Jennie, a 1948 composition rarely performed by jazz musicians, Jay Jay plays the melody muted, at an easy medium tempo, stepping out for 16 bars while Horace takes over.
The next title, Viscosity, means a sticky gluey-like thickness, and frankly, we can't see anything viscous about the bright rising inflections of the 40-bar chorus. On the contrary, Jay Jay has seldom sounded more fluent and supple. He and Hank and Horace all take their solo turns, proceeding in what might presumably be called a viscous circle.
This session is the most recent of Jay Jays impeccable contributions to the Blue Note catalog. Like its predecessors it offers substantial proof that his is one of the truly individual and exciting voices in modern jazz.
-LEONARD FEATHER
(Author of The Encyclopedia of Jazz)
Cover Design by JOHN HERMANSADER
Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER
RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes
For over four decades, until his death on February 4, 2001, J.J. Johnson (or Jay Jay, as his early recordings had it) was the preeminent voice on trombone. So fixed was his position at the top of the polls — even during his years of film scoring and his subsequent retirement from performing — it is easy to forget that his stature with the public, and that of his peers among the modernists, was not always so exalted. At the time this recording session took place in 1953, Johnson had responded to the lean times facing his jazz generation by withdrawing from full-time playing in favor of a more secure factory job. When the titles were reissued on 12" LP two years later, Johnson's fortunes had reversed, and he was celebrating the first of a string of poll victories that would spread across the decades. These are some of the performances that helped turn matters around.
Fellow musicians had appreciated Johnson's technical innovations and supreme musicality for over a decade, at least since the Indianapolis native (born on January 22, 1924) had left home at age 18 with the Snookum Russell band. Big band work with Benny Carter and then Count Basie, and celebrated gigs such as Norman Granz's first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert, established Johnson as the boldest new voice on his instrument even before he became a regular presence on 52nd Street in 1946. His early recording sessions for Savoy and Prestige, with the likes of Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt and a young Sonny Rollins among the supporting cast, also marked Johnson as a gifted composer and arranger, while two years touring in the popular small group of his former Basie-mate Illinois Jacquet helped raise the trombonist's profile with the public.
Around 1950, the music business went through one of the periodic downturns that have always seemed to hit jazz artists earliest and hardest. Being a serious and responsible individual with a family, Johnson opted for a job inspecting blueprints in a Sperry factory in 1952. As with several of his famous contemporaries, what kept him in the public eye to any extent at all was his affiliation with Blue Note Records, which began at a 1950 date led by Howard McGhee. Another trumpeter and close friend, Miles Davis, featured Johnson in two of his own sextets for the label, including an April 1953 session (reissued on Miles Davis Volume 2 in the RVG Series) that included two Johnson compositions.
Like Davis, Johnson would record three sessions for Blue Note in this period that were released on the short-lived 10" LP format. This was the first of the three, and turned out to be a most auspicious gathering of giants. Sensational trumpeter Clifford Brown was making only his third jazz date, having recorded with Lou Donaldson for Blue Note and Tadd Dameron for Prestige earlier in the month of June. At the end of August, he would debut as a leader in his own Blue Note session. (Both this and the Donaldson date are contained in the RVG volume Clifford Brown Memorial Album). Jimmy Heath, still primarily known as a former alto player so close to his idol Charlie Parker he had been nicknamed Little Bird, and his brother, bassist Percy Heath, were both with Johnson on the April Miles Davis session. John Lewis, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke had already begun working with vibist Milt Jackson in what would become the Modern Jazz Quartet. Both Heaths, Clarke, Jackson and Davis had also logged time with the trombonist in a short-lived group associated with deejay Symphony Sid called Jazz, 'Inc.
This talented and highly compatible lineup produced six master takes for the original LP, plus three alternates that appeared on later 12" LP reissues. The entire session is presented here, with master takes in the order of their recording, followed by the alternates.
"Capri" was written by the talented alto saxophonist/composer Gigi Gryce, who would soon team with Brown in the Lionel Hampton band and on several recordings. The inspiring chord sequence finds Johnson anything but rusty in his two choruses, with Heath, the extremely confident and fluent Brown and Lewis following. The master take (recorded after the alternate) is slightly faster, with a more outgoing solo from the leader and a strong saxophone chorus that suggested Charlie Parker on tenor to original annotator Leonard Feather.
"Lover Man" is one of two ballads included here that make one wonder how Johnson ever got tagged as a "mechanical" player. His sound is tender and he embellishes the melody gracefully, while his arrangement uses the other horns judiciously and to telling effect. John Lewis is also outstanding in his eight-bar solo.
"Turnpike" is Johnson's only composition on the date, with the bold introduction yielding a contrastingly simple two-note theme akin to Monk's "Thelonious" in the A section of the AABA chorus. In their second choruses, each soloist blows over a pattern based on the cycle of fifths that is scored for the other horns when Jimmy Heath and Johnson take their turns. Jimmy plays baritone sax in the ensembles and tenor on his solo choruses, while Clarke and Percy Heath step forward on the out chorus. The later alternate take finds each of the horn players sustaining his exemplary level of execution, with Lewis in a most playful mood.
The pianist's more serious side emerges in "Sketch 1," a theme of stately beauty that one can imagine being interpreted by the MJQ. Lewis's arrangement takes the melody through several moods with Jimmy Heath's baritone sax initially in the lead, the composer offering more ruminative consideration, Brown in a rare muted appearance after a dramatic ensemble flourish, and Johnson at his warmest. The trombone solo is followed by an out-of-tempo variation for the horns before the baritone sax restates the melody.
Brown and Jimmy Heath lay out on "It Could Happen to You," a contemplative Johnson ballad feature enhanced by Lewis's articulate accompaniment. All members of the quartet bear down at the start of the second chorus without resorting to double-time, and Johnson frames the whole performance with a lyrical introduction and coda.
Spirits soar again on "Get Happy," where Johnson gets a great sound from the three-horn front line. Everyone is loose, strong, and extremely comfortable with both the hard swing generated by the rhythm section and the harmonic suspension that Johnson employs in the final eight bars of each blowing chorus. The later alternate take finds the trombone beginning with a cleverly oblique quote of "Why Was I Born?," while Lewis is limited to a single solo chorus.
It would be another 14 months before Johnson returned to the recording studio as a leader. On that occasion, he teamed with fellow trombonist Kai Winding on Savoy for what proved to be the start of a popular two-year partnership. Two more important sessions without Winding followed, and are collected on The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2.
-Bob Blumenthal, 2001
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