Customer Reviews

Eminent J.J. Johnson 2

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One of the greatest and most influential figures in 20th century improvised music, JJ is on awesome form here. Some may find Sabu's playing a distraction, but JJ's majestic tone and awesome inventive power shine through all over the album. Back to back ballads (in the same key!) have Mingus and Co leaving all the space in the world for that famously fat sound to sing out, pure, and as close to the human voice as any other sound you will ever hear. The only negative is the seemingly now obligatory inclusion of alternate takes of some tracks - a practice JJ himself abhorred. For my money, this is every bit as good as the better known Eminent JJ Volume 1, and deserves its place at the top of the pantheon of recorded "textbooks" for trombonists. Add this to your collection as a fitting tribute to the man, now sorely missed, who changed the way the trombone was played - and listened to - forever.

When the name of your album is "The Amazing Bud Powell," "The Fabulous Fats Navarro" or "The Eminent J.J. Johnson," you'd better live up to the billing. Well, J.J. does! This, the second volume of "Eminent," was originally released on Blue Note as two 10-inch records. The CD compiles two seesions, one from September 1954 and the other from June 1955, with three alternates that were not origianlly released. The first six tunes are from the '54 session featuring Mingus(!), Wynton Kelly, Kenny Clarke and Sabu on congas. These recordings are good, but they bother me because I've never met a jazz conga player that I like. The remaining tunes are from a band with that true Blue Note sound, which could hold its own against any of the period, including the original Jazz Messengers (of course, two of them are here). Johnson, Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, Paul Chambers and Kenny Clarke are in top form (aren't they always!), especially on "Viscosity" and "Groovin'." While "The Eminent J.J. Johnson, Volume Two" might not be a unanimous selection to the jazz album hall of fame like its predescor "Volume One," it is definitely not to be missed.

Volume 2 pulls together two sessions, one with Wynton Kelly, Charles Mingus, Kenny Clarke, and Sabu Martinez, and another with Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, Paul Chambers, and Kenny Clarke. The first session is better than the second, but the album overall is very good. It's mainstream bebop from 1954 & 1955, 4-minute long songs, melody-solo-melody. What pulls everything together is Johnson's superb trombone playing. 8 of the 13 songs are standards, the others are by J.J. Johnson. Johnson's writing is pretty good, the standards are just more likely to be a ballad. Johnson has both technique and taste, the taste is on display on "Time After Time", and technique is shown in a fast one like "Coffee Pot".