Q&A With Alto Saxophonist Josh Johnson
Josh Johnson leads his quartet this Tuesday at 7pm in the Central Courtyard at Hollywood and Highland as part of their Summer Jazz Nights series. For more info, visit http://hollywoodandhighland.com/event/summer-jazz-nights/
We are in the throes of the ever-rising temperatures of the Los Angeles summer swoon, when many jazz musicians (and wealthy jazz patrons) escape the heat by heading out of town for jazz festivals in exotic European locales such as Montreux, Umbria, Vienna, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Yet those without a touring gig, passport or cash can still have a first-rate (albeit sweaty) festival experience right in our little hometown of 4 million people.
The two signature events of the summer are the (already concluded) Playboy Jazz Festival and the Central Aveune Jazz Festival, with the Angel City Jazz Festival looming in the fall. In between those behemoths are a number of ongoing outdoor series, including the excellent shows at Grand Performances in Downtown L.A., Friday nights at the L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art (LACMA), the JazzPOP series at the Hammer Museum in Westwood, and the Summer Jazz Nights at Hollywood and Highland.
The latter series is ensconced in perhaps the most popular tourist destination in California, the courtyard outside the theater where movie stars receive Oscars, and just a few steps away from Grauman’s Chinese Theater in the heart of Hollywood. Many current and future jazz stars have graced the outdoor stage, including latin jazz icons Pete Escovedo and Poncho Sanchez, organist Joey DeFrancesco, the late legendary pianist Cedar Walton, ascendant pianist Cameron Graves, and a litany of impressive saxophonists, including Justo Almario, Bob Reynolds, and Kamasi Washington.
Washington has become one of the major stories of jazz in recent years, becoming the poster-man-child for Rolling Stone, Billboard, Pitchfork, and L.A. Weekly (which admits to, by one of their jazz writers, perhaps a little hometown bias in including the tenor saxophonist on their list of the greatest saxophonists of all time). All the good press has had a halo effect in highlighting the emerging youth movement in jazz here in Los Angeles, buoyed by the combination of burgeoning homegrown talent choosing to remain in the city rather than flee to New York, and the influx of outstanding players from New York, Boston, Chicago and elsewhere, looking to make their fortune and legacy in the Wild West.
One such émigré is Chicago native and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson, who moved to Los Angeles five years ago when he was selected to be one of seven musicians from around the world to join the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, based at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA. In his time with TMI, Johnson travelled the world, performing with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Billy Childs among others, and upon graduating from the Institute, he continued his rapid rise to the surface of the bubbling jazz scene in L.A., playing with Benny Maupin, Billy Childs, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Mark DeClive-Lowe, and Jeff Parker. He is often on tour with trumpeter and fellow Chicagoan Marquis Hill, winner of the 2014 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition.
For a young man in a crowded field of hot young saxophonists, Josh Johnson is as cool as they come. He enters into many a solo with careful awareness, doling out beautifully crafted melodies in spacious, unpredictable portions. It’s enough to lull one into a false sense of secure reverie, unaware of the gradual, inexorable rise of intensity and heat until it’s too late, like a frog cooked to death in a slowly-heated pot of water. Johnson’s tremendous virtuosity always remains in servitude to the long arc of artistic justice. He makes you wait for it but it’s so worth it.
On Tuesday, Johnson graces the stage at Hollywood and Highland with his quartet, featuring pianist (and L.A.’s favorite son) Josh Nelson, Australian bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Christian Euman, who like Johnson also hails from Chicago and is an alumni of the Thelonious Monk Institute.
Johnson was kind enough to answer a few questions, which he did with insight and thoughtfulness, very much in the manner by which he plays saxophone. Following is a transcript of the interview, lightly edited for clarity:
Can you talk a little bit about your initial exposure to jazz, and how you ultimately got involved with the alto saxophone?
I picked up the saxophone around age 10, and shortly after I remember asking my mom for some jazz recordings for Christmas. She and my dad got me a stack of about probably 6 or 7 CD’s, 5 of which I didn’t really get into. One I did get into immediately was Lester Swings, a Verve compilation of a handful of Lester Young recordings. The other was the Monk compilation Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1.
I was drawn to the beauty of Lester’s sound and his seemingly quiet, clever but cool attitude. His playing felt as direct as someone singing or speaking to me, and that deepened my curiosity. Saxophone sound is so deeply personal, and the range of feeling that can be expressed along with the mystery and beauty drew me in.
There’s a quote I love from a repairman named Matt Stohrer, talking about how the sound of a saxophone is the sound a cone of air vibrating. “So the saxophone is not the sound — the saxophone is the thing we wrap around the sound. It is the interface we need — with our two hands, ten fingers, mouth, lungs — to interact with this cone of air. Our abilities and limitations define it…it is the relationship between ourselves and the laws of nature, made visible.”
Who were/are your mentors in shaping your musical biography? How did they impact you?
There are so many people who have been willing to share their stories, wisdom, and experience with me, whether I was ready for it at the time or not. David Baker taught me so much about persistence, searching, giving, being yourself in all things, and navigating the world as a young black man. My friend and kindred spirit Jeff Parker has been a mentor to me over the past 10 years. He has broadened my perspective, both musically and otherwise, and I’ve looked up to him since I first heard his music in the early 2000’s. There are so many records I wouldn’t have heard if I hadn’t been lead by JP’s signature question, “Man, have you heard this record…?”. I got to spend time with Wayne Shorter when I moved to LA for grad school, an experience which was invaluable to me. Wayne taught me about the width of imagination, expressing the entire range of emotion in music, playing beyond the instrument, and living and playing with deep intention.
How would you describe your approach to improvising?
This is a really difficult question to answer. One idea that has been fascinating me over the past 3–4 years is fluidity. I’ve always been drawn to the freedom with which great musicians perform ballads. To me there’s a sort of multidimensional beauty and fluidity, the play of heart and intellect happening all at once. I’ve been interested in figuring out how to get that feeling and freedom in every context.
What are the projects you are involved with currently, and what are some things we can look forward to?
There are many things coming up which I’m super excited about. Holophonor, a band I co-lead, has a new record called Light Magnet which will be out later this fall on Alpha Pup/Worldwide Galaxy. The record was produced by Wayne Shorter, and after a bit of a journey we’re happy to have found a home for it. I’m heading to New York right after this performance to perform Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s Suite For Ma Dukes at Damrosch Park. (Tenor saxophonist) Daniel Rotem and I did a standards record that should be out later this year. I’ll be heading to Japan with Jeff Parker & The New Breed in August, and to Europe with Marquis Hill Blacktet in October. Joshua White and Josh Nelson both have records coming out in the fall, both of which I was excited to play on. Last but not least, I’m working on a bunch of new music for a record to be recorded later this year.
