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Article: Radio & Podcasts

Happy Birthday, Cole Porter

by Russell Perry
June 8, 2021

We are celebrating Cole Porter's 130th birthday—born June 9, 1891, This means that Porter was 27 years old, having already had shows produced on Broadway, when the first jazz recording was made in 1917. Early recordings by James P. Johnson, Jimmie Lunceford, Teddy Wilson and Django Reinhardt showed the adaptability of his compositions to the jazz ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

New releases & Anniversary Blue Notes

by Marc Cohn
October 16, 2020

First show of the month means Blue Notes! But there's only one 50th anniversary celebration: Big John Patton's Memphis to New York Spirit. Never fear, though, there's more from Blue Note ahoy: the 60th anniversary of Back to the Tracks from saxophonist Tina Brooks; a great new band, Artemis; and classic James P. Johnson from BN-27. ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Fiftieth Anniversary Blue Notes for September

by Marc Cohn
September 18, 2020

Blue Note fiftieth anniversaries, as usual, on this first show of the month: Reuben Wilson (A Groovy Situation), McCoy Tyner (Asante) and Jimmy McGriff (Something to Listen to). And there's another James P. Johnson Blue Note single (BN-26) that includes “Caprice Rag" (piano players, pay attention). We've also got 21st century music from the U.K.'s Sarah ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

50th Anniversary Blue Notes – August edition

by Marc Cohn
August 14, 2020

During last month's Blue Note anniversary show we ran out of time. So this week we catch up with a Hank Mobley session for Blue Note from July 31, 1970 (well, that date was 'almost-August' anyway), after opening the show with mostly twenty-first century music. Then, it's on to Grant Green, live in Newark and Wayne ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

50th Anniversary Blue Notes For July

by Marc Cohn
July 17, 2020

First show of the month, you know that means: Blue Note 50th anniversaries! This month, Bobby Hutcherson and Harold Land (San Francisco), Lee Morgan (celebrating his July birthday at the Lighthouse), McCoy Tyner (Cosmos via Asante), and Elvin Jones (Coalition). We've also got the 78s of BN-24 from James P. Johnson, as well as Clifford Brown ...

Article: Interview

Catching up with Herbie Hancock

by Mike Brannon
July 3, 2020

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in September 1998. Seldom has a musician been so closely associated with two separate musical genres as has pianist and composer Herbie Hancock. Originally introduced to the world as part of Miles Davis' mid-60's group, which also included Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams ...

News: Obituary

Prolific Austin composer, first call pianist Rich Harney dies suddenly at 66

March 21, 2020

Austin is mourning the loss of one of its finest and most beloved musicians, pianist Rich Harney. Harney passed away on January 5, 2020, just before a Sunday night trio gig at The Elephant Room. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Harney was a prolific composer first inspired by the recordings of Oscar Peterson. Influences include Thelonious Monk, ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

The Hall Overton Centennial & More

by Marc Cohn
February 28, 2020

February birthdays on Gift & Messages with the Hall Overton centennial. We feature his arrangement of “Little Rootie Tootie" for the Thelonious Monk Orchestra, where Hall takes the piano solo from the Monk's first trio recording and orchestrates it for the entire big band! You'll hear both back-to-back. Stunning, for the arrangement and the playing, is ...

Article: Album Review

Lee Morgan: The Sidewinder

Read "The Sidewinder" reviewed by Greg Simmons

by Greg Simmons
February 13, 2020

Legend tells us that 1964's The Sidewinder was the album, and indeed the song, which saved Blue Note Records at a time when the label was struggling financially. Dashed off to fill some tape, at the end of the recording session, it peaked at number 25 on the Billboard charts—almost unheard of for a hard-bop record—stabilizing ...

About James P. Johnson

Results for pages tagged "James P. Johnson"...

Musician

James P. Johnson

Born: February 1, 1894

Back during the heyday of ragtime piano (pre-1920), James P. had become a part of the famed "Harlem music scene," and was contributing to the distinctive Harlem piano style that differed melodically and harmonically from classic ragtime. Conventional ragtime had syncopation but lacked polyrhythm. James P. developed a strong and solid walking bass with his left hand and a rhythmic exciting treble with his right. His music flowed at an even tempo with considerable syncopation between the two hands. He superimposed conflicting rhythms in solos of symmetrical beauty. James Price Johnson was born in New Brunswick, N.J., in 1894