Tromboniums In Motion – J.J. Johnson

Tromboniums In Motion is a real duet feature—if you have two melody instruments it's a great piece to explore harmony and counterpoint. It's based on "rhythm changes," which puts it in the tradition of Charlie Parker's two-part "rhythm changes" classics Chasin' The Bird and Ah-Leu-Cha. The melodic lines and harmonies in Tromboniums In Motion are signature J.J. Johnson vocabulary—swinging, bebop-infused, and precise. There is an eight-measure intro of rhythmic figures, voiced in the two horns in whole steps. The two A sections have different melodies, which start in counterpoint for each section and come together toward the end. The bridge is based on the first half of the intro, with the same rhythmic figures again voiced in whole steps. The C section is a clever combination of the first four measures of the first A, another measure of counterpoint, and the last three measures of the second A.

We also include the out chorus, which has two "shout" A sections (D in our score and lead sheets) that start in harmony and then develop the counterpoint from the fifth measure of C. The bridge of this chorus is a piano solo, and the last eight measures are the same as C of the in head.

The rhythm section arrangement is quite interesting, with that trademark J.J. precision. The intro has the horns accompanied mostly by drums alone, keeping time on the hi-hat; the melody phrases are answered by brief piano and bass hits. On the in head the piano tacets throughout. The A sections start with horns and hi-hat only like the intro, with the bass coming in the last four measures of each section. The bass walks through the bridge and then rests until the last two measures of C. The only part of the song where the horns are playing over time in the whole rhythm section is the first half of the out chorus.

This song was originally written to feature a rare brass instrument, the trombonium—see the Historical Notes for more details. However, it certainly works with many other combinations of two melody instruments. We have a condensed score (with the top staff in treble clef and the bottom staff in bass clef) and C, B♭, E♭, and C bass clef editions. All of these have two staves. Our B♭ edition has the top staff transposed for trumpet and the bottom staff transposed for tenor sax; the E♭ edition is for two alto saxes. For a tenor sax 1st part, the top staff of the B♭ edition would be played an octave up; a baritone sax 2nd part would be the bottom staff of the E♭ edition an octave up.