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Phillip Johnston

Phillip Johnston was born in 1955 in Chicago IL USA, and raised in New York. During the 1970s in New York City he met and began playing with a number of associates, many of whom would be come life long collaborators, such as John Zorn, Joel Forrester, Eugene Chadbourne, Bill Horvitz, Wayne Horvitz, Dave Hofstra, Richard Dworkin, Shelley Hirsch, Bruce Ackley, Jon Raskin and many others. During the 1970s he yo-yo’d back and forth between San Francisco and New York, eventually settling in New York in late 1979. During this time he also worked as an actor, sound operator and studio manager for R. Foreman’s Ontological Hysteric Theater.

In the early 1980s he was performing with Joel Forrester ensembles of various sizes (from duo through septet), then with his own groups The Public Servants and The Microscopic Septet, and participating in countless musical projects and various ‘Downtown’ music scenes, including those around Studio Henry. It was during this time that he also began writing music for film, theater, dance, beginning with Lynne Tillman and Sheila McLaughlin’s film Committed in 1984.

During the 1980s and 90s, he toured widely with The Microscopic Septet in Europe, Canada and the United States, and continued to write music for films including Doris Dörrie’s Geld (1989), Philip Haas’s The Music of Chance (1993), Henry Corra’s Umbrellas (1994) and Paul Mazursky’s Faithful (1996). In 1993 he created his first original score for silent film, for Tod Browning’s The Unknown (1926) which was premiered at the American Museum of the Moving Image. Beginning in the early 90s he led new groups, including Big Trouble and the Transparent Quartet.

In 2001 he formed Fast ‘N’ Bulbous: the music of Captain Beefheart, with ex-Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas, which featured his arrangements for a seven-piece band, and resulted in two CDs for Cuneiform Records and numerous European tours, including appearances at the London Jazz Festival (UK), the Frankfurt Jazz Festival (Germany) , Saalfelden Jazz Festival (Austria), Jazz Em Agosto (Portugal) and the Zappanale. He also formed a duo with accordionist Guy Klucevsek, which led to a recording for Winter & Winter Records (Tales From The Cryptic), and several European and US tours, including appearances at the Berlin Jazz Festival. In 2002 his score for F.W. Murnau’s Faust (1926), commissioned by the Lincoln Center Film Society, premiered at the New York Film Festival. Throughout most of the early 2000s, he worked on Drawn To Death: A Three Panel Opera with Art Spiegelman.

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Radio & Podcasts

Avant-Retro or Retro-Avant? Part II

Read "Avant-Retro or Retro-Avant? Part II" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


Anthony Braxton playing standards? Don Byron and Phillip Johnston playing the music of Raymond Scott? Nothing to be suprised about... as musicians have a more open mind than critics like to recognize. So here's the second part of this week's show focusing on retro-sounding jazz performed by forward-leaning musicians -a bit like the jazz equivalent of Blade Runner. For the first part of this episode Happy listening! Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash ...

Lyrics

Le Nuove Avventure di Phillip Johnston

Read "Le Nuove Avventure di Phillip Johnston" reviewed by Vic Albani


Il sessantaquattrenne signor Phillip Johnston è un avanguardista autentico da tempi non sospetti. Famoso ai più per essere stato uno dei fondatori di quella straordinaria fucina creativa che risponde al nome di Microscopic Septet dove passano o sono passati Joel Forrester, ma anche di John Zorn, Don Davis, Richard Dworkin, David Hofstra, Dave Sewelson, George Bishop, Paul Shapiro, Bobby De Meo. Altri lo ricorderanno come innovativo “scorer" di splendide colonne sonore dedicate a film muti degli inizi del Novecento nonché ...

17
Multiple Reviews

Phillip Johnston Returns with Diggin' Bones and The Adventures of Prince Achmed

Read "Phillip Johnston Returns with Diggin' Bones and The Adventures of Prince Achmed" reviewed by John Kelman


The consequences of change in the music industry have been predicted for some time now but, with far too many blinkered deniers, it's had to begin approaching critical mass before being recognized for what it is: the commoditization and devaluation of music that has led to increasing challenges for musicians looking to maintain any kind of reasonable living. Sure, there are the bigger names who continue to thrive, and it's easy to point to the absurd volume of music being ...

1
Interview

Phillip Johnston: Back From Down Under

Read "Phillip Johnston: Back From Down Under" reviewed by Ken Dryden


IntroductionPhillip Johnston is best known to many jazz fans as co-founder of The Microscopic Septet, though the saxophonist and composer has led many groups of his own and co-led others, including Big Trouble, The Transparent Quartet, Fast 'N' Bulbous and The Spokes. In addition, Johnston has composed and performed numerous soundtracks for both silent and modern films. A long time New York City resident, he relocated with his family to Australia over a decade ago, though he has continued to ...

189
Album Review

Phillip Johnston: Page of Madness

Read "Page of Madness" reviewed by Ken Dryden


Phillip Johnston first drew critical acclaim for his work as a saxophonist and composer in the Microscopic Septet. Since the group disbanded in 1992 (though it reunited for a new recording last year and occasional concerts), he distinguished himself leading various groups of his own (often several at the same time), composing quirky jazz that was avant-garde yet accessible, including several scores for films directed by Doris Dorrie, Philip Haas and Paul Mazursky. He was commissioned by the Film Society ...

311
Album Review

Phillip Johnston: Page Of Madness

Read "Page Of Madness" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Saxophonist and composer Phillip Johnston has always been a step (or two) out of synch with trends in modern music. And that is a good thing. His eclectic '80s band Microscopic Septet was never given its due. Now, twenty years later, with the reissue of its Seven Men in Neckties: History of the Micros, Vol. 1 (Cuneiform, 2006) and Surrealistic Swing: History of the Micros, Vol. 2 (Cuneiform, 2006), and its new recording Lobster Leaps In (Cuneiform, 2008) the group ...

134
Album Review

Phillip Johnston: Rub Me the Wrong Way

Read "Rub Me the Wrong Way" reviewed by AAJ Staff


By Ken Waxman

Dance music--or more accurately music for dance--is part of the answer to the question of what one pioneering New York downtowner, saxophonist Phillip Johnston, is up to these days.

While it's helpful to have Johnston's work preserved, and the seventeen tracks on Rub Me the Wrong Way are well-played and voiced so that the various four-piece ensembles express the textures usually found from an orchestra, these still are sounds meant to accompany dancers. It would seem that ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

I Cakewalked With A...

Earshift Music
2023

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Diggin' Bones

Asynchronous Records
2018

buy

The Adventures of...

Asynchronous Records
2018

buy

SNAP: Boggy Creek Bop

Rufus Records
2010

buy

Page Of Madness

Asynchronous Records
2009

buy

Lobster Leaps In

Cuneiform Records
2009

buy

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