William Manuel Johnson

William Manuel " Bill" Johnson ( born August 10, 1874 in Talladega, Alabama, † December 3, 1972 in New Braunfels, Texas ) was an American jazz bassist and bandleader of the early New Orleans jazz, founder of " The Original Creole Orchestra" and " King Oliver 's Creole Jazz Band ".

Johnson began in 1890 as a guitarist and also played banjo. In 1900 he also appeared with the double bass. He claimed the (opposite the " pizzicato " plucking ) energetic " slapping " style of bass to have invented the game, after he broke his bow. He brought this style then not only the bass player in New Orleans, but also in Chicago in the 1920s.

Johnson first played in the Olympia band. He was founder ( with Jimmy Palao ) and manager of the first New Orleans band that left the city to tour beyond the boundaries of the area, the " The Original Creole Orchestra", with whom he was on the road to 1918 from 1912 and in the among other things, Freddie Keppard played. As early as 1909, however, he played with his own band in California. He also stood behind the founding of the " King Oliver 's Creole Jazz Band '' in " Royal Garden " in the early 1920s in Chicago, in which he also played until its dissolution in 1923 bass. He then played in his own bands, and in some of Johnny Dodds and took until the late 1920s much up in Chicago. Partly under a different name, he was active as a musician until the 1950s. He then moved to Mexico, where he worked in the " Import-Export" on the Mexican border.

Jelly Roll Morton was the longtime friend (after Morton they were married) and later business partner of Bill Johnson's sister, Anita Johnson Gonzales. His brother Ollie " Dink " Johnson was also musicians (including clarinet, piano ), eg the in "Original Creole Orchestra" worked as a drummer.