Henry Johnson
Live at the Litchfield Jazz Festival; photo by Steven Sussman.
Henry Johnson
Guitar
Chicago-born guitarist and vocalist Henry Johnson started playing at age 12. His teens were spent in Memphis where he discovered gospel and R&B. Although his parents exposed him to the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Joe Williams, and others, he truly “got it” when he heard Wes Montgomery play in 1967. The family moved back to Chicago where his reputation began to build. Seven years later he was touring with organist Jack McDuff and vocalist Donny Hathaway. He joined Ramsey Lewis in 1979 and, in 1985, Joe Williams, and played with the vocal jazz master until his death in 1999.
You're The One, his debut CD (MCA/Impulse!) Hit #1 on the charts and stayed there for two months - rare for a first recording. It received 5 stars in Downbeat –even rarer, especially for a living artist—and was nominated for a Grammy. Follow-up recordings include Future Excursions and Never Too Much (MCI) and New Beginnings and Missing You (HeadsUp).
Johson has also recorded with Ramsey Lewis, Joe Williams, Vanessa Ruben, and Richie Cole. His latest recording on A440 Music Group, Organic, features Nancy Wilson. He has performed with Wilson, Marlena Shaw, Dizzy Gillespie, the Boston Pops, Sonny Stitt, Freddie Hubbard, Grover Washington Jr., Stanley Turrentine, Billy Taylor, Jimmy Smith, James Moody, and many others. His new performing group, Organ Express, has been exciting audiences the world over. He joins Litchfield Jazz Camp as a teaching artist in 2009.