Pete Johnson

Pete Johnson was among the 3 great boogie-woogie pianists (alongside Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis) whose unexpected prominence in the past due ’30s helped help to make the style extremely popular. Originally a drummer, Johnson turned to piano in 1922. He was area of the Kansas Town scene within the 1920s and ’30s, frequently accompanying vocalist Big Joe Turner. Maker John Hammond found out him in 1936 and got him to try out in the Famous Door in NY. After getting involved in Hammond’s 1938 Spirituals to Golf swing Carnegie Hall concert in 1938, Johnson began recording frequently and made an appearance on an intermittent basis with Ammons and Lewis because the Boogie Woogie Trio. He also supported Turner on some traditional records. Johnson documented frequently within the 1940s and spent a lot of 1947-1949 located in LA. He relocated to Buffalo in 1950 and, apart from an appearance in the 1958 Newport Jazz Event, he was in obscurity for a lot of the 10 years. A stroke later on in 1958 remaining him partially paralyzed. Johnson produced one last appearance at John Hammond’s January 1967 Spirituals to Golf swing concert, playing the proper hand on the edition of “Move ‘Em Pete” 8 weeks before his loss of life.