Interview with Gordon Johnson

For a guy who studied flute at the Eastman School of Music, Gordon Johnson is one heckuva bass player. Of course, he might come by his talent on the big upright box naturally—dad Cliff Johnson played bass for the Minnesota Orchestra. A few days before releasing his fourth recording in his long-standing “Trios” project (GJ4), Gordy shared with JazzINK his recollections of growing up in a family of musicians, his journey from flute to bass and from electric to acoustic, and his experiences in recording and producing a series of piano/bass/drum trios that bring together varying combinations of local and national artists.

Gordon Johnson grew up in the Twin Cites surrounded by music. His mom Thelma is a pianist, his father, the late Cliff Johnson, played bass for the Minnesota Orchestra for 47 years; brother Jimmy is a successful guitarist who founded the popular group, Flim and the BBs. Gordy started out with piano lessons at the MacPhail Center for Music, moving on to flute studies in third grade. “Since the band program at my school started in 4th grade, I had a jump on everyone else,” he recalls. “My parents both being professional musicians created an environment for me and my brother which was musically nourishing. I believe that musical talent and things like perfect pitch are acquired from one's surroundings at an early age, or even before birth! It may sound far fetched but I swear I've known ‘Claire de Lune’ forever.” In addition to classical music, Gordy heard jazz via his parents’ record collection, which included Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, Ahmad Jamal and Tommy Dorsey. And “aside from being in the bass section of the Minnesota Orchestra, Cliff did play a fair amount of jobbing dates around town: Shiek's Sextet, The Golden Strings and Ronnie Newman are a few. Once in a great while I got to tag along and I think I got the jazz bug from that. Cliff also went out on the road as a sub on the Tommy Dorsey band for a couple of weeks in the late '50s and also played with Doc Evans and Bunk Johnson.”

Through high school, Gordy proved to be a versatile musician, playing guitar, bass and keyboards in rock bands in addition to flute. And his parents “didn't discourage us from listening to Top 40 radio but hinted strongly that they couldn't stand the Everly Brothers and stuff leaning toward country-western. The Beatles blew the Beach Boys right out of the water for me and Jimmy and, like way too many teenagers do, we became interested in having a rock band. Briefly, we were both involved in a series of bands that often would rehearse at the house on weekends. The bands played quite a few school dances and one even did a jingle for Rush's Bridal Shop in '68. Drummer Peter Johnson, keyboardist-composer Billy Barber and trombonist Peter Enblom were some of the kids we played with back then…Jimmy went on from this era to form the well received group, Flim & The BBs.”

Selected for the Minnesota All-State Orchestra during his senior year of high school, Gordy was encouraged to audition for the Eastman School of Music as a flute student. “I got accepted and spent four years there…I was already versatile on guitar, bass and keyboards. At Eastman I meet Chuck Mangione, who is teaching jazz improvisation and conducts the two jazz ensembles. Bassist Tony Levin had just graduated and they needed a Fender bass player. Well, just my luck!
Now I get involved with the Jazz Department while maintaining my classical flute studies with Joseph Mariano! In my mind a decision had been made within my first year that being a jazz bassist was going to be the pursuit. It gave me a bit of a split personality but, back then, was a good time to go through all of that. I would have made a very unhappy symphony musician after all.”

Gordy continues, “The opportunities presented to me at Eastman were just fantastic. I met so many talented players, and the connections established there led to many gigs. A trio was formed with piano great Phil Markowitz and drummer Ted Moore. We were the rhythm section for the ESM Jazz Ensemble and Studio Orchestra. The group was named "Petrus" and we were progressive. Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever were in the limelight, so Ted and Phil were writing some incredible tunes. We had a following, a page in the Eastman yearbook, and we won a nationwide contest to perform at Avery Fisher Hall / Lincoln Center during the Newport Jazz Festival. We were about 20 years old. Needless to say we thought a big record deal was right around the corner. Not. We moved after we graduated down from Rochester to a town in Westchester County and tried to get something happening in the city. Not much happened. One day another Eastman grad, pianist Biff Hannon, called me to say Maynard Ferguson was looking for a bassist. I jumped on it and spent three really fun years on his band.” The stint with Ferguson also gave Johnson the opportunity to play side by side with great drummer Peter Erskine.

In addition to his tour with Ferguson, Gordy also toured with Doc Severinson, Roy Buchanan, the Paul Winter Consort, and his old mentor, Chuck Mangione, primarily playing electric bass. “I did have an upright and would occasionally bring it along… Sometimes I would haul it out.” Gordy returned to the Twin Cities in 1989, playing “a bit with Mick Sterling and the Stud Brothers, plus the TC Jammers at Bunker's, and Passage at the Whiskey Junction. That, of course, was all electric bass (with earplugs). I met Bruce Allard soon after moving back and I worked extensively with his ensembles, mostly on upright and much of the time unamplified. I credit him (and Jeanne Arland Peterson) for teaching me hundreds, if not thousands, of tunes during those times. Also, the non-amp situation made me develop a big tone on the instrument. I do still play the electric with Mary Jane Alm and some others. I enjoy both instruments, but I think I do my best expressive work on upright.”

Over the past two decades as a free-lance musician in the Twin Cities, Gordy Johnson has continued to play with an eclectic list of musicians and bands, currently appearing regularly with the Chris Lomheim Trio, Laura Caviani Trio, Travis Anderson Trio, Connie Evingson, Debbie Duncan, Mulligan Stew, Pete Whitman’s X-Tet, Benny Weinbeck, Tommy O’Donnell and more, and touring with internationally acclaimed vocalist Stacey Kent this spring. And when not accompanying a piano, Gordy can often be found inside one-- he’s tuned many of the finest pianos in concert halls and clubs throughout the Twin Cities.

But his series of Trios recordings has been a special project. Although he had always enjoyed the small ensembles of such legends as Oscar Peterson, George Shearing and Ahmad Jamal, and cites the trios of Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau as favorites, “Trios” came about more through serendipity than intent.

“The way this all got started is kind of a wild chain of events,” Gordy recalls. “I actually credit Joe Pulice for getting me started. Maria Muldaur was playing the Dakota in '94 and Joe and I joined her pianist, John R. Burr, on the gig. Thanks Lowell [Pickett, Dakota owner]! Joe booked a session at Wild Sound [Studio] just for kicks and to record some of his tunes with me and John R. We all got a cassette (!) copy of the date. The last thing we recorded was a spontaneous blues in F major. A few months later, Bill Carrothers booked a date at Wild Sound to do some vocal tunes. Yes, he was singing standards with me and Jay Epstein. I asked Matthew [Zimmerman] to record one tune on my account before we packed up and we did “Just A Closer Walk With Thee.” Except for a little groan here and there, Bill didn't sing it. So, “Just A Closer Walk” became the opening track and the F major blues became “Face Lift,” the last track on GJ Trios in 1996. Biff Hannon and Dave Mancini came through with Doc Severinsen and I snagged them. Peter Erskine was in town doing a Yamaha Drum clinic and I threw him and Chris Lomheim together. Manfredo Fest was at Wild Sound recording a project for Dave Sletten and, again, before packing up, we quickly recorded his “Clearwater Sunset” with Jay Epstein on drums. I rounded out the CD by booking two more sessions: Bobby Peterson and Gordy Knudtson, plus Benny Weinbeck and Dave Anania. So it's really Joe Pulice who almost accidentally got me started!”

But the pairing of drummers and pianists isn’t usually a matter of chance. “I do put a bit of thought into the way I match up the players,” says Gordy, speaking of his pairings on the new release, GJ4. “For example, Tanner Taylor and Steve Smith seemed like the two ‘most likely to succeed’ and it did work out quite well. On the other hand, for some sessions, I just pick some musicians and hope for the best. If some players know each other even just a little, it can be good: Laura Caviani and Todd Strait from Karrin Allyson's band, Frank Kimbrough and Phil Hey from working with Dewey Redman, for example.”

Because Gordy never misses an opportunity in the studio, he has plenty of tracks left, enough to fill at least two more volumes of Trios. “I have stuff in the can for a wild Trios 5 release,” he says. “I think I'll put a bunch of more progressive material on this one. It may include the stuff I recorded with Scheuerell/[Javier] Santiago, [Peter] Erskine/[Brian] Ziemniak, and some other takes from the [Matt] Wilson/[Bryan] Nichols and [Phil] Hey/[Frank] Kimbrough sessions. I did take advantage of our friend Dave Frishberg while he was here recently. I threw him into the studio with Phil Hey, since they know each other from Connie Evingson's [songs of Frishberg] project. Looking forward to Trios #6 for that one.”

Are there any musicians he wishes he could have recorded? “I sure wish I could have played a few tunes with Bill Evans, Elvin Jones, Count Basie, Philly Joe, Erroll Garner, Tony Williams or Oscar Peterson. I'd still love to somehow record a tune or two with Keith Jarrett, Joe LaBarbara, Ahmad Jamal, Adam Nussbaum, Brad Mehldau, Billy Martin, Monty Alexander, Benny Green, Bill Stewart, etc. The list is endless. How could I possibly do it? Well, it's just a dream anyway... I know. Let's put Erroll Garner and Billy Martin together and see what happens!”

What would happen would be pure magic, based on the first four recordings of Trios!