Howard Johnson (jazz musician)
Encyclopedia
Howard Lewis Johnson in Montgomery, Alabama
, is an American jazz
musician known mainly for his work on tuba
and baritone saxophone
, although he also plays the bass clarinet
, trumpet and other reed instruments.
Johnson has accompanied George Gruntz
extensively. As a leader, he released three albums during the 1990s for Verve Records
, the first Arrival, a tribute to Pharaoh Sanders.
, Hank Crawford
, Rahsaan Roland Kirk
, Archie Shepp
, and Hank Mobley
on the album A Slice of the Top
. He also began a long association with Gil Evans
in 1966. He was arranger
of a horn section that backed Taj Mahal
on Mahal's 1971 live album, The Real Thing
, which featured three other tubists/multi-instrumentalists, Bob Stewart
, Joseph Daley and Earl McIntyre. Johnson also played with The Band
on their Rock of Ages
live album, The Last Waltz and into the late 2000s with The Band drummer, Levon Helm
's Band. During the 1970s, Howard led the Saturday Night Live
Band.
He has also led three tuba bands, collaborated with Tomasz Stanko
, Substructure, Tuba Libre and GRAVITY, perhaps his best known band. He has recorded frequently.
He had a minor role in the 1983 film, Eddie and the Cruisers
as Wendell's replacement. He has also appeared in episodes of Matlock
and Hill Street Blues
.
Howard Johnson has two grown children, David and Nedra. David (1964-2009) was an actor in New York, and lived in Brooklyn. Nedra is an accomplished and respected blues singer and musician.
With George Gruntz
Concert Jazz Band
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
, is an American jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician known mainly for his work on tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
and baritone saxophone
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, although he also plays the bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
, trumpet and other reed instruments.
Johnson has accompanied George Gruntz
George Gruntz
George Gruntz is a Swiss jazz pianist, organist, harpsichordist, keyboardist and composer most noteworthy for his work with artists such as Phil Woods, Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin and Mel Lewis.From 1972 to 1994 he served as artistic director for...
extensively. As a leader, he released three albums during the 1990s for Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, the first Arrival, a tribute to Pharaoh Sanders.
Biography
In the 1960s he worked with Charles MingusCharles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
, Hank Crawford
Hank Crawford
Bennie Ross "Hank" Crawford, Jr. was an American R&B, hard bop, jazz-funk, soul jazz alto saxophonist, arranger and songwriter...
, Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments...
, Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, and Hank Mobley
Hank Mobley
Henry Mobley was an American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Mobley was described by Leonard Feather as the "middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone", a metaphor used to describe his tone that was neither as aggressive as John Coltrane nor as mellow as Stan Getz...
on the album A Slice of the Top
A Slice of the Top
- Track listing :# "Hank's Other Bag" – 7:12# "There's a Lull in My Life" – 5:25# "Cute 'N Pretty" – 7:36# "Touch of Blue" – 8:46...
. He also began a long association with Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
in 1966. He was arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
of a horn section that backed Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
on Mahal's 1971 live album, The Real Thing
The Real Thing (Taj Mahal album)
The Real Thing is a 1971 live album by Taj Mahal. It was recorded on February 13, 1971 at the Fillmore East in New York City and features Taj Mahal backed by a band that includes four tuba players.-Track listing:...
, which featured three other tubists/multi-instrumentalists, Bob Stewart
Bob Stewart (tuba)
Bob Stewart in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. is a freelance concert artist, educator, and studio musician. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts and his Masters in Education from Lehman College Graduate School. Stewart taught music...
, Joseph Daley and Earl McIntyre. Johnson also played with The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
on their Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages (album)
-Side two:-Side three:-Side four:-2001 bonus disc track listing:-Personnel:* Rick Danko - vocal, bass, violin* Levon Helm - vocal, drums, mandolin* Garth Hudson - organ, piano, accordion, tenor saxophone and soprano saxophone solos...
live album, The Last Waltz and into the late 2000s with The Band drummer, Levon Helm
Levon Helm
Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm , is an American rock multi-instrumentalist and actor who achieved fame as the drummer and frequent lead and backing vocalist for The Band....
's Band. During the 1970s, Howard led the Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
Band.
He has also led three tuba bands, collaborated with Tomasz Stanko
Tomasz Stanko
Tomasz Stańko is a Polish trumpeter, composer and improviser. Often recording for ECM, Stańko is strongly associated with free jazz and the avant-garde....
, Substructure, Tuba Libre and GRAVITY, perhaps his best known band. He has recorded frequently.
He had a minor role in the 1983 film, Eddie and the Cruisers
Eddie and the Cruisers
Eddie and the Cruisers is a 1983 American film directed by Martin Davidson with the screenplay written by the director and Arlene Davidson, based on the novel by P. F. Kluge...
as Wendell's replacement. He has also appeared in episodes of Matlock
Matlock (TV series)
Matlock is an American television legal drama, starring Andy Griffith in the title role of attorney Ben Matlock. The show originally aired from September 23, 1986 to May 8, 1992 on NBC, where it replaced The A-Team, then from November 5, 1992 until May 7, 1995 on ABC.The show's format was similar...
and Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
.
Howard Johnson has two grown children, David and Nedra. David (1964-2009) was an actor in New York, and lived in Brooklyn. Nedra is an accomplished and respected blues singer and musician.
As leader
- 1994: Arrival: A Pharoah Sanders Tribute (Verve)
- 1995: Gravity!!! (Verve)
- 1998: Right Now (Verve)
As sideman
- Taj MahalTaj Mahal (musician)Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
(Columbia, 1971), The Real ThingThe Real Thing (Taj Mahal album)The Real Thing is a 1971 live album by Taj Mahal. It was recorded on February 13, 1971 at the Fillmore East in New York City and features Taj Mahal backed by a band that includes four tuba players.-Track listing:... - Carla Bley: Tropic AppetitesTropic AppetitesTropic Appetites is a jazz album by Carla Bley released in 1974, following her debut Escalator over the Hill. Again, the lyrics are contributed by Bley's friend Paul Haines, based on his journeys to Southeast Asia in the preceding years...
(Watt, 1973–74), Escalator over the HillEscalator over the HillEscalator over the Hill is mostly referred to as a jazz opera, but it was released as a "chronotransduction" with "words by Paul Haines, adaptation and music by Carla Bley, production and coordination by Michael Mantler", performed by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra.-History:Escalator over the Hill... - Gary BurtonGary BurtonGary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
: A Genuine Tong FuneralA Genuine Tong FuneralA Genuine Tong Funeral is an album by vibraphonist Gary Burton featuring compositions by Carla Bley recorded in 1967 and released on the RCA label.-Reception:...
(RCA, 1967–68) - Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
: Miles & Quincy Live at MontreuxMiles & Quincy Live at MontreuxMiles & Quincy Live at Montreux is a Miles Davis collaboration with Quincy Jones for the 1991 Montreux Jazz Festival. For the first time in three decades, Davis returned to the songs arranged by Gil Evans on such classic 1950s albums as Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain...
(Warner, 1991) - Gil Evans: SvengaliSvengali (album)Svengali is a live album by jazz composer, arranger, conductor and pianist Gil Evans, recorded in 1973 by Evans with a orchestra featuring Ted Dunbar, Howard Johnson, Herb Bushler, David Sanborn, Billy Harper, Richard Williams, Trevor Koehler, and Hannibal Marvin Peterson...
(ACT, 1973), The Honey Man (Newtone) - Barbara DennerleinBarbara DennerleinBarbara Dennerlein , is a hard bop and post-bop Hammond B3 organist.-Early years:At age 11, Dennerlein began playing electronic organ. After starting organ lessons, she learned to play the two manual organ with a bass pedalboard. After one and a half years of lessons she continued to study without...
: Junkadoo (Verve 1996) - Dexter GordonDexter GordonDexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and an Academy Award-nominated actor . He is regarded as one of the first and most important musicians to adapt the bebop musical language of people like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell to the tenor saxophone...
: Sophisticated GiantSophisticated GiantSophisticated Giant is a 1977 jazz album by Dexter Gordon recorded in 1977 by an eleven-piece band playing tunes arranged by trombone player Slide Hampton.-Side one:# "Laura" – 7:37...
(Columbia, 1977) - Charlie Haden: Liberation Music OrchestraLiberation Music OrchestraLiberation Music Orchestra is a jazz album by Charlie Haden, released in 1969 . It was Haden's first album as leader.The inspiration for the album came when Haden heard songs from the Spanish Civil War...
(Impulse, 1968) - Andrew HillAndrew HillAndrew Hill was an American jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one of the most important innovators of jazz piano in the 1960s...
: Passing ShipsPassing ShipsPassing Ships is an album by American jazz pianist Andrew Hill featuring performances recorded in 1969 but not released on the Blue Note label until 2003. The album features Hill with a large horn section performing seven original compositions.-Reception:...
(Blue Note, 1969) - Jazz Composers Orchestra: CommunicationsCommunications (jazz album)The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is a double album from the Jazz Composer's Orchestra recorded over a period of six months with the Austrian trumpeter Michael Mantler as a leader and producer...
(JCOA, 1968) - Jack De Johnette Special Edition: Album AlbumAlbum AlbumAlbum Album is a 1984 jazz album by Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition featuring five compositions by DeJohnette and a cover of Thelonious Monk’s “Monk’s Mood”.-Side one:#“Ahmad the Terrible” – 6:08#“Monk’s Mood” –7:41...
(ECM, 1984) - Charles MingusCharles MingusCharles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
: Charles Mingus and Friends in ConcertCharles Mingus and Friends in ConcertCharles Mingus and Friends in Concert is a live album by jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus recorded at the Philharmonic hall of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in 1972 and released on the Columbia label...
(Columbia, 1972) - NDR Big Band: Bravissimo (ACT 1992)
- Jaco PastoriusJaco PastoriusJohn Francis Anthony Pastorius III , known as Jaco Pastorius, was an American jazz musician and composer widely acknowledged as a virtuoso electric bass player....
: Jaco PastoriusJaco Pastorius (album)This self-titled album was Pastorius' solo debut and was originally released in 1976. The album was produced by Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer/founder Bobby Colomby...
(Sony, 1975) - Jaco Pastorius: Word of MouthWord of Mouth (Jaco Pastorius album)Word of Mouth was the second album by Jaco Pastorius, released in 1981 while the bassist was a member of Weather Report, and also the name of a big band group that Pastorius assembled and with whom he toured from 1980 to 1986...
(Warner, 1981) - John ScofieldJohn ScofieldJohn Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
: QuietQuiet (John Scofield album)-Tracks:All compositions and arrangements by John Scofield, except "Away" which was composed and arranged by Steve Swallow#After The Fact#Tulle#Away With Words#Hold That Thought#Door #3#Bedside Manner#Rolf And The Gang#But For Love#Away-Personnel:...
(Verve, 1996) - Archie Shepp: Mama Too TightMama Too TightMama Too Tight is an album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1966. The album contains tracks recorded by Shepp, Tommy Turrentine, Grachan Moncur III, Roswell Rudd, Howard Johnson, Perry Robinson, Charlie Haden and Beaver Harris in August 1966. The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek states...
(Impulse!, 1966) - Gábor SzabóGábor SzabóGábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:...
& Bob ThieleBob ThieleBob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
: Light My FireLight My Fire (Gábor Szabó album)Light My Fire is an album by Hungarian jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó and American record producer Bob Thiele featuring performances recorded in 1967 for the Impulse! label.-Reception:...
(Impulse!, 1967) - James TaylorJames TaylorJames Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
: "Jellyman Kelly" (Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, 1980) - Chet BakerChet BakerChesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
: "but not for me" "a reissue of a great 1982 studio session" (Random Chance Records, 2003)
With George Gruntz
George Gruntz
George Gruntz is a Swiss jazz pianist, organist, harpsichordist, keyboardist and composer most noteworthy for his work with artists such as Phil Woods, Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin and Mel Lewis.From 1972 to 1994 he served as artistic director for...
Concert Jazz Band
- The George Gruntz Conert Jazz Band with Guest Star Elvin Jones (MPS, 1978)
- At Zürich Schauspielhaus (Kenwood, 1981, erschienen 1984)
- Live 82 (Amiga, 1982)
- TheatreTheatre (album)Theatre is an album by Swiss pianist, composer, and arranger George Gruntz's Concert Jazz Band '83 recorded in 1983 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:...
(ECM, 1983) - Happening Now! (Hat Hut, 1987)
- First Prize (Enja, 1989)
- Blues ´n´ Dues et Cetera (Enja, 1991)
- Beyond Another Wall (TCB, 1991)
- Ray Anderson & The George Gruntz Big Band (Gramavision, 1994)