James Price Johnson (1894-1955)

James P Johnson is known as the Father of Stride Piano, and composed the most iconic work that captures the essence of the Roaring Twenties, the Charleston. Both pianist and composer, he not only wrote jazz but also music for theatrical shows, symphonic works and opera too. He performed alongside jazz greats such as Fats Waller, Willie the Lion Smith and Sidney Bechet, and also collaborated with George Gershwin as well. Johnson was an early pioneer in the recording industry, and made many studio recordings as a soloist and with his own jazz band. Yet despite all of this, his name has been largely forgotten today. One possible reason for this is that being a transitional figure between ragtime and jazz, he's been hard to categorise. Each day in this series, Donald Macleod will explore a period in Johnson's life where Johnson strove to achieve a different role: recording artist, theatre composer, performer and teacher, and also a tickler - a ragtime saloon pianist.

James P Johnson was born in the 1890s, although the exact date is uncertain. Music played an important part in his life from the off, as his mother played the piano, and he'd creep down stairs late at night as a child to hear the musical house parties his parents hosted. As he grew up, he'd often play music on the street, performing songs he'd picked up hanging around the doors of saloons. His ambition was to become a tickler, a ragtime piano player who performed inside clubs. What he was maybe unaware of was that these venues also offered gambling, drugs, and prostitution. His family moved to New York where Johnson got to hear symphonic music for the first time. This made a big impression on him. Soon he'd drop out of school altogether to pursue a career as a musician, performing at the piano in clubs, accompanying cinema screenings, and starting to write his own music.

The Temperance Seven

Carolina Shout

James P. Johnson, piano

Fascination

Concerto Jazz A Mine

Leslie Stifelman, piano

The Concordia Orchestra

Marin Alsop, conductor

Caprice Rag

Empty Bed Blues

Bessie Smith, vocals

Charlie Green, trombone

Porter Grainger, piano

Daintiness Rag

Twilight Rag

E. E. Wilson, piano

Steeplechase Rag

Dick Hyman Jazz Band

Johnson & Irving Mills

There's No Two Ways About Love

Lena Horne, vocals

Studio Orchestra

Alfred Newman, conductor

My Sweet Hunk O'Trash

Billie Holiday, vocals

Louis Armstrong, vocals

Sy Oliver's Orchestra

Donald Macleod explores Johnson's early career as a ragtime pianist.

James P Johnson is known as the Father of Stride Piano, and composed the most iconic work that captures the essence of the Roaring Twenties, the Charleston. Both pianist and composer, he not only wrote jazz but also music for theatrical shows, symphonic works and opera too. He performed alongside jazz greats such as Fats Waller, Willie the Lion Smith and Sidney Bechet, and also collaborated with George Gershwin as well. Johnson was an early pioneer in the recording industry, and made many studio recordings as a soloist and with his own jazz band. Yet despite all of this, his name has been largely forgotten today. One possible reason for this is that being a transitional figure between ragtime and jazz, he's been hard to categorise. Each day in this series, Donald Macleod will explore a period in Johnson's life where Johnson strove to achieve a different role: recording artist, theatre composer, performer and teacher, and also a tickler - a ragtime saloon pianist.

Johnson was now becoming more interested in music for the theatre, both as a composer and performer. As a pianist he would pick up tunes other pianists played and try them himself, experimenting with them with different harmonies and developing a technique of his own. He'd already been studying some of the greats of classical music, and so when performing in clubs and saloons, he'd suddenly introduce to his rags chromatic octaves and glissandos up and down with both hands, so that his skill as a pianist was soon in demand. He also formed his own band, the Jimmie Johnson Trio, although there was some resistance to the kind of jazz they performed. His prowess as a pianist would lead him to collaborate with some of the great rising stars of the day, including Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith, and the star-struck Fats Waller sought out Johnson to be his teacher.

Dick Hyman Dance Band

Alabama Stomp

Marty Grosz and the Hot Winds

My Headache

My special friend is back in town

Ethel Waters, vocal

J. C. Johnson, piano

Lonesome Swallow

James P. Johnson, piano

Guess who's in town

Victory Stride

The Concordia Orchestra

Marin Alsop, conductor

Drums

Harlem Strut

Snowy Morning Blues

Keep off the grass

Havin' a ball

Fats Waller and His Rhythm

A Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid

Donald Macleod follows Johnson as he becomes a piano legend.

James P Johnson is known as the Father of Stride Piano, and composed the most iconic work that captures the essence of the Roaring Twenties, the Charleston. Both pianist and composer, he not only wrote jazz but also music for theatrical shows, symphonic works and opera too. He performed alongside jazz greats such as Fats Waller, Willie the Lion Smith and Sidney Bechet, and also collaborated with George Gershwin as well. Johnson was an early pioneer in the recording industry, and made many studio recordings as a soloist and with his own jazz band. Yet despite all of this, his name has been largely forgotten today. One possible reason for this is that being a transitional figure between ragtime and jazz, he's been hard to categorise. Each day in this series, Donald Macleod will explore a period in Johnson's life where Johnson strove to achieve a different role: recording artist, theatre composer, performer and teacher, and also a tickler - a ragtime saloon pianist.

During the mid-1920s, James P Johnson began to make a name for himself as a composer for the theatre. The line-up of producers he worked with was impressive, including Earl Carroll, George White, Frank Montgomery, Flo Ziegfeld and the Schubert Brothers. In 1922 he worked on a show called Plantation Days, which proved so successful it travelled to Europe where Johnson collaborated with George Gershwin. Then came Johnson's hit show, Runnin' Wild, which included his most iconic work, the Charleston. Runnin' Wild was so popular it opened on Broadway, performing in New York for two years, and then on to London. His career was at an all-time high, and it was during this period that Johnson began to write large symphonic works to, including Yamekraw. But it was his music for the theatre which had the most impact, writing hit numbers such as If I could be with you. This song would be recorded by many musical legends, including Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Benny Goodman, Katy Star, Helen Humes, Art Tatum, Bing Crosby and Doris Day.

Toddlin' Home

Dick Wellstood, piano

Tommy Benford, drums

Runnin' Wild Medley

Dick Hyman Theatre Orchestra

After Tonight

Jimmy Johnson and His Orchestra

Old Fashioned Love

Bechet-Mezzrow Feetwarmers

Studio choir

Studio ensemble

Jingles

James P. Johnson, piano

I Need Lovin

Marty Grosz and the Hot Winds

Yamekraw, A Negro Rhapsody

Gary Hammond, piano

Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra

Richard Rosenberg, conductor

Backwater Blues

Stephane Grappelli, violin

Django Reinhardt, solo guitar

Pierre Ferret, rhythm guitar

Marcel Bianchi, rhythm guitar

Louis Vola, bass

Donald Macleod explores Johnson's rise to successful theatre composer.

James P Johnson is known as the Father of Stride Piano, and composed the most iconic work that captures the essence of the Roaring Twenties, the Charleston. Both pianist and composer, he not only wrote jazz but also music for theatrical shows, symphonic works and opera too. He performed alongside jazz greats such as Fats Waller, Willie the Lion Smith and Sidney Bechet, and also collaborated with George Gershwin as well. Johnson was an early pioneer in the recording industry, and made many studio recordings as a soloist and with his own jazz band. Yet despite all of this, his name has been largely forgotten today. One possible reason for this is that being a transitional figure between ragtime and jazz, he's been hard to categorise. Each day in this series, Donald Macleod will explore a period in Johnson's life where Johnson strove to achieve a different role: recording artist, theatre composer, performer and teacher, and also a tickler - a ragtime saloon pianist.

During the late 1920s and into the 1930s, James P Johnson clocked up an impressive sixty recording sessions cutting piano rolls, recording in studio as a soloist, leading bands and accompanying singers. It's a period when the record industry was booming. Johnson regularly recorded with Ethel Waters and the Queen of the Blues, Bessie Smith. The recordings he made demonstrate Johnson's indisputable prowess as a pianist, and also as a shrewd businessman pursuing the changing market away from live performances towards the studio. He also took the opportunity to compose and record some more experimental works, including Riffs, and You've Got to Be Modernistic. Meanwhile in the orchestral pit, conducting musical theatre, he was considered something of a showman.

Stop That Dog

Marty Grosz and the Hot Winds

Lock and Key

Bessie Smith, vocals

James P. Johnson, piano

Sweet Mistreater

Don't Cry Baby

Jimmie Johnson and His Orchestra

Sippi

Frederick Boothe, tap dancer

Leslie Stifelman, piano

The Concordia Orchestra

Marin Alsop, conductor

American Symphonic Suite

Put Your Mind Right On It

Jimmy Johnson and His Band

Go Harlem

Chick Webb and His Orchestra

A Porter's Love Song to a Chambermaid

Pearl Bailey, vocals

Studio orchestra

Donald Macleod explores Johnson's successes in the recording studio.

James P Johnson is known as the Father of Stride Piano, and composed the most iconic work that captures the essence of the Roaring Twenties, the Charleston. Both pianist and composer, he not only wrote jazz but also music for theatrical shows, symphonic works and opera too. He performed alongside jazz greats such as Fats Waller, Willie the Lion Smith and Sidney Bechet, and also collaborated with George Gershwin as well. Johnson was an early pioneer in the recording industry, and made many studio recordings as a soloist and with his own jazz band. Yet despite all of this, his name has been largely forgotten today. One possible reason for this is that being a transitional figure between ragtime and jazz, he's been hard to categorise. Each day in this series, Donald Macleod will explore a period in Johnson's life where Johnson strove to achieve a different role: recording artist, theatre composer, performer and teacher, and also a tickler - a ragtime saloon pianist.

Many years of working late nights as a performer, and also alcohol abuse, started to take its toll on Johnson's health in later life. He was advised to take a step back from performing and to restrict his alcohol intake, and it was during this period that he had the opportunity to focus more on writing largescale orchestral works. Johnson however wasn't long in retirement, and soon he stepped back into the limelight, writing music for stage shows, performing both live and in the studio. But after a series of strokes, by the early 1950s Johnson was left irreversibly paralysed. In late November 1955, another massive stroke came and American music lost one of the greatest figures of the day.

Hungry Blues

Ruby Smith, vocals

Jimmy Johnson and His Orchestra

Harlem Hotcha

Omer Simeon and his Trio

Ain'tcha Got Music

Marty Grosz and the Hot Winds

Harlem Symphony

The Concordia Orchestra

Marin Alsop, conductor

Lonesome Reverie

James P. Johnson, piano

Gut Stomp

Blues for Fats

You Can't Lose a Broken Heart

K. D. Lang, vocal

Tony Bennett, vocal

Studio orchestra

The This Is Jazz All-Stars

Donald Macleod follows Johnson's career as he makes a comeback.