BLUES, BLUES, BLUES: Pete

Pete_JOHNSON

⬇️ PETE JOHNSON ⬇️

(Kermit H. Johnson)

DISCOGRAPHY 1974-2008 (14CD)

BIOGRAPHY

Pete Johnson (born Kermit H. Johnson, March 25, 1904 – March 23, 1967) was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist.

Journalist Tony Russell stated in his book The Blues – From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray that "Johnson shared with the other members of the 'Boogie Woogie Trio' the technical virtuosity and melodic fertility that can make this the most exciting of all piano music styles, but he was more comfortable than Meade Lux Lewis in a band setting; and as an accompanist, unlike Lewis or Albert Ammons, he could sparkle but not outshine his singing partner".

Fellow journalist Scott Yanow (Allmusic) added "Johnson was one of the three great boogie-woogie pianists (along with Lewis and Ammons) whose sudden prominence in the late 1930s helped make the style very popular".

Johnson began his musical career in 1922 as a drummer in Kansas City. He began piano about the same time he was learning the drums. His early piano practices took place in a church, where he was working as a water boy for a construction company.

From 1926 to 1938 he worked as a pianist, often working with Big Joe Turner. An encounter with record producer John Hammond in 1936 led to an engagement at the Famous Door in New York City. In 1938 Johnson and Turner appeared in the From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall.

After this show the popularity of the boogie-woogie style was on the upswing. Johnson worked locally and toured and recorded with Turner, Meade Lux Lewis, and Albert Ammons during this period. Lewis, Ammons, and Johnson appeared in the film short Boogie-Woogie Dream in 1941......

NEW!

2008-Pete's Lonesome Blues @FLAC

CHRONOGICAL CLASSICS (Jazz)

Pete Johnson-Chronogical Classics (1947-49) @FLAC

Boogie Woogie Mood

(1940-44)

(LP)