''Pinnacles'' is an album by jazz trombonist and arranger

J. J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biograph ...

, recorded in 1979 for the

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

label.

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review by Scott Yanow observed: "Although not quite an essential set, J.J. Johnson is in excellent form on this date". ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'' wrote: "This is deep ‘Seventies funk, with block horns and lots of percussion. It’s also pretty generic – these guys are more at home playing jazz, and that’s what they should be playing".

Track listing

All compositions by J. J. Johnson except where noted. # "Night Flight" - 7:46 # "Deak" - 6:26 # "Cannonball Junction" - 5:32 # "Pinnacles" - 6:40 # "

See See Rider "See See Rider", also known as "C.C. Rider", "See See Rider Blues" or "Easy Rider", is a popular American 12-bar blues song that became a standard in several genres. Gertrude "Ma" Rainey was the first to record it on October 16, 1924, at Param ...

" (Traditional) - 6:46 # "Mr. Clean" (

Weldon Irvine Weldon Jonathan Irvine Jr. (October 27, 1943 – April 9, 2002), also known as Master Wel, was an American composer, playwright, poet, pianist, organist, and keyboardist. Biography Irvine, an African American, was born in Hampton, Virginia, on ...

) - 5:46

Personnel

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

Oscar Brashear Oscar Brashear (born August 18, 1944) is an American jazz trumpeter trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(tracks 2, 3, 5 & 6) *

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

(tracks 1-4) *

Tommy Flanagan Thomas Lee Flanagan (March 16, 1930 – November 16, 2001) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He grew up in Detroit, initially influenced by such pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole, and then by bebop musicians. ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy awards, and is also a cellist who has recorded nu ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Billy Higgins Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop. Biography Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, be ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Kenneth Nash Dr Kenneth C. Nash (born 1964) is an American psychiatrist and professor who is certified in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He practices at the University of Pittsburgh Physicians, ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(tracks 5 & 6)

Use of Electronic Music Equipment

From the liner notes: "J.J. Johnson uses Barcus-Berry pickup, Gentle Electric pitch follower, and Roland Space Echo on "Cannonball Junction", and the same pickup and pitch follower, plus ARP 2600 Synthesizer and Oberheim Expander Module on "Mr. Clean."

References

{{Authority control 1980 albums Milestone Records albums J. J. Johnson albums