Biography
J.J. Johnson, also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Born James Louis Johnson in Indianapolis, Indiana, he rose to prominence in the bebop era, performing and recording with musicians including Benny Carter, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. He formed the Jay and Kai Quintet with trombonist Kai Winding and later contributed to the Third Stream movement with large-scale compositions.
From the late 1960s he worked extensively as a composer and arranger for film and television. His credits include the scores for Shaft (1971), Across 110th Street (1972) and Cleopatra Jones (1973), as well as series such as The Six Million Dollar Man. He received an NEA Jazz Masters award in 1996 and died in Indianapolis in 2001.
