FULLER UP HOME GRIM REAPER PAGE CAUSES OF DEATH SEARCH BY NAME GET IN TOUCH SHAMEFUL DISCLAIMER    Fuller Up The Dead Musician Directory    Gus Johnson, Jr. Gus Johnson February 6, 2000 Age 86 Cause of Death Pending   OBITUARY  BIOGRAPHY   LINKS  Buy or Hear the Music         Editor's Pick:  Jay McShann 1941-1943  (with Charlie Parker)

OBITUARY 

WESTMINSTER, Colo. (AP) - Gus Johnson, the acclaimed drummer who kept the beat for jazz giants such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington, died  Sunday. He was 86.  Johnson played with the some of the most famous acts of the post-World  War II era including Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Woody  Herman, Jay McShann, Eddie ``Cleanhead'' Vinson, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims,  Al Cohn and Ralph Sutton.  Johnson's musical career didn't begin until 1935, when he joined the Jo Jones  sextet in 1935. Johnson played with McShann's band from 1938 to 1943, when he entered the Army. After World War II, he joined Vinson and then Earl ``Fatha'' Hines.  Johnson was a member of Basie's band from the late-1940s to the mid-1950s.             NY TIMES

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

Gus Johnson, Jr.  (b. 15 November 1913, Tyler, Texas, USA; d. 6 February 2000)    Active in music from about the age of 10, Johnson played piano, bass, drums and sang in a vocal quartet. Choosing drums, he played in a number of territory bands, then in 1938 joined the Jay McShann band in Kansas City. This was the unit that included the young Charlie Parker. Johnson stayed with McShann until entering the US Army in 1943. After the war he played with several bands, including those led by Earl Hines and Cootie Williams, and in 1949 joined Count Basie, with whom he remained until 1954; playing in both the sextet Basie briefly led during hard times and the powerful new-style big band that heralded a change in the leader's fortunes. Later Johnson worked as a freelance, accompanying singers including Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald and playing on numerous club dates, concert and recording sessions with Buck Clayton, Jimmy Rushing, Woody Herman and the World's Greatest Jazz Band. An exemplary drummer, Johnson's style combined fluid grace with skilful dynamics and he was just as happy discreetly supporting singers and soloists as explosively driving a big band. By the early '70s he was living in semi-retirement in Denver, Colorado. ~Music Central '96

 

LINKS

Pescara Jazz (espanol)

 

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