Howard Johnson (jazz musician)
Howard Lewis Johnson ( born August 7, 1941 in Montgomery, Alabama) is an American baritone saxophonist, tuba player, composer and arranger.
Life and work
Howard Johnson grew up near Cleveland ( Ohio) in a small town. At age eleven, he played baritone saxophone in the school band, then tuba. During his service in the Navy, he learned clarinet and alto saxophone, which he began later but not professionally. On the advice of Eric Dolphy in 1963 he went to New York City, where he came into contact with the music scene. First recordings made as a baritone saxophonist Johnson with Bill Dixon and Hank Crawford played briefly with Charles Mingus in 1965. In 1966 he played for the first time in Archie Shepp, with whom he recorded the album Mama Too Tight. Gradually Johnson was from a pure band member to soloist. He played in the band of Josephine Baker and Marvin Gaye, in the Duke Ellington band and worked in the four - tuba group of the panel sessions of the rock band Taj Mahal with. In 1966, Howard Johnson played repeatedly with the various formations of Gil Evans, as the Monday Night Orchestra, so when shooting Svengali 1973, the European tour in 1974 and the album There Comes a Time 1975. He was also a member of the Jazz Composer's Orchestra and involved in the uptake of Escalator over the Hill and performed with Gato Barbieri. In 1967, Johnson for some time in Los Angeles and worked down there together, among others with the bands of Oliver Nelson and Quincy Jones.
Back in New York in 1969, he was briefly a member of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra, but also by Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. After 1970 he was also at record production of rock and blues musicians like Taj Mahal, for whom he Album ( ( The Real Thing )) is a live recording with the participation of three other tuba player / multi-instrumentalist, inter alia, Dave Bargeron grossed. He was also involved in the shooting of John Lennon, The Band ( Rock of Ages, The Last Waltz 1971), BB King. Beginning in 1975, Johnson worked as an arranger for many New Yorkers formations. In 1972 he was a guest soloist with the Concert Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert. From 1976 he was a member of the George Gruntz Concert Jazz on tape, then Peter Herbolzheimers Gala All Star Band.
In 1977 he founded the 6 - tuba band Gravity, with Dave Bargeron, Bob Stewart, Tom Malone, with whom he has since recorded several albums. 1985 Johnson guested at the Berlin Jazz Festival with a Baritonsaxoponisten All Star Ensemble, the same year he worked with George Gruntz on the scenic oratorio The Holy Grail of Jazz and Joy in Graz. The early 1990s Johnson was five years in Hamburg to play at the NDR Big Band. He also made during these years recorded with George Gruntz, Miles Davis and Quincy Jones, John Scofield, Barbara Dennerlein and other musicians.
The merit of Howard Johnson is to have developed along with Bob Stewart tuba from pure brass bass a recognized solo instrument. He said: What is supposed to be funny about the tuba, is actually bad either ugly or noisy. The only reason that the tuba has a bad reputation, is that it is played badly .. From the mid- 1970s, Johnson took the leading place in the category of instruments in the polls of the jazz magazine Down Beat and Jazz Forum and displaced Roland Kirk at the time of this position.
The tuba player Howard Johnson is not to be confused with the 1905 -born alto saxophonist and clarinetist in Boston the same name.
Discography (selection)
Under its own name
- Howard Johnson: Arrival ( Verve, 1994)
- Howard Johnson & Gravity: Gravity! ( Polygram, 1995 ) with the tuba player Bob Stewart, Earl McIntyre, Dave Bargeron, Tom Malone, Joe Dailey, Carl Klein Teuber, Marcus Rojas, inter alia,
- Howard Johnson & Gravity: Right Now ( Polygram, 1998)
With other bands as a soloist
- Carla Bley Tropic Appetites (Watt, 1973-74 ), Escalator Over The Hill
- Gary Burton: A Genuine Tong Funeral ( RCA, 1967-68 )
Taj Mahal: "The Real Thing" Gil Evans: Svengali (ACT, 1973), The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix (RCA, 1974), The Honey Man ( Newtone ) Barbara Dennerlein: Junkadoo ( Verve 1996) Dexter Gordon: Sophisticated Giant ( Columbia, 1977) Charlie Haden: Liberation Music Orchestra ( Impulse, 1968) Jazz Composers Orchestra: Communications ( JCOA, 1968) Jack De Johnette Special Edition: Album Album ( ECM, 1984) NDR Big Band: Bravissimo (ACT 1992) Jaco Pastorius: Jaco Pastorius (Sony, 1975) Jaco Pastorius Word of Mouth ( Warner, 1981) John Scofield: Quiet ( Verve, 1996) Archie Shepp Mama Too Tight ( Impulse!, 1966)
With the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band
- The George Gruntz Conert Jazz Band with Guest Star Elvin Jones (MPS, 1978)
- At Zurich Schauspielhaus ( Kenwood, 1981, published 1984)
- Live 82 (Amiga, 1982)
- 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)