Jimmy Johnson
Chicago guitarist Jimmy Johnson didn't release his first full domestic album until he was 50 years old. He determinedly made up for lost time, establishing himself as one of the Windy City's premier blues artists with a twisting, unpredictable guitar style and a soaring, soul-dripping vocal delivery that stood out from the pack.
Born into a musical family (younger brother Syl Johnson's credentials as a soul star were all in order, while sibling Mack Thompson was Magic Sam's first-call bassist), Jimmy Thompson moved to Chicago with his family in 1950. But his guitar playing remained a hobby for years -- he toiled as a welder while Syl blazed a trail on the local blues circuit. Finally, in 1959, Jimmy Thompson started gigging with harpist Slim Willis around the West Side. Somewhere down the line, he changed his surname to Johnson (thus keeping pace with Syl).
Since there was more cash to be realized playing R&B during the 1960s, Jimmy Johnson concentrated on that end of the stylistic spectrum for a while. He led polished house bands on the South Side and West Side behind Otis Clay, Denise LaSalle, and Garland Green, also cutting an occasional instrumental 45. Johnson found his way back to the blues in 1974 as Jimmy Dawkins' rhythm guitarist. He toured Japan behind Otis Rush in 1975 (the journey that produced Rush's album So Many Roads -- Live in Concert).
With the 1978 release of four stunning sides on Alligator's first batch of Living Chicago Blues anthologies and the issue of Johnson's Whacks, his first full domestic set on Delmark the next year, Jimmy Johnson's star began ascending rapidly. North/South, the guitarist's 1982 Delmark follow-up, and the 1983 release of Bar Room Preacher by Alligator continued to propel him into the first rank of Chicago bluesdom. Then tragedy struck: on December 2, 1988, Johnson was driving his band's van when it swerved off the road in downstate Indiana, killing bassist Larry Exum and keyboardist St. James Bryant.
Understandably, Johnson, himself injured in the wreck, wasn't too interested in furthering his career for a time after the tragedy. But he was back in the harness by the mid-'90s, cutting a solid set for Verve in 1994, I'm a Jockey, that spotlighted his blues-soul synthesis most effectively. Every Road Ends, recorded in France and released on Ruf, followed in 1999. A collaboration with his brother Syl appeared in the summer of 2002, the cleverly titled Two Johnsons Are Better Than One. Brothers Live, recorded by Jimmy Johnson and the Chicago Dave Blues Band featuring saxophonist Sam Burckhardt at Switzerland's Basel Blues Festival in 2002, arrived in 2004. Jimmy Johnson died on January 31, 2022, at the age of 93.
© Bill Dahl /TiVo
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Diskografie
19 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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Surya Namaskar
Dewa Budjana, Jimmy Johnson, Vinnie Colaiuta
Jazz - Erschienen bei Dawaiku Records am 29.11.2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Every Day of Your Life
Blues - Erschienen bei Delmark am 06.12.2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Heap See
Blues - Erschienen bei Disques Black & Blue am 01.01.1983
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I'm a Jockey (feat. Billy Branch & Lucky Peterson)
Jazz - Erschienen bei Dreyfus Jazz am 01.01.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Late Flower
Steve Topping, Jimmy Johnson, Frank Schaefer, Gary Husband
Jazz - Erschienen bei Quartz Music am 01.01.2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Livin' The Life (Blues Reference)
Blues - Erschienen bei Disques Black & Blue am 17.01.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ma Bea's Rock
Jimmy Johnson, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson
Blues - Erschienen bei Storyville am 01.01.1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Chicago Blues Box 2, Vol. 4
Blues - Erschienen bei Storyville am 27.10.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johnson's Whacks
Blues - Erschienen bei Delmark Records am 10.06.1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Silence to Static
Electronic - Erschienen bei Jimmy Johnson am 01.01.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Pepper's Hangout
Blues - Erschienen bei Delmark Records am 01.01.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Every Day of Your Life
Blues - Erschienen bei Delmark Records am 04.10.2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Didn't Give A Damn If Whites Bought It Vol. 2
Jimmy Johnson, Eddie Clearwater
Blues - Erschienen bei Red Lightnin Records am 30.10.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Pick Me Up (On Your Way Down)
Country - Erschienen bei Country Fever Records am 01.10.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Cardinal Nation Song
Blues - Erschienen bei Nitewing Productions am 13.11.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mysterious Machine
Electronic - Erschienen bei Attitude records am 07.09.2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo