Johnson played by using numerous large-title jazz musicians, including Count Basie, Miles Davis, and Oscar Pettiford. He too recorded many popular albums with fellow trombonist Kai Winding, when well as many solo albums.

When a trombone was featured conspicuously within dixieland and swing music, it fell out of favor among bebop and later jazz fusion musicians, largely because instruments with valves & keys (trumpet, saxophone) were more suited to bop's super rapid notes. Johnson's function in a Forties & Fifties defied the public's perception that a slide trombone may not keep higher by owning bebop. Trombone streaming video player Bob Brookmeyer even said of him he was the "Charlie Parker of his instrument". He played by owning exceptional preciseness & experienced the clear, smooth, cutting tone. He was arguably a virtually all large – & expert – bop trombone player.

His recording career wwhen spotty, as he got periodical drug problems that resulted within suspensions of his cabaret card. At one point, he quit swimming altogether to turn into the blueprint inspector; & more point, he renounced trombone swimming to focus in film & television composing. In the Seventies, Johnson won season fallowing month when Down Beat's "trombonist's of the year"- despite non move for virtually all of the decade!

He is nowadays seen when one of a greatest trombone player of the post-swing era.

Biography
Big Bands
When researching a piano since he was Niner, Johnson decided to play trombone at a age of Xiv. Within 1941, he began his agent career using Clarence Love, and then played by having Snookum Russell in 1942. Inside Russell's band he met a trumpeter Fats Navarro, who influenced him to play in the style of the tenor saxophonist Lester Young. Johnswithin went on to play in Benny Carter's orchestra between 1942 and 1945, then inside 1945 and 1946 he joined the big band of Count Basie, with whom he mass produced his foremost recordings. Around 1944, he took part in the Jazz at the Philharmonic tour, organized by Norman Granz.

Bebop
Inside 1946, he left Basie to play in microscopic bebop bands along with, Max Roach, Illinois Jacquet, Sonny Stitt, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, Woody Herman and Dizzy Gillespie. His unbelievable accuracy at manipulating the slide trombone (sounding when whenever he was swimming the valve instrument), contributed to the acceptance of the instrument within a genre in which tempi were very fast. Within 1951, he left with bassist Oscar Pettiford for a tour of the military camps of Japan and Korea. Recordings for Blue Note Records followed between 1951 and 1954, both when leader & using Miles Davis - Johnson's compositions Lament, Enigma and Kelo were recorded by Davis.

Jay and Kai
Inside 1954 when producer Ozzie Cadena convinced him to set up the quintet using trombone player Kai Winding: the "Jay and Kai quintet". A reverberance of a ii musicians, although super different, blended sol easily that the pairing, which lasted till 1956, was a immense profits each musically & commercially. A duo reunited once agaaround in 1960 and 1968. Inside between, Johnson played by having microscopic hard bop combos, including the groups of Sonny Rollins and Horace Silver, and contributed to Miles Davis's Quiet Nights as part of Gil Evans's orchestra.

The composer
From either a sixties, J.J. Johnson dedicated extra & extra period to composition, and likewise led various groups. Around 1961, he composed for Dizzy Gillespie, Perception, a suite inside sise movements. He recorded many albums under his title, played over again by owning Miles Davis in 1961, with Bobby Jaspar in 1964, and in the equivalent month toured Japan and Europe with Sonny Stitt.

Around 1970, Quincy Jones convinced Johnson to settle down in California to compose for cinema and television, writing scores for movies like Cleopatra Jones and Top of the heap, when well as TV series such as Starsky & Hutch, Mike Hammer and The Six Million Dollar Man. around the time period of this period, he played virtually there is no concerts, except in 1977 in Japan, in 1984 in Europe, an American tour ending at a Village Vanguard in 1987, and then within Paris in 1993.

Return to performing
Johnson returned to performing in the Nineties, recording a single "comeback" album fallowing an additional, at various stages around his battle by having prostate cancer. His contracts using the kind of record labels, including Vitality, Antilles, & Concord, resulted around virtually the 12 records in the '90s, from either little class action club dates to large big-b& and orchestra recordings. He earned many Grammy nominations when you took this cycle.

In February Four, 2001, reportedly depressed over stillborn cancer treatment, he committed suicide.

Bibliography
A Musical Globe of J.J. Johnson by Joshua Berrett & Louis G. Bourgois (Rowman & Littlefield). ISBN 0810836483