Home » Search Center » Results: Plas Johnson

Results for "Plas Johnson"

About Plas Johnson

Results for pages tagged "Plas Johnson"...

Musician

Plas Johnson - saxophone Jazz aficionados know him by name, but almost anyone exposed to music is familiar with his playing. His is the purring sax solo on Henry Mancini's famous "Pink Panther" movie theme song. His is the saxophone counterpart to Harry "Sweets" Edison's trumpet on Neal Hefti's signature music for "The Odd Couple" TV series. Plas is the featured soloist heard on countless albums, including those of such artists as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt and Sarah Vaughan. Plas was born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, about sixty miles north of New Orleans

Album

Live at the Omni

By Gina Saputo

Label: GSJQ Productions
Released: 2012
Track listing: Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Me; Straight, No Chaser; People Get Ready; A Felicidade; Exactly Like You; I Remember Clifford; Fly Me To The Moon; Misty; My Man's Blues; That's All

Article: Building a Jazz Library

Henry Mancini: The Architect of Sound

by Nazareno Bicocchi
April 20, 2026

Henry Mancini was not merely Hollywood's most celebrated composer; he was the vital bridge between the Golden Age of Big Bands and cinematic modernism. His genius lay in his ability to be a “melodic tailor," capable of dressing every scene with an unprecedented sonic palette. Born to Abruzzese immigrants--his father, Quinto, played the flute in a ...

Article: Building a Jazz Library

Donald Fagen: An Essential Top 10 Albums

by Peter Jones
October 9, 2022

Actually, the whole notion of a Donald Fagen Top Ten is tricky. Artists like Chet Baker made well over a hundred albums, whereas in half a century Fagen has only released 13 official studio albums, whether with Steely Dan or under his own name, along with a handful of live sets. The process of selecting the ...

Article: Multiple Reviews

Ran Blake: Gray Moon, When Soft Rains Fall and Northern Noir

by John Ephland
December 5, 2020

I'm a sucker for musical duets. Duets that make me feel like I'm in the same room with the two of them. Here we have three recent releases with the iconoclastic, legendary Ran Blake, now 83, in what is his most typical setting. Yes, to hear Blake paired up like this is to hear ...

Article: Building a Jazz Library

Jazz & Film: An Alternative Top 20 Soundtrack Albums

by Chris May
June 24, 2020

Jazz and the movies have a shared history stretching back almost a hundred years. The relationship came into its own in the US in the mid twentieth century. Elia Kazan's 1950 movie Panic In The Streets is an early example of how film makers used jazz-based soundtracks to enhance drama and atmosphere and create ambiances of ...

Article: Building a Jazz Library

Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman Records: Ten High Altitude Albums

by Chris May
May 16, 2020

Bob Thiele is best remembered for his years as the artistic director and house producer of Impulse!. He took over from founder producer Creed Taylor in 1961 and stayed with the label until 1969, when he left to run his own Flying Dutchman Records. Thiele's tenure at Impulse! was its most glorious period, when Thiele curated ...

Article: Album Review

The DIVA Jazz Orchestra: DIVA + the Boys

Read "DIVA + the Boys" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
February 11, 2020

After more than twenty-five years as one of the world's most renowned big bands, drummer Sherrie Maricle's superlative all-female DIVA Jazz Orchestra invited a quartet of “the boys" onboard to help ensure the ensemble's twelfth album's success. Even though DIVA needs no consorts to affirm its unremitting mastery, it is nonetheless pleasurable to witness these talented ...

Article: In Tribute To...

Remembering Dr. John

by Matt Hooke
June 14, 2019

Dr. John, Ph'd in New Orleans piano with a minor in voodoo, died at the age 77 on June 6. Dr. John honored his roots, learned from masters like Professor Longhair, and added his own special herbs to create a gumbo that can never be recreated, even if someone manages to find a recipe. Dr. John ...

Article: Bailey's Bundles

Christmas 2015 V: A Concord Christmas – David Benoit, Jane Monheit and the Count Basie Orchestra

by C. Michael Bailey
December 19, 2015

Well, it ain't over 'til it's over...The Concord Music Group issued two notable Holiday releases. The David Benoit Trio with Jane Monheit and the All American Boys Chorus Believe Concord 2015 What Believe is, is a slick updating of Vince Guraladi's A Charlie Brown Christmas (Fantasy, ...