Actually, yes! But one has to be careful and choose one that is entirely solo piano. (I might recommend one eventually.) He was part of the vaudeville world as well, and some of the CDs have a number of singers and bands. A completist like me wants it all, of course. You could listen to some albums streaming on Spotify etc. ALSO Someone put up 8 hours of James P without any of the songs identified, but it's a good way to just listen: https://youtu.be/SgcrClssPMI
The sadly now out of print Chronogical ( sic ) Classics series, which has about 6 or 7 CDs devoted to James P. is a good place to start. The Decca CD, " Snowy Morning Blues " is an excellent Johnson anthology of all piano solos. If you can find the Columbia / CBS Sony CD, Father of the Stride Piano, this is another historically important album.
And, of course, the best James P. general anthology ever put together is the Time Life James P. Johnson / Giants of Jazz box set. Out of print, but available, however was issued only in LP / cassette. Both the guide book and 40 tracks of musical selections are excellent. Well worth the investment.
The first theme also has a definite similarity to the first theme of Jimmy and Willie the Lion's , Gut Stomp , the second theme of which was recycled for Swingin' At the Lido
Mar 2, 2023·edited Mar 3, 2023Liked by Lewis Porter
Does not surprise me in the least. Scott and I can read each other's minds and finish each other's sentences . And we have been doing it for over 40 years, since we met, quite by chance, at a residency interview. Its actually kind of scary. And, we have had no communication on this subject. Yet.
I am attempting to post this thought for something like the 3rd time. Sorry if the others also eventually pop up. Wow ! I had the pleasure of meeting the late Floyd Levin shortly before he died, and shortly after the publication of his book: Classic Jazz. I had written to him because I was curious to know what other stories he might be able share about his friendship with James P. Johnson that he had not included in the book, and was also curious if he had recorded any more of James P. in addition to what was issued on the Pumpkin LP : Ain'tcha Got Music. Floyd was kind enough to call me at home, and we talked for about an hour on these subjects. Sadly, in both cases, his answer was : " No ". Fortunately, at least as far as the recording of James P. is concerned, Floyd's answer has turned out to be incorrect. And, we did get a chance to meet, for the only time, when he was a marshal at the Sacramento Jazz fest, a few months later. These remain wonderful memories. I would also add, that I too have " discovered " a previously uncatalogued and unissued piano solo by James P, the alternate take of " If Dreams Come True " , from the 1939 John Hammond session, which had been given to me by Mike Lipskin in 1981. Bob Hilbert ( owner of Pumpkin records ) also figured in this, as he had been at work on the most complete Johnson discography, up to that time, which was included as an appendix to the first full length biography of James P., published in 1987, by Scott Brown. Ironically , the alternate was not mentioned in the discography, even though Bob Hilbert knew of it well before publication, and further, it by that time had been issued on LP. Incidentally, Dr. Brown has recently finished an updated, and completely new biography of James P. that is planned to be published by the end of the year
Having given my true confession above, I can honestly say that making the discovery of such an unknown recording gives one a true high, which I have yet been able to reproduce. I would be very curious to know the circumstances of how this recording has come to light, especially since, in my experience, such previously uncatalogued James P. gems might come to light once a decade, and then, usually only 3 minutes worth or so. The last Mosaic James P. re-issue contained only 2 tracks ( alternates ) which I had not heard before, and included the alternate which I had " discovered " over 40 years ago.
Thank you Mark, for this and your other comments, which I will get to shortly. Sorry but I had to delete your discog link to the Pumpkin LP and your mention of Sugar Hill, only because it duplicates material that i have already written for Part 2 (but have not posted yet). I knew that you are a James P expert, and it's a pleasure to "meet you" here, but I did not know that you are the one who discovered the alternate of If Dreams--that's great! I will be discussing both takes in great detail soon, in another post. As you may know, Scott earned an MA in my Rutgers-Newark program in jazz research, but he did his work under my colleague Henry Martin after I retired.
Scott and I have known each for nearly 40 years. We met, for the first time, quite by chance, at a residency interview at St Vincent's Hospital, in the Village, in the fall of 1985. We had known of one another through a common acquaintance, the late Dick Wellstood. It went something like this : Scott recognized my name on the list of the day's interviewees, and asked me if I was not a fan of James P, to which I responded, " You must be Scott Brown ! " Small world . We talk a few times a year, and have gone to several music festivals together ( those that we don't attend together, we often run into one another at ), the most recent, the last Stride Piano Summit in Switzerland. It is kinda scary how in synch our minds are on this topic. We can usually complete one another's sentences .......
For those of us hard core audiophiles interested in the nitty gritty of possible remaining unissued James P. material, the best bet seems to be here: a Bob Thiele Signature session of 1944. Mosaic owned the rights, but apparently did not know to look for them, for the mega James P. set, until we discussed the topic, which, by that time would have been too late to include them in the set, even if they had managed to track them down. I discussed the subject, at some length, on FB, about 2 years ago . Here is the bottom line .
" On December 18, 1943, James P. Johnson arrived for a scheduled recording session at the New York City studio of a twenty-one-year-old record producer named Bob Thiele. The space, Signature Records, was launched by Thiele three years earlier. Johnson accompanied Yank Lawson and His Jazz Band on four sides: “Squeeze Me,” “When I Grow Too Old to Dream,” “Too Many Times,” and “The Sheik of Araby,” which were authenticated as Signature 28103. After the session, Thiele suggested that James P. stay to record a few tunes. Johnson agreed and documented three songs: “Old Fashioned Love,” “Blueberry Rhyme” and “Over the Bars (also known as “Steeplechase Rag”). However, his dear friend and protégé, Fats Waller, passed away three days prior at the age of thirty-nine and Johnson, overcome with grief, emotively extemporized a song in Waller’s honor. It was entitled, “Blues for Fats.” https://www.facebook.com/groups/115941758550793/posts/2214232695388345/
That's too bad that Mosaic missed the opportunity to find these. Just to be clear, in case anyone reads this--Old Fashioned Love and Over the Bars are the two unissued titles. (The other two that you mentioned--Blues and Blueberry-- were issued.) THANK YOU
Indeed. Bob Pinsker and I gave a talk on the personal and artistic relationship of James and Fats, for the 2004 IJS Waller Centennial. We opened the talk playing " Blues for Fats " , recorded on Dec 18, 1943, 3 days after Fats' death. Rather short notice. James P must have just heard the news. It seems rather amazing that he could have gotten it together and gotten himself to the studio, shocked and grieving as he must have been. Guessing it was composed, and / or improvised in the studio, and, as Bob pointed out, James P. poignantly quotes from both " Ain't Misbehavin' " , and " Honeysuckle Rose " .
I was at that Waller tribute--maybe I met you then? I'm not surprised that James played, because first of all playing music was what kept him going, and second because people are very resilient.
Don't think we met. I was flattered that Joplin biographer Ed Berlin came to our talk, and actually complimented us on the presentation. The late David Cayer and I had dinner at a Portuguese restaurant in the Iron Bound. I understand that it was he who retrieved the Johnson nachlass from the oblivion of Antiques Road Show.
It is a pleasure to meet you as well. We mutant James P. Johnson fans gotta stick together. And, for the record, I am not a James P. Johnson expert. I am however, " Formerly, the World's Second Leading Authority on James P. Johnson " . As you may have already known, us guys don't got / need no stinkin; badges. But, I do have an official bidness card. .....
I whole heartedly agree with Lewis' observation that James P. can be an acquired taste, and that not everyone " gets " him; at least certainly not right away. This was in fact my experience. Coming from a ragtime background ( a "Sting Baby " as it were ) , and influenced by Rudi Blesh to seek out the master. However, this was the late 1970s, and the first example of Jimmy's playing I heard was on the only dedicated album of his piano solos available at the time, which was on Folkways. I did not find those performances particularly inspiring; at least not then. Around the same time I managed to locate the 2 performances by Dick Hyman ( " Keep Off the Grass " and " Harlem Strut " ) on an old Project 3 LP, and then " Caprice Rag " and " Daintiness Rag " by James on the Herwin LP compilation called Piano Ragtime of the 40s. At that point, my consciousness was transformed. This was a different kind of ragtime than Scott Joplin. Fuller harmonies, and, most importantly, they swung. Truly a revelation. Now I was hooked on James P. and stride piano. Still am after 40 plus years. His playing and that of Fats just get better by the day.
There is a forthcoming biography of James, P., written by the man, Dr. Scott Brown, who penned the original bio of James P. The current title, is James P. Johnson: The Quiet Man Who Made the 20s Roar. To be published by the University of Mississippi Press. So, now, it is quite true that Dr. Brown has written both the first and the last word on James P. Johnson played on over 400 sides in his career. Nearly everything he ever recorded, is now on Youtube, and can be found, here, created as a companion site to the book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZf9qaiGmhk&list=PLQuhDgfsUyRu18P9ZlQmcOekmjCKqq5uF
Thanks Mark. That's a great playlist. I' m in touch with Scott of course (he earned his MA in the program I founded) and he asked me to wait to post info about his new book until it's a bit closer to publication. And of course I owe my readers another James P post, before long. THANK YOU MARK
Not sure what happened. The essay / track notes are in the " Files " section of the fb page. As for the links to the recordings, they are there. Not sure what happened. At one point, they were posted in the order listed in the track listing of the Time Life Booklet. After the youtube post for After Tonight, you need to click on the " view more comments ", of which there are 45 ! Then scorll down ....
Did Johnson record much in the way of commercially available records that might be available on CD?
Actually, yes! But one has to be careful and choose one that is entirely solo piano. (I might recommend one eventually.) He was part of the vaudeville world as well, and some of the CDs have a number of singers and bands. A completist like me wants it all, of course. You could listen to some albums streaming on Spotify etc. ALSO Someone put up 8 hours of James P without any of the songs identified, but it's a good way to just listen: https://youtu.be/SgcrClssPMI
The sadly now out of print Chronogical ( sic ) Classics series, which has about 6 or 7 CDs devoted to James P. is a good place to start. The Decca CD, " Snowy Morning Blues " is an excellent Johnson anthology of all piano solos. If you can find the Columbia / CBS Sony CD, Father of the Stride Piano, this is another historically important album.
And, of course, the best James P. general anthology ever put together is the Time Life James P. Johnson / Giants of Jazz box set. Out of print, but available, however was issued only in LP / cassette. Both the guide book and 40 tracks of musical selections are excellent. Well worth the investment.
"incidentally this is what I was playing when I first met my wife" I think...
I think you're right!! THANK YOU. I'll amend it and will thank you.
Tell Steven Lasker I said hey, he was my neighbor in Venice for a few years.
Great! Yes, Venice, CA of course!
Tell Steven Lasker I said hey, he was my neighbor in Venice for a few years.
say hey to Lasker, my next door neighbor in Venice for a few years.
it was a delight to hear great jazz music blasting from his place.
Ha ha, I'm sure that's true.
Great post, Lewis!
Thanks, friend!
The first theme also has a definite similarity to the first theme of Jimmy and Willie the Lion's , Gut Stomp , the second theme of which was recycled for Swingin' At the Lido
Good point--Scott Brown made the same connection in an email to me. THANKS!
Does not surprise me in the least. Scott and I can read each other's minds and finish each other's sentences . And we have been doing it for over 40 years, since we met, quite by chance, at a residency interview. Its actually kind of scary. And, we have had no communication on this subject. Yet.
Great!
I am attempting to post this thought for something like the 3rd time. Sorry if the others also eventually pop up. Wow ! I had the pleasure of meeting the late Floyd Levin shortly before he died, and shortly after the publication of his book: Classic Jazz. I had written to him because I was curious to know what other stories he might be able share about his friendship with James P. Johnson that he had not included in the book, and was also curious if he had recorded any more of James P. in addition to what was issued on the Pumpkin LP : Ain'tcha Got Music. Floyd was kind enough to call me at home, and we talked for about an hour on these subjects. Sadly, in both cases, his answer was : " No ". Fortunately, at least as far as the recording of James P. is concerned, Floyd's answer has turned out to be incorrect. And, we did get a chance to meet, for the only time, when he was a marshal at the Sacramento Jazz fest, a few months later. These remain wonderful memories. I would also add, that I too have " discovered " a previously uncatalogued and unissued piano solo by James P, the alternate take of " If Dreams Come True " , from the 1939 John Hammond session, which had been given to me by Mike Lipskin in 1981. Bob Hilbert ( owner of Pumpkin records ) also figured in this, as he had been at work on the most complete Johnson discography, up to that time, which was included as an appendix to the first full length biography of James P., published in 1987, by Scott Brown. Ironically , the alternate was not mentioned in the discography, even though Bob Hilbert knew of it well before publication, and further, it by that time had been issued on LP. Incidentally, Dr. Brown has recently finished an updated, and completely new biography of James P. that is planned to be published by the end of the year
Having given my true confession above, I can honestly say that making the discovery of such an unknown recording gives one a true high, which I have yet been able to reproduce. I would be very curious to know the circumstances of how this recording has come to light, especially since, in my experience, such previously uncatalogued James P. gems might come to light once a decade, and then, usually only 3 minutes worth or so. The last Mosaic James P. re-issue contained only 2 tracks ( alternates ) which I had not heard before, and included the alternate which I had " discovered " over 40 years ago.
Yes, it's very exciting indeed! There's not much more to the story.
Thank you Mark, for this and your other comments, which I will get to shortly. Sorry but I had to delete your discog link to the Pumpkin LP and your mention of Sugar Hill, only because it duplicates material that i have already written for Part 2 (but have not posted yet). I knew that you are a James P expert, and it's a pleasure to "meet you" here, but I did not know that you are the one who discovered the alternate of If Dreams--that's great! I will be discussing both takes in great detail soon, in another post. As you may know, Scott earned an MA in my Rutgers-Newark program in jazz research, but he did his work under my colleague Henry Martin after I retired.
Scott and I have known each for nearly 40 years. We met, for the first time, quite by chance, at a residency interview at St Vincent's Hospital, in the Village, in the fall of 1985. We had known of one another through a common acquaintance, the late Dick Wellstood. It went something like this : Scott recognized my name on the list of the day's interviewees, and asked me if I was not a fan of James P, to which I responded, " You must be Scott Brown ! " Small world . We talk a few times a year, and have gone to several music festivals together ( those that we don't attend together, we often run into one another at ), the most recent, the last Stride Piano Summit in Switzerland. It is kinda scary how in synch our minds are on this topic. We can usually complete one another's sentences .......
For those of us hard core audiophiles interested in the nitty gritty of possible remaining unissued James P. material, the best bet seems to be here: a Bob Thiele Signature session of 1944. Mosaic owned the rights, but apparently did not know to look for them, for the mega James P. set, until we discussed the topic, which, by that time would have been too late to include them in the set, even if they had managed to track them down. I discussed the subject, at some length, on FB, about 2 years ago . Here is the bottom line .
" On December 18, 1943, James P. Johnson arrived for a scheduled recording session at the New York City studio of a twenty-one-year-old record producer named Bob Thiele. The space, Signature Records, was launched by Thiele three years earlier. Johnson accompanied Yank Lawson and His Jazz Band on four sides: “Squeeze Me,” “When I Grow Too Old to Dream,” “Too Many Times,” and “The Sheik of Araby,” which were authenticated as Signature 28103. After the session, Thiele suggested that James P. stay to record a few tunes. Johnson agreed and documented three songs: “Old Fashioned Love,” “Blueberry Rhyme” and “Over the Bars (also known as “Steeplechase Rag”). However, his dear friend and protégé, Fats Waller, passed away three days prior at the age of thirty-nine and Johnson, overcome with grief, emotively extemporized a song in Waller’s honor. It was entitled, “Blues for Fats.” https://www.facebook.com/groups/115941758550793/posts/2214232695388345/
That's too bad that Mosaic missed the opportunity to find these. Just to be clear, in case anyone reads this--Old Fashioned Love and Over the Bars are the two unissued titles. (The other two that you mentioned--Blues and Blueberry-- were issued.) THANK YOU
All the best,
Lewis
Indeed. Bob Pinsker and I gave a talk on the personal and artistic relationship of James and Fats, for the 2004 IJS Waller Centennial. We opened the talk playing " Blues for Fats " , recorded on Dec 18, 1943, 3 days after Fats' death. Rather short notice. James P must have just heard the news. It seems rather amazing that he could have gotten it together and gotten himself to the studio, shocked and grieving as he must have been. Guessing it was composed, and / or improvised in the studio, and, as Bob pointed out, James P. poignantly quotes from both " Ain't Misbehavin' " , and " Honeysuckle Rose " .
I was at that Waller tribute--maybe I met you then? I'm not surprised that James played, because first of all playing music was what kept him going, and second because people are very resilient.
Don't think we met. I was flattered that Joplin biographer Ed Berlin came to our talk, and actually complimented us on the presentation. The late David Cayer and I had dinner at a Portuguese restaurant in the Iron Bound. I understand that it was he who retrieved the Johnson nachlass from the oblivion of Antiques Road Show.
Yes, I know Ed and I think I said hello to him. Of course I knew Cayer and his dedication to James P.
We discussed the Pumpkin LP on the Fats / James P. group FB in 2016 https://www.facebook.com/groups/115941758550793/posts/883101908501437
It is a pleasure to meet you as well. We mutant James P. Johnson fans gotta stick together. And, for the record, I am not a James P. Johnson expert. I am however, " Formerly, the World's Second Leading Authority on James P. Johnson " . As you may have already known, us guys don't got / need no stinkin; badges. But, I do have an official bidness card. .....
Ha ha very funny--THANK YOU
Do mention it !
I whole heartedly agree with Lewis' observation that James P. can be an acquired taste, and that not everyone " gets " him; at least certainly not right away. This was in fact my experience. Coming from a ragtime background ( a "Sting Baby " as it were ) , and influenced by Rudi Blesh to seek out the master. However, this was the late 1970s, and the first example of Jimmy's playing I heard was on the only dedicated album of his piano solos available at the time, which was on Folkways. I did not find those performances particularly inspiring; at least not then. Around the same time I managed to locate the 2 performances by Dick Hyman ( " Keep Off the Grass " and " Harlem Strut " ) on an old Project 3 LP, and then " Caprice Rag " and " Daintiness Rag " by James on the Herwin LP compilation called Piano Ragtime of the 40s. At that point, my consciousness was transformed. This was a different kind of ragtime than Scott Joplin. Fuller harmonies, and, most importantly, they swung. Truly a revelation. Now I was hooked on James P. and stride piano. Still am after 40 plus years. His playing and that of Fats just get better by the day.
Absolutely!
There is a forthcoming biography of James, P., written by the man, Dr. Scott Brown, who penned the original bio of James P. The current title, is James P. Johnson: The Quiet Man Who Made the 20s Roar. To be published by the University of Mississippi Press. So, now, it is quite true that Dr. Brown has written both the first and the last word on James P. Johnson played on over 400 sides in his career. Nearly everything he ever recorded, is now on Youtube, and can be found, here, created as a companion site to the book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZf9qaiGmhk&list=PLQuhDgfsUyRu18P9ZlQmcOekmjCKqq5uF
Thanks Mark. That's a great playlist. I' m in touch with Scott of course (he earned his MA in the program I founded) and he asked me to wait to post info about his new book until it's a bit closer to publication. And of course I owe my readers another James P post, before long. THANK YOU MARK
A companion Facebook page to the Time Life collection, with the track notes and biographical essay , with links to the recordings on You Tube, can be found, here. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067862862940&comment_id=Y29tbWVudDoxMDgxMzAwNzgxMTIyMDhfMTA4MjQ1MTM4MTAwNzAy
Thanks Mark, but please help out me and my readers. I see One track and No essay??
Also, as I recall that set came with an insert about correcting his birth year to 1894. THANKS in advance for more info.
Not sure what happened. The essay / track notes are in the " Files " section of the fb page. As for the links to the recordings, they are there. Not sure what happened. At one point, they were posted in the order listed in the track listing of the Time Life Booklet. After the youtube post for After Tonight, you need to click on the " view more comments ", of which there are 45 ! Then scorll down ....
OK, I see the 45 youtube links for tracks. But no Files section?
The link is near the top of the page, on the far right, immediately below circles of members pictures https://www.facebook.com/groups/115941758550793/files/files