James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of

stride piano Stride jazz piano, often shortened to stride, is a jazz piano style that arose from ragtime players. Prominent stride pianists include James P. Johnson, Willie "the Lion" Smith, Fats Waller, Luckey Roberts, Mrs Mills and Mary Lou Williams. ...

, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...

, one of the key figures in the evolution of

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

into what was eventually called

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. Johnson was a major influence on

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...

Art Tatum Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest in his field. From early in his career, Tatum's technical ability was regarded by fellow musicians as extraord ...

, and

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

, who was his student. Johnson composed many hit songs, including the unofficial anthem of the

Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in th ...

, "The Charleston," and he remained the acknowledged king of New York jazz pianists through most of the 1930s. Johnson's artistry, influence on early popular music, and contributions to musical theatre are often overlooked, and as such, he has been referred to by musicologist

David Schiff David Schiff (born August 30, 1945 in New York City) is an American composer, writer and conductor whose music draws on elements of jazz, rock, and klezmer styles, showing the influence of composers as diverse as Stravinsky, Mahler, Charles Mingus ...

as "The Invisible Pianist."

Biography

Johnson was born in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city in and the seat of government of Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Harrison was a part of the choir at the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Church and was also a self-taught pianist. Johnson later cited the popular African American songs and dances he heard at home and around the city as early influences on his musical taste. In 1908, Johnson's family moved to the San Juan Hill (near where

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

stands today) section of New York City and subsequently moved again to uptown in 1911. With perfect pitch and excellent recall he was soon able to pick out the piano tunes that he had heard. Johnson grew up listening to the ragtime of

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ra ...

and always retained links to the ragtime era, playing and recording Joplin's "

Maple Leaf Rag The "Maple Leaf Rag" (copyright registered on September 18, 1899) is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent compos ...

", as well as the more modern (according to Johnson) and demanding "Euphonic Sounds", both several times in the 1940s. Johnson, who gained his first job as a pianist in 1912, decided to pursue his musical career rather than return to school. From 1913 to 1916, Johnson spent time studying the European piano tradition with Bruto Giannini. Over the next four to five years, Johnson continued to develop his ragtime piano skills by studying other pianists and composing his own rags. In 1914, while performing in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

with singer Lillie Mae Wright, who became his wife three years later, Johnson met

Willie "The Lion" Smith William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf Smith (November 23, 1893 – April 18, 1973), nicknamed "The Lion", was an American jazz and stride pianist. Early life William Henry Joseph Bonaparte Bertholf, known as Willie, was born in 1893 in Goshen ...

. Smith and Johnson shared many of the same ideas regarding entertainers and their stage appearance. These beliefs and their complementary personalities led the two to become best friends. Starting in 1918, Johnson and Wright began touring together in the Smart Set Revue before settling back in New York in 1919. Before 1920, Johnson had gained a reputation as a pianist on the East coast on a par with

Eubie Blake James Hubert "Eubie" Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American pianist and composer of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, he and his long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote '' Shuffle Along'', one of the first B ...

and Luckey Roberts and made dozens of player piano roll recordings initially documenting his own ragtime compositions before recording for Aeolian, Perfection (the label of the Standard Music Roll Co., Orange, NJ), Artempo (label of Bennett & White, Inc., Newark, NJ), Rythmodik, and QRS during the period from 1917 to 1927. During this period he met

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

, who was also a young piano-roll artist at Aeolian. Johnson was a pioneer in the stride playing of the jazz piano. "Stride piano has often been described as an orchestral style and indeed, in contrast to boogie-woogie blues piano playing, it requires a fabulous conceptual independence, the left hand differentiating bass and mid-range lines while the right supplies melodic issues." Johnson honed his craft, playing night after night, catering to the egos and idiosyncrasies of the many singers he encountered, which necessitated being able to play a song in any key. He developed into a sensitive and facile accompanist, the favorite accompanist of

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...

and

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock an ...

. Waters wrote in her autobiography that working with musicians such as, and most especially, Johnson "made you want to sing until your tonsils fell out". As his piano style continued to evolve, his 1921 phonograph recordings of his own compositions, "Harlem Strut", "Keep Off the Grass", "Carolina Shout", and " Worried and Lonesome Blues" were, along with

Gennett Gennett (pronounced "jennett") was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and Hoa ...

recordings of 1923, among the first jazz piano solos to be put on record. Johnson seemed to be at his finest when he attacked the piano as if it were a drum set. These technically challenging compositions would be learned by his contemporaries, and would serve as test pieces in solo competitions, in which the New York pianists would demonstrate their mastery of the keyboard, as well as the swing, harmonies, and improvisational skills which would further distinguish the great masters of the era. The majority of his phonograph recordings of the 1920s and early 1930s were done for

Black Swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon ...

(founded by Johnson's friend

W.C. Handy William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...

, where William Grant Still served in an A&R capacity) and Columbia. In 1922, Johnson branched out and became the musical director for the revue '' Plantation Days''. This revue took him to England for four months in 1923. During the summer of 1923, Johnson, along with the help of lyricist

Cecil Mack Cecil Mack (November 6, 1873 – August 1, 1944) was an American composer, lyricist and music publisher. Biography Born as Richard Cecil McPherson in Portsmouth, Virginia, he attended the Norfolk Mission College and Lincoln University in Pennsyl ...

, wrote the revue ''Runnin' Wild''. This revue stayed on tour for more than five years as well as showing on Broadway. James P

In the Depression era, Johnson's career slowed down somewhat. As the swing era began to gain popularity within the African American communities, Johnson had a hard time adapting, and his music would ultimately become unpopular. The cushion of a modest but steady income from his royalties as a composer allowed him to devote significant time to the furtherance of his education, as well as the realization of his desire to compose "serious" orchestral music. Johnson began to write for musical revues, and composed many now-forgotten orchestral music pieces. Although by this time, he was an established composer, with a significant body of work, as well as a member of

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

, he was nonetheless unable to secure the financial support that he sought from either the

Rosenwald Foundation The Rosenwald Fund (also known as the Rosenwald Foundation, the Julius Rosenwald Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation) was established in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald and his family for "the well-being of mankind." Rosenwald became part-owner of S ...

or a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the art ...

; he had received endorsement for each from Columbia Records executive and long-time admirer John Hammond. The Johnson archives include the letterhead of an organization called Friends of James P. Johnson, ostensibly founded at the time (presumably in the late 1930s) in order to promote his then-idling career. Names on the letter-head included

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplish ...

Walter White Walter White most often refers to: * Walter White (''Breaking Bad''), character in the television series ''Breaking Bad'' * Walter Francis White (1893–1955), American leader of the NAACP Walter White may also refer to: Fictional characters ...

(President of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&n ...

), the actress Mercedes Gilbert and Bessye Bearden, the mother of artist

Romare Bearden Romare Bearden (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York City a ...

. In the late 1930s, Johnson slowly started to re-emerge with the revival of interest in traditional jazz and began to record, with his own and other groups, at first for the H.R.S. label. Johnson's appearances at the '' Spirituals to Swing'' concerts at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

in 1938 and 1939 were organized by John Hammond, for whom he recorded a substantial series of solo and band sides in 1939. Johnson suffered a stroke (likely a

transient ischemic attack A transient ischemic attack (TIA), commonly known as a mini-stroke, is a minor stroke whose noticeable symptoms usually end in less than an hour. TIA causes the same symptoms associated with strokes, such as weakness or numbness on one side of ...

or mini-stroke) in August 1940. When Johnson returned to action, in 1942, he began a heavy schedule of performing, composing, and recording, leading several small live and groups, now often with racially integrated bands led by musicians such as

Eddie Condon Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973) was an American jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in Chicago jazz, he also played piano and sang. Early years Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana, the son of J ...

, Yank Lawson,

Sidney de Paris Sidney De Paris (May 30, 1905 – September 13, 1967) was an American jazz trumpeter. His brother was Wilbur de Paris. He was a member of Charlie Johnson's Paradise Ten (1926–1931), worked with Don Redman (1932–1936 and 1939), followed by ...

Sidney Bechet Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic tempe ...

Rod Cless George Roderick Cless (May 20, 1907, in Lenox, Iowa – December 8, 1944, in New York City) was an American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist, perhaps best known for his work on sixteen Muggsy Spanier tunes for Bluebird Records. Additionally, Cles ...

, and Edmond Hall. In 1944, Johnson and Willie "The Lion" Smith participated in stride piano contests in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

from August to December. He recorded for jazz labels including

Asch Asch may refer to: People * Asch (surname) *''Asch.'', taxonomic author abbreviation of Paul Friedrich August Ascherson (1834–1913), German botanist Places * Aš, Czech Republic * Asch (Netherlands), a village Other uses * Asch the Bloody, a ...

Black & White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is cons ...

, and Decca. In 1945, Johnson performed with Louis Armstrong and heard his works at Carnegie Hall and

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

in New York City. He was a regular guest star and featured soloist on Rudi Blesh's ''This is Jazz'' broadcasts, as well as at Eddie Condon's Town Hall concerts and studied with Maury Deutsch, who could also count

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

and

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

among his pupils. In the late 1940s, Johnson had a variety of jobs, including jam sessions at Stuyvesant Casino and Central Plaza, as well as becoming a regular on Rudi Blesh's radio show. In 1949 as an 18-year-old, actor and band leader

Conrad Janis Conrad Janis (February 11, 1928 – March 1, 2022) was a jazz trombonist and actor who starred in film and television during the Golden Age Era in the 1950s and 1960s. He played the role of Mindy McConnell's father, Frederick, on television's ' ...

put together a band of musicians, consisting of James P. Johnson (piano), Henry Goodwin (trumpet), Edmond Hall (clarinet),

Pops Foster George Murphy "Pops" Foster (May 19, 1892 – October 30, 1969) was an American jazz musician, best known for his vigorous slap bass playing of the string bass. He also played the tuba and trumpet professionally. Biography Foster was born ...

(bass) and

Baby Dodds Warren "Baby" Dodds (December 24, 1898 – February 14, 1959) was an American jazz drummer born in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He is regarded as one of the best jazz drummers of the pre-big band era, and one of the most important ...

(drums), with Janis on trombone. Johnson permanently retired from performing after suffering a severe, paralyzing stroke in 1951. Johnson survived financially on his songwriting royalties while he was paralyzed. He died four years later in

Jamaica, New York Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springf ...

and is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Maspeth,

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. Perfunctory obituaries appeared in even ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. The pithiest and most angry remembrance of Johnson was written by John Hammond and appeared in ''

DownBeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Ch ...

'' under the title "Talents of James P. Johnson Went Unappreciated".

Composer

Johnson composed many hit tunes in his work for the musical theatre, including " Charleston". It debuted in his

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

show '' Runnin' Wild'' in 1923, although by some accounts Johnson had written it years earlier. It became one of the most popular songs of the "

". He also wrote "

If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight) "If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)" is a popular song. The music was written by James P. Johnson, the lyrics by Henry Creamer. The song was published in 1926 and first recorded by Clarence Williams' Blue Five with vocalist Eva Taylor in 1 ...

", " You've Got to Be Modernistic", "Don't Cry, Baby", " Keep off the Grass", " Old Fashioned Love", " A Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid", " Carolina Shout", and " Snowy Morning Blues". He wrote

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

es, ballet, symphonic pieces and light opera; many of these extended works exist in manuscript form in various stages of completeness in the collection of Johnson's papers housed at the

Institute of Jazz Studies The Institute of Jazz Studies (IJS) is the largest and most comprehensive library and archives of jazz and jazz-related materials in the world. It is located on the fourth floor of the John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University–Newark in Newa ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

. Johnson's success as a popular composer qualified him as a member of

in 1926. Premiered in 1928, Johnson's '' Yamekraw, a Negro Rhapsody'', was named after a black community in Savannah, Georgia. William Grant Still was orchestrator and

the pianist as Johnson was contractually obliged to conduct his and Waller's hit Broadway show '' Keep Shufflin''. '' Harlem Symphony'', composed during the 1930s, was performed at

in 1945 with Johnson at the piano and

Joseph Cherniavsky Joseph Cherniavsky ( yi, יוסף טשערניאַװסקי) (c. 1890-1959) was a Jewish American cellist, theatre and film composer, orchestra director, and recording artist. He wrote for the Yiddish theatre, made some of the earliest novelty rec ...

as conductor. He collaborated with

Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, H ...

on the one-act opera, '' De Organizer''. A fuller list of Johnson's film scores appears below.

Pianist

Along with Fats Waller and Willie 'The Lion' Smith ('The Big Three'), and Luckey Roberts, Johnson embodies the Harlem Stride piano style, an evolution of East Coast ragtime infused with elements of the blues. His "Carolina Shout" was a standard test piece and rite of passage for every contemporary pianist:

learned it note for note from the 1921 QRS Johnson piano roll. Johnson taught Fats Waller and got him his first piano roll and recording assignments. Harlem Stride is distinguished from ragtime by several essential characteristics: ragtime introduced sustained

syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...

into piano music, but stride pianists built a more freely swinging rhythm into their performances, with a certain degree of anticipation of the left (bass) hand by the right (melody) hand, a form of tension and release in the patterns played by the right hand, interpolated within the beat generated by the left. Stride more frequently incorporates elements of the blues, as well as harmonies more complex than usually found in the works of classic ragtime composers. Lastly, while ragtime was for the most part a composed music, based on European light classics such as marches, pianists such as Waller and Johnson introduced their own rhythmic, harmonic and melodic figures into their performances and, occasionally, spontaneous improvisation. As the second generation stride pianist

Dick Wellstood Richard MacQueen Wellstood (November 25, 1927 – July 24, 1987) was an American jazz pianist. Career He was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Wellstood's mother was a graduate of the Juilliard School who played church organ. Wellst ...

observed, in liner notes for recordings by the stride pianist Donald Lambert, most of the stride pianists of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s were not particularly good improvisers. Rather, they would play their own, very well worked out, and often rehearsed variations on popular songs of the day, with very little change from one performance to another. It was in this respect that Johnson distinguished himself from his colleagues, in that (in his own words), he "could think of a trick a minute". Comparison of many of Johnson's recordings of a given tune over the years demonstrates variation from one performance to another, characterised by respect for the melody, and reliance upon a worked out set of melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic devices, such as repeated chords, serial thirds (hence his admiration for Bach), and interpolated scales, on which the improvisations were based. This same set of variations might then appear in the performance of another tune.

Legacy

Johnson may be thought of as both the last major pianist of the classic ragtime era and the first major jazz pianist. As such, he is considered an indispensable bridge between ragtime and jazz. Johnson's musical legacy is also present in the body of work of his pupil, Thomas "Fats" Waller, as well as scores of other pianists who were influenced by him, including Art Tatum, Donald Lambert, Louis Mazetier, Pat Flowers, Cliff Jackson, Hank Duncan, Claude Hopkins, Duke Ellington,

, Don Ewell,

Johnny Guarnieri John Albert Guarnieri (March 23, 1917 – January 7, 1985) was an American jazz and stride pianist, born in New York City. Career Guarnieri joined the George Hall orchestra in 1937. He is possibly best known for his big band stints with Ben ...

Dick Hyman Richard Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Ar ...

, Dick Wellstood,

Ralph Sutton Ralph Earl Sutton (November 4, 1922 – December 30, 2001) was an American jazz pianist born in Hamburg, Missouri. He was a stride pianist in the tradition of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. Biography Sutton was born in Hamburg, Missouri, ...

, Joe Turner,

Neville Dickie Neville Dickie (born 1 January 1937 in Durham) is an English boogie-woogie and stride piano player. He has performed all over Europe and North America. Career After serving in the RAF, Dickie left Durham and moved to London, where he began playi ...

Mike Lipskin Mike Lipskin (born 1945) is a stride jazz pianist of the pre- bop jazz style. A protege of Willie "The Lion" Smith, Eubie Blake and Luckey Roberts, he has created his own special mode within the idiom. Career Lipskin is a piano instructor, record ...

, and

Butch Thompson Richard Enos "Butch" Thompson (November 28, 1943 – August 14, 2022) was an American jazz pianist and clarinetist best known for his ragtime and stride performances. Music career Thompson was born in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, began p ...

Honors and recognitions

Two Romare Bearden paintings bear the name of Johnson compositions: ''Carolina Shout'', and ''Snow(y) Morning''. On September 16, 1995 the U.S. Post Office issued a James P. Johnson 32-cent commemorative postage stamp. Johnson is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Maspeth, Queens County, New York. Unmarked since his death in 1955, his grave was re-consecrated in 2009 with a headstone paid for with funds raised by an event arranged by the James P. Johnson Foundation, Spike Wilner and Dr. Scott Brown. In 2020, Johnson's song "Carolina Shout" was added to the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

Film scores

Johnson's compositions as

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

s were used in a number of movies, which were compiled from previously written musical compositions. A partial list includes:

Album discography

* 1950: ''Jazz, Vol. 1: South'' –

Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...

* 1953: ''Jazz, Vol. 7: New York (1922–1934)'' – Folkways * 1953: ''Jazz, Vol. 9: Piano'' – Folkways * 1957: ''Happy harlem: James P. Johnson Quartet with other artists (Lil Armstrong, The Lion's Jazz Band, and The Spirits of Rhythm)'' - Guilde du Jazz (French Label- 10") * 1960: ''Jazz of the Forties, Vol. 1: Jazz at Town Hall'' – Folkways * 1961: ''A History of Jazz: The New York Scene'' – Folkways * 1964: ''The Piano Roll'' – Folkways * 1966: ''The Asch Recordings, 1939 to 1947 – Vol. 1: Blues, Gospel, and Jazz'' – Folkways * 1973: ''The Original James P. Johnson'' – Folkways * 1974: ''James P. Johnson 1921–1926'' – Olympic Records * 1974: ''Toe Tappin' Ragtime'' – Folkways * 1977: ''Early Ragtime Piano'' – Folkways * 1981: ''Striding in Dixieland'' – Folkways * 1981: ''Giants of Jazz: James P. Johnson'' – Time-Life (three-record

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

) * 1996: ''The Original James P. Johnson: 1942–1945, Piano Solos'' –

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fo ...

* 2001: ''Every Tone a Testimony'' – Smithsonian Folkways * 2008: ''Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways'' – Smithsonian Folkways

CD re-issues

Multiple CDs of Johnson's recordings have been released. ''Father of the Stride Piano'', on CBS / Sony, is a re-issue of the 1962 Columbia album, featuring unissued band sides and solos from the 1930s, as well as several solos from the 1920s, including "Carolina Shout". By far, the most complete CD collections of his work, including alternate takes, has been produced by

Michael Cuscuna Michael Cuscuna (born September 20, 1949 in Stamford, Connecticut, United States) is an American jazz record producer and writer. He is the co-founder of Mosaic Records and a discographer of Blue Note Records. Cuscuna played drums, saxophone and ...

and his associates at

Mosaic Records Mosaic Records is an American jazz record company and label established in 1982 by Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie. It produces limited-edition box sets. The sets recordings are leased from the major record companies, usually for a three- or ...

. The

sessions are discussed below. Mosaic's ''Classic James P. Johnson Sessions, 1921-1944'', includes all of Johnson's piano solos, band sides, and blues accompaniments, done during this period, for the major commercial labels, exclusive of Decca/ Brunswick, and

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. James P. also featured prominently in Mosaic re-issues of the Commodore label (under Max Kaminsky's name) and the HRS label (Pee Wee Russells's Rhythm Makers). The French

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

series included eight discs devoted to Johnson, and cover the period from 1921-1947. The Decca CD, ''Snowy Morning Blues'', contains 20 sides recorded for the Brunswick and Decca labels, between 1930 and 1944. This CD includes an eight-tune Fats Waller Memorial set, and two solos, "Jingles", and "You've Got to be Modernistic", which demonstrate Johnson's hard swinging stride style. The LP, and CD, ''Father of the Stride Piano'', collects some of Johnson's best recordings for the Columbia family of labels, done between 1921 and 1939. It includes "Carolina Shout", "Worried and Lonesome Blues", and "Hungry Blues" (from ''De Organizer''). Johnson's complete Blue Note recordings (solos, band sides in groups led by himself as well as Edmond Hall and Sidney DeParis) were issued in a collection by Mosaic Records and, later, in a 2CD selection in 1998 entitled ''The Blue Note Jazzmen''. Johnson's recordings was compiled in the Giants of Jazz series by

Time-Life Music Time Life, with sister subsidiaries StarVista Live and Lifestyle Products Group, a holding of Direct Holdings Global LLC, is an American production company and direct marketer conglomerate, that is known for selling books, music, video/DVD, ...

. This three-LP collection contains 40 sides recorded from 1921 to 1945, and is supplemented with extensive liner notes, including a biographical essay by Frank Kappler, and criticism of the musical selections by Dick Wellstood, and the musicologist, Willa Rouder. Many of Johnson's approximately 60 piano rolls, recorded between 1917 and 1927, have been issued on CD on the Biograph label. A book of musical transcriptions of Johnson's piano roll performances of his own compositions has been prepared by Dr. Robert Pinsker, to be published through the auspices of the James P. Johnson Foundation.

References

External links

* ttp://www.blueblackjazz.com/johnson_en.html James P. Johnson on BlueBlackJazz.com
''James P. Johnson: A Composer Rescued – The story of the discovery of "Victory Stride" and James P. Johnson's other lost symphonies'' by Leslie Stifleman

Institute of Jazz Studies page on the James P. Johnson archival collection housed thereJames P. Johnson Collection Music Manuscripts
Institute of Jazz Studies, Dana Library, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ.
James P. Johnson Collection Programs, Scripts and Books
Institute of Jazz Studies, Dana Library, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ.

"In Search of James P. Johnson"
by Ethan Iverson * *
James P. Johnson recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. * *
''Scott E. Brown M.D., liner note excerpt Mosaic Records: Classic James P. Johnson Sessions (1921-1943)''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, James P. Dixieland jazz musicians Stride pianists Ragtime pianists African-American jazz pianists African-American jazz composers Ragtime composers Blue Note Records artists Musicians from New Brunswick, New Jersey 1894 births 1955 deaths 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American composers American male pianists American male jazz composers American jazz composers 20th-century American male musicians McKinney's Cotton Pickers members 20th-century African-American musicians Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Queens)