Budd Johnson

Albert J. "Budd" Johnson (born December 14, 1910 in Dallas , Texas , † October 20, 1984 in Kansas City , Missouri ) was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist and arranger . He is not to be confused with the jazz - and rhythm-and-blues - pianist Buddy Johnson .

Live and act

Before he switched to the tenor saxophone in 1926, he played the piano and was already working as a drummer from 1924. In the 1920s he performed in Texas and the Midwest (Kansas City) with Jesse Stone , Grant Moore and his New Orleans Black Devils and in the band of George E. Lee , Julia Lee's brother, among others . In the 1930s he played with Andy Kirk and his Twelve Clouds of Joy , led a band with Teddy Wilson and in 1933 went with him and his trombonist brother Frederick (1908-1967), called Keg , to the Louis Armstrong band which he also made recordings.

Budd Johnson is best known for his time with Earl Hines (1934–1942), whom he brought together with “more modern” ( bebop ) musicians in the early 1940s and also arranged for his orchestra . In 1938 he also played with Fletcher Henderson . Johnson was also one of the bebop pioneers who co-organized the "first bop sessions" with Coleman Hawkins and Dizzy Gillespie in 1944. And he played in almost all the important bands of early modern jazz ( Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra , Boyd Raeburn - he only arranged for this - Earl Hines, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman ), where he partially arranged. He also played with Sy Oliver and Buddy Rich in the 1940s .

In the 1950s he had his own group and worked as a studio musician and musical director for Atlantic Records . He arranged rock 'n' roll pieces early on , such as the tenor saxophone solo in Ruth Brown's hit Teardrops from My Eyes . From 1956 to 1957 he was with Benny Goodman (Asia Tour), 1959 with Gil Evans (e.g. on the album Out of the Cool 1960), 1959 to 1961 in the Quincy Jones Big Band , 1961 to 1962 with Count Basie , From 1964 to 1969 he played regularly in Earl Hines' quartet (including on the 1966 USSR tour). From 1969 to 1975 he played with the JPJ Quartet ( Bill Pemberton (bass), Dill Jones (piano), Oliver Jackson (drums)). He adapted his style again and again, for example in the 1960s to that of the dominant John Coltrane . In 1975 he worked with the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra (a repertoire project of the Smithsonian Institution ). From 1979 he took part in tribute concerts at the Kool Jazz Festival . In November 1979 he performed with the Lionel Lionel Hampton Big Band at the Berlin Jazz Days. A few months before his death he recorded another album with Phil Woods . He also taught in the 1970s.

In 1993 he was inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame .

Discography (selection)

• Gil Evans: Great Jazz Standards (Pacific, 1959), Out of the Cool 1960
• Budd Johnson And The Four Brass Giants , Fantasy / Prestige, 1960 (with Ray Nance , Clark Terry , Nat Adderley , Harry Sweets Edison )
• Let's Swing , Fantasy / Prestige 1960
• Mary Lou Williams : Black Christ of the Andes (1964)
• The Old Dude and the Fundance Kid ( Uptown 1984) with Phil Woods

Web links

• Budd Johnson at Allmusic (English)
• Budd Johnson at Discogs (English)