Budd Johnson

"Not to be confused with Buddy Johnson."Infobox musical artist
Name = Budd Johnson


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Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = Albert J. Johnson
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Born = birth date|1910|12|14|
Died = death date and age|1984|10|20|1910|12|14
Origin = flagicon|USADallas, Texas,
United States
Instrument = Tenor saxophone, Soprano saxophone, clarinet
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Occupation = saxophonist
Years_active = 1920s-1970s
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Budd Johnson was a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist best known as a "behind-the-scenes player" and writer.

He initially played drums and piano before switching to tenor saxophone. In the 1920s he performed in Texas and parts of the Midwest, working with Jesse Stone among others. Budd Johnson had his recording debut while working with Louis Armstrong's band in 1932-1933, but is more known for his work with Earl Hines. It is contended that he led Hines to hire "modernists." He was also an early figure in the Bebop era doing sessions with Coleman Hawkins in 1944. In the 1950s he led his own group and did some session work for Atlantic Records -- he is the featured tenor saxophone soloist on Ruth Brown's hit, Teardrops from My Eyes.cite book
first=Charlie
last=Gillett
year= 1996
title= The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll
edition= (2nd Ed.)
publisher= Da Capo Press
location=New York, N.Y.
pages= p. 130
id= ISBN 0-306-80683-5] In the 1960s he worked with Quincy Jones, Count Basie and worked on Out of the Cool with Gil Evans. In the mid-1960s he began working again with Hines. His association with Hines is the longest lasting and arguably most significant.

In 1975 he began working with the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestra. He was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993.

Selected Discography

*Gil Evans "Great Jazz Standarts" (1959),
*Gil Evans "Out of the cool" (1960)
*"Budd Johnson And The Four Brass Giants", Fantasy/Prestige, (1960) (with trumpeters Ray Nance, Clark Terry, Nat Adderley, Harry Edison)
*"Let's Swing", Fantasy/Prestige (1960)
*"The Old Dude and the Fundance Kid", Uptown (1984), with Phil Woods

Notes

External links

* [http://music.aol.com/artist/budd-johnson/6827/biography Budd Johnson bio at AOL]
* [http://www.musicweb.uk.net/encyclopaedia/j/J57.HTM Music web]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/music/muze/index.pl?site=radio2&action=biography&artist_id=15515&rand= BBC Radio 2 bio]