Jef Lee Johnson

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Jefree “Jef” Lee Johnson (born June 26, 1958 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † January 28, 2013 ibid) was an American guitarist and singer who played in the spectrum of blues , fusion , funk and jazz .

Live and act

Jef Lee Johnson grew up in Germantown , Philadelphia, and made his first appearances in his grandfather's church. Musicians as diverse as Herb Alpert , Eric Dolphy and Vanilla Fudge influenced him early on, then he turned to the fusion music of the 70s and the Chicago blues . After gigs with garage bands, he moved to New York and played in the 1990s with Ronald Shannon Jackson and Jamaaladeen Tacuma . Jackson's A&R brokered a solo contract for him; In 1996 his debut album Blue was released . A number of solo albums followed; 2001 a trio album with Sonny Thompson and Michael Bland .

During his career he worked a. a. with James Carter , Rachelle Ferrell , McCoy Tyner , Esperanza Spalding , Michel Portal and George Duke , but also with pop musicians such as Aretha Franklin , Billy Joel and Phyllis Hyman . He also toured with Erykah Badu and in 2000 with D'Angelo . With François Corneloup , Tony Hymas and David King he founded the band Ursus Minor in 2003 , with whom the albums Zugzwang (2003), Nucular (2005) and Coup de sang (2006) were created. He can also be heard on recordings by Rob Reddy and Ben Schachter . In 2008 he worked on the tribute album Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson ; In 2009 he released an album with songs by Bob Dylan ( The Zimmerman Shadow ). He was a member of Gutbucket and The Soultronics in his hometown .

Discographic notes

  • Communion ( DIW Records , 1997)
  • The Singularity (Dreambox Media, 2000)
  • Jef Lee Johnson, Sonny Thompson, Michael Bland - News from the Jungle (Universal Music, 2001)
  • Hype Factory (Dreambox Media, 2001)
  • Laughing Boy (Dreambox Media, 2003)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bulletin in the Philadelphia Inquirer ( Memento of the original dated February 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.philly.com
  2. ↑ Portrait at All About Jazz
  3. ↑ Jef Lee Johnson at Discogs (English)
  4. ↑ Obituary at Complex.com
personal data
SURNAME Johnson, Jef Lee
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnson, Jefree Lee (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American guitarist and singer
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 2013
Place of death Philadelphia , Pennsylvania