JJ Johnson

Blue TromboneAmerican Jazz Classics ****

This is a reissue of Johnson's rare late-1950s trombone classic, from a time when he was the definition of mastery of the instrument in jazz. The lingua franca, of course, was bop, and he had a state-of-the-art rhythm section in Tommy Flanagan (piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Max Roach (drums) to push him to his finest playing. And push him they did, especially on his originals, Kev, 100 Proof, the blues title track and the uptempo Hello Young Lovers. Flanagan is in sparkling form, and the whole session has the vibrancy of players at the peak of their powers and enjoying the challenge. The album is rounded off with no fewer than seven bonus tracks from the same period, six of which come from the second volume of The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson– an odd choice, since the old Blue Note classic has been freely available for years.