As the title says: happy 101st birthday today to jazz trombone master J.J. Johnson! Although J.J. was most well-known for being the first to adapt modern jazz onto the trombone, he was also a fantastic composer and arranger and wrote for many settings like trombone octet, big band, brass orchestra, and film scores. Here’s a clip of one of his big band compositions, “Say When”, from a gig this past October celebrating J.J.’s centennial. Hope you enjoy!

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Happy Birthday!