[78-L] Some thoughts on J.J.Johnson

[Jeff Sultanof]

Julien,

I offer no shopping lists, and your opinion is your opinion, which you are
entitled to. I can only say that once again, context and the tone of the
speaker are important. I worked with J.J. on a book project some months
before he died, and I can hear his voice saying the words you quoted.
Without reading the whole interview, I can tell you that he probably had a
big smile on his face when he said this, and he was also speaking to a
trombonist (Zwerin) so I regard this as part shop talk. He was a great guy
with a twinkle in his eye and his tongue in his cheek.

I can also tell you that he was a very important composer-arranger, who
left some incredible music that is little known and rarely played. "Poem
for Brass" alone would make him a major name among concert composers. One
of my great memories is a performance of this work in the Philadelphia
Academy of Music played by the Philadelphia Orchestra brass section. They
were outstanding, and clearly loved the piece based on the performance and
the way the work was introduced to the audience.

Jeff Sultanof

On Sat, Nov 3, 2012 at 3:34 PM, Erwin Kluwer <ekluwer at gmail.com> wrote:

>  " His expressiveness was in inverse proportion to
> his technique."
>
> That's just your opinion....
>
> Erwin
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 3, 2012 at 7:12 PM, Julian Vein <julianvein at blueyonder.co.uk
> >wrote:
>
> > "I really cannot imagine what attracted me to the trombone. It's the
> > most ungainly, awkward, beastly hard instrument you can imagine."
> > (Interview with Mike Zwerin, 1999).
> >
> > This is pretty insulting to those trombonists who preceded him, who had
> > no difficulty negotiating their instruments to express their ideas and
> > feelings. Players like Miff Mole, Jack Teagarden, Tommy Dorsey, Joe
> > Nanton, J.C.Higginbotham, Dickie Wells, Floyd O'Brien, Al Leopold, Lou
> > McGarity, Jack Jenney, Bennie Morton etc. gave no hint of strain in
> > their playing. In other words, their technique was up to the task of
> > expressing what they had to say.
> >
> > While I like some of Johnson's work, a lot of it leaves me cold.
> > Although he wasn't a flashy player, he did seem to have more technique
> > than he really needed. A couple of other players who came on the scene
> > about the same time as Johnson--Bill Harris and Bennie Green--had
> > buckets' full of ideas. I suppose he wanted to develop sufficient
> > technique to keep up with the other boppers, but faster doesn't
> > necessarily mean better. His expressiveness was in inverse proportion to
> > his technique.
> >
> > Let's not make this a "shopping list" of trombonists I've omitted--they
> > were included as examples, not as a definitive list.
> >
> >       Julian Vein
> >
> >
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