"Solar" - J.J. Johnson

“Solar” (PDF) from the Joe Pass & J.J. Johnson album, We’ll Be Together Again

According to The Jazz Standards by Ted Gioia, trombonist J.J. Johnson was the first recording artist to cover the Miles Davis tune, “Solar,” appearing on the 1956 album J is for Jazz. Nearly 30 years later, Johnson’s admiration for the trumpeter was still present throughout the album We’ll Be Together Again, recorded with guitarist Joe Pass, which features this version of “Solar” alongside a version of “Nature Boy” in similar fashion to Davis’ own landmark arrangement.

Despite not attending Julliard’s music conservatory, as Davis had for a brief year before growing frustrated with its European classical traditions, J.J. Johnson’s education in arranging and orchestration came from playing with jazz orchestras and swing bands throughout the 1940’s, including The Count Basie Orchestra. He eventually embarked upon the New York City bebop scene where he performed with the trumpeter and practically re-invented the jazz trombone.

But it was his involvement with the Birth of the Cool recording sessions that had the greatest influence on Johnson’s artistic career. As if the complexity of bebop had failed to impress the classical scholars, Miles Davis’ vision for jazz was that of sophisticated chamber music, where his lyrical and sonic exploration colored his orchestrations, driven not by virtuosity but rather by the trumpeter’s determination to be examined in the highest regard as a Black artist in America.

Recommended Reading: Exercises And Etudes For The Jazz Instrumentalist by J.J. Johnson. Published by Hal Leonard.