The trombone in Jazz and Popular Music

In the mid forties bebop flowered with a saxophonist who was a genius (Charlie Parker), drummers who were “different” (K. Clarke, M. Roach) and trumpeters who played fast (Gillespie, McGhee, Navarro). J.J. Johnson (*1924) was inspired by the bop trumpeters to develop his innovative style based on fast playing. His bright sound and precise articulation were to be influential for a long time; indeed, until the advent of the free-jazz movement.

Some part of the public always reacts to modernism by returning to tradition; in this case the reaction favoured the blues (rhythm and blues) and the New Orleans style. The veteran Clyde Bernhardt⁵, a devoted disciple of Teagarden and Mole (for technique) and of Harrison and Morton (for musical language), tried to dominate the former while the New Orleans revival, after a timid start in 1938, really took off after 1944-1945 with Kid Ory, Jim Robinson (1892-1976) and Preston Jackson. This was the good old tailgate although Jackson sometimes showed himself capable of more sound-oriented playing, as did Louis Nelson (*1902), another New Orleans beneficiary of this return to basics. In terms of popularity Ory rated as highly as the trumpet player Bunk Johnson. These re-creations, often clumsy (aging musicians, some of whom had not played for many years) but always honest, gave birth to a commercial variant known as Dixieland. This variant, while questionable from the musical point of view, has the redeeming feature that it enables us to hear good recordings of people like Miff Mole, Vic Dickenson, Benny Morton, Wilbur de Paris (1900-1973), Jack Teagarden and Trummy Young.

Originating in these diverse styles, and often involved in diverse forms of light music, many talents have appeared in France since the forties: Gaby Masson (1911-1975), Charles Verstraete (Ray Ventura band), Guy Destanque (Jacques Hélian band), Michel Camicas etc. Benny Vasseur and André Paquinet (*1926) recorded many amusing duets, the formula coming, of course, from the United States with the famous duo of J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding. The Dane Kai Winding (1922-1983) remained faithful to trombone ensembles throughout his career. The real event in the trombone world, however, was the arrival on the scene of J.J. Johnson.