The Christopher Butcher Quartet plays the music of J.J. Johnson
The Music of J.J. Johnson
This coming sunday night my quartet will be playing the music of J.J. Johnson at the fine Roncesvalles Village Jazz establishment Gate 403
Christopher Butcher- Trombone
Todd Pentney- Piano
Justin Gray- Upright Bass
Fabio Ragnelli- Drums and Cymbals
J.J. has gone down in the history books as the creator and zenith of bebop trombone playing. He did for the trombone what Charlie Parker and Bud Powell did for their instruments. Well it’s true his clarity, genius and good feel on the trombone remain unmatched to this day his other accomplishments are frequently overlooked.
He is one of the few Jazz Musicians like Miles Davis who was involved with many different branches of the music. He recorded with Count Basie, Illinois Jacquet, and Coleman Hawkins at the cusp of the bebop and swing eras. He recorded with the Charlie Parker quintet on Dial. He was on Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool, as well as his later session’s like Walkin that pointed towards Hard-Bop. He was involved in the third-stream, writing orchestral pieces for Dizzy Gillespie’s Perceptions and his own Brass Orchestra. His small group sessions for Columbia and Impulse are watermarks of modern jazz, with great small group writing, and show the influence of Miles’ and John Coltrane’s great groups.
Many of the genre’s innovators like Clifford Brown, Sonny Rollins and Elvin Jones made early appearances as sidemen on his recordings. This isn’t to mention his two trombone group with Kai Winding, his days as a composer for Hollywood movies and all his great later recordings.
As a composer and arranger J.J. was truly one of the finest. He has tunes like Lament, Kelo and Enigma that are in the Real Books but we will be playing many of his other lesser known tunes. Looking forward to sharing this music with you.
