Lonnie Johnson
by Don Erickson
Lonnie Johnson's vast influence not only had a major impact on urban
blues artists like T-Bone Walker and rural blues artists such as Robert
Johnson, he also inspired jazz pioneers Django Reinhardt and Charlie
Christian. When you realize what a huge impact these artists, in turn,
had on subsequent generations of performers, Lonnie Johnson must be
regarded as the single most important figure in the history of blues and
jazz guitar. In fact, he was the first person to utilize the guitar as a
lead instrument, creating note-by-note solos. In addition to being a
rhythm instrument, the guitar became a melodic force used extensively in
blues, jazz, country and rock.
Born in New Orleans on February 8, 1894 as Alonzo Johnson, Lonnie was
one of thirteen children raised in a musical household. He joined his
father's popular local string band at an early age. His first instrument
was the violin, but he soon became proficient on guitar, mandolin,
banjo, string bass and piano.
Up until 1917, he performed largely in the New Orleans area. He then
travelled to London, England with a touring musical revue. He came back
to the United States in 1919, only to discover that both his parents and
all his siblings, except one brother, had perished from a flu epidemic.
(Talk about a reason to sing the blues.) Shaken by grief, he ended up
settling in St. Louis, where he performed in local theaters and on
Mississippi River excursion steamboats.
Lonnie's first recording was on November 2, 1925 with Charlie Creath's
Jazz-O-Maniacs, where Lonnie sang and played violin on the song
"Won't Don't Blues." Two days later he recorded a duet called
"Mr. Johnson's Blues" with pianist John Arnold. This was to be
the first release under his own name. Winning a weekly blues contest in
St. Louis led to a recording contract with Okeh Records.
Besides the hundreds of recordings he made under his own name, Johnson
accompanied a varied array of blues artists. He was also well respected
within the jazz community and was accomplished enough to perform with
jazz legends Louis Armstrong, Eddie Lang and Duke Ellington.
Between 1925 and 1932 he recorded some 130 songs, making him the most
prolific male blues artist of that time. Like many other artists, his
output slowed to a trickle during the Depression of the '30s. He signed
new recording contracts with Aladdin and then King Records in 1947. He
had several hits, but he strayed from his blues and jazz roots while
aiming for mainstream tastes. When rock and roll became popular in the
mid-'50s, Johnson's career stagnated, but he was rediscovered during the
'60s blues resurgence. He toured as a folk-blues guitarist with varying
degrees of success. In 1969 he was hit by a car in Toronto, dying a ear
later from complications fron the accident. He was inducted into the
Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1990.
There are several collections of his work on a variety of labels. If you
would like to hear some of the great sides fron his period, Columbia
Records has compiled 19 songs on the collection Steppin' on the Blues.
(This compact disc is available from the Des Moines Public Library.)
Next month this column will be featuring the duo of Leroy Carr and
Scrapper Blackwell. They were very popular and influenced a wide range
of artists. In the coming months, I will also write about the roots of
the East Coast Piedmont style of blues pioneered by Blind Blake, the
long line of Texan blues artists beginnning with Blind Lemon Jefferson,
and of course, I will extensively delve into the roots and evolution of
the Delta Blues, which eventually extended to Memphis and, of course,
Chicago. There are a multitude of important artists that will be
featured and we hope you enjoy reading this series of articles as much
as I enjoy researching them. Thanks for supporting the blues and I hope
to see you at the cool shows coming to our area in the weeks and months
ahead.
Reprinted with permission from the August 1996 issue of the Blues Crier
