J.J. JOHNSON”Let’s Hang Out” Verve* * *1/2At...

J.J. JOHNSON

“Let’s Hang Out”

Verve

* * *1/2

At 69, the trombonist continues to push ahead, his firm, mahogany-colored tone intact, his compositional abilities, as witnessed by his four-part “Friendship Suite,” sharp and pleasing. Working with two different bands, one featuring saxophonist Jimmy Heath, the other with trumpeter Terence Blanchard and tenor man Ralph Moore, Johnson explores the rhythmic (his own “Kenya”) and the melodic (“It Never Entered My Mind”) with equal aplomb. And when he plays alone, as on “Beautiful Love,” the effect can be absolutely chilling.

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