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The next is an interview between jazz journalist Morgan Enos and trombonist, composer, educator, and Outdoors In Music label founder Nick Finzer. His new album, Legacy, a tribute to the pioneering trombonist J.J. Johnson, shall be launched 5 April by way of Outdoors In. Hyperlinks to the forthcoming album and to Finzer’s web site may be discovered on the backside of this text.
Each artist price their salt offers with some measure of impostor syndrome. However strive recording an album-length tribute to J.J. Johnson, one of many preeminent trombone trailblazers in jazz, on his one hundredth anniversary, beneath the chapel ceilings he recorded in.
That’s what Nick Finzer confronted, when he stood throughout the vaunted partitions of Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, about to pay tribute to Johnson with the grasp’s accompanists themselves.
“I used to be fairly scared,” Finzer tells LondonJazz, noting that among the data Johnson recorded there have been hanging on the partitions. “Man, I’m not presupposed to…” he provides, trailing off for a second, feeling the enormity. “I hear the trio taking part in, and it appears like J.J.’s document.”
To listen to him inform it, none of his trombone colleagues had deliberate a tribute launch to Johnson for his centennial (the maestro was born January 22, 1924, and tragically took his personal life in 2001).
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However Finzer bought over the jitters and turned in a unbelievable program of Johnson or Johnson-adjacent tunes, because of his prodigious expertise, but in addition because of the presence of preeminent gamers: pianist Renee Rosnes, bassist Rufus Reid, and Lewis Nash. Learn on for an interview with Finzer about the way it all got here collectively.
LondonJazz Information: I’m conscious of J.J. Johnson, however not intimately acquainted. How would you clarify his function within the jazz cosmology?
Nick Finzer: J.J. began working within the late Thirties, and bought on the scene within the early Forties. He began working with large bands like Benny Carter’s. From there, he began to work with and discover out concerning the bebop stuff, via Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
He didn’t play what they had been taking part in on trombone, however he transmuted the language into one thing that may work on the trombone. He made it relevant to the trombone within the early-to-mid Forties, as he got here out of working in these large bands, transferring into smaller teams. He recorded with Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, and Miles Davis in that point interval.
That’s how he bought generally known as the daddy of the quote-unquote trendy jazz trombone. He took it out of the swing period and turned it right into a soloistic, bebop voice. Everybody after that goes again to taking affect from him.
LJN: How does he play into your private trombone growth?
NF: He was the primary trombone participant that I checked out as a younger musician. I imply, I bought into the music via Duke Ellington. However then, as quickly as I used to be like, alright, I need to learn to play jazz on the trombone, principally everybody despatched me towards J.J. Johnson.
It was really a compilation document – a few completely different data put collectively. It’s known as The Trombone Grasp [recorded in 1957, 1958, and 1960, released in 1989]. That was a really nerdy, trombone-centric album, however it was my important highschool listening from tenth grade to twelfth grade.
LJN: Take our readers via the genesis of Legacy.
NF: Perhaps 4 to 6 years in the past, I had been fascinated by what different initiatives I’d need to do. I used to be making an attempt to line it up with one thing historic, and I didn’t essentially have something in thoughts. And I realised, Oh, J.J.’s one hundredth is developing, and I didn’t suppose an excessive amount of about it.
However then, I’d been taking part in an extended whereas with [producer, arranger, composer, and conductor] Ryan Truesdell; he’s bought this Gil Evans challenge. Lewis Nash performs drums for it, and Lewis performed with J.J. for a very long time. We had a one-off gig at Dizzy’s, and I used to be consuming dinner with Lewis and asking him questions on J.J. Simply any tales he had. And I used to be like, Oh, it might be attention-grabbing to see if I may play a few of these tunes with Lewis.
Then, I used to be like, “Hey, Lewis, I’m fascinated by performing some form of J.J. factor; his birthday’s developing.” He was like, “Nicely, if we do it, we’ve bought to have [bassist] Rufus Reid, and we must always attempt to get [pianist] Renee Rosnes.”
That form of put terror via my mind: I don’t know if I can name these folks. However Lewis was good sufficient to make the connections, and so they stated, “Positive, we’d like to be a part of it.” As a result of all of them toured and recorded with J.J. within the ‘80s and ‘90s.
LJN: What’d you find out about J.J. via Lewis?
NF: A few of the tales had been about depth, and focus, and readability, which comes via in his music. He’s very exact with the way in which he performs the instrument.
There have been tales about having to fireplace folks on the street, and get new folks within the band, and having to argue with the supervisor about getting sure musicians on to sure gigs, as a result of perhaps a competition promoter didn’t desire a sure particular person. And the way strong-willed he was, which is smart.
Rufus Reid instructed me a narrative about a few occasions the place J.J. would write him little notes after the gigs that went particularly effectively, and slide them beneath the lodge door. Good issues like that. I noticed that he was a very real, good particular person.
I by no means bought to fulfill him, as a result of he handed away earlier than I even began stepping into jazz. So, listening to the tales from these guys has been the one means I’ve been in a position to find out about my hero.
LJN: How did you select which J.J. – or J.J.-adjacent – tunes you’d carry out?
NF: That was very troublesome. There have been some tunes I used to be clear I wished to do, however I additionally wished to attract from completely different durations of his writing and taking part in.
An apparent one was his most-recorded tune, which is “Lament.” That was additionally recorded by Gil Evans, and Miles Davis, and plenty of, many different folks. However I wished to take some tunes that had been from his large band period within the early to mid-’60s; “Say When” and “Shortcake” got here from that period.
We recorded his association of “Pennies From Heaven” nearly precisely. I wished to try this one as a result of it’s a bass characteristic, and we had been in a position to characteristic Rufus. Then, we recorded certainly one of Renee’s compositions [“Malaga Moon”] she wrote for a document date that was for J.J. plus an orchestra.
Then, I wrote a few issues that draw from tunes that he performed quite a bit. A contrafact on “What Is This Factor Referred to as Love,” and a contrafact on “Cherokee.”
I requested the band members if there was something they appreciated to play with J.J., and there was this stay model of “Blue Bossa” they used to play on the street. That was not a tune I essentially would have thought they used to play on a regular basis with J.J., however there’s a video of him taking part in it on the Umbria Jazz Pageant with Rufus on bass and Renee on piano. It’s bought this very cool intro that Rufus got here up with, so we did that spur of the second on the session.
LJN: Any last ideas on J.J. and Legacy earlier than we hop off?
NF: I really feel like he’s taken with no consideration. He’s a type of figures the place folks know and are aware of his title, form of such as you stated. However if you begin to dig somewhat deeper beneath the floor, folks don’t realise how transformative he was.
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