James Louis “J.J.” Johnson

James Louis “J.J.” Johnson (22 Jan 1924 – 4 Feb 2001), a jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger, grew up in Indianapolis in the 1920s and ’30s, learning to play a “bent and beat up” trombone while attending Crispus Attucks High School. He played so well that by 1942, he began a life on the road as a professional musician. This included playing in a small group with Nat King Cole (piano) and Les Paul (guitar) before joining the Count Basie Orchestra in 1945.

By 1946, he was in New York playing with the likes of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker. He was also a trumpeter on Miles Davis’s The Birth of the Cool album in 1950. He won Down Beat’s poll as best trombonist in 1955 and 1956, released several albums, and began composing longer concert pieces. Perhaps in response to those who wondered why he had left the New York and West Coast scene, he wrote and recorded one of his best-known pieces, Why Indianapolis – Why Not Indianapolis? His 1997 album, The Brass Orchestra, received three Grammy nominations. He was inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation Hall of Fame in 2001.

He is entombed with Vivian in the Garden Mausoleum I, C-14; GPS (39.8277430, -86.1716194).