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Marc Johnson

As a virtuoso bassist, versatile composer, and acclaimed bandleader, Marc Johnson has been a major innovator on the jazz scene for the past two decades.

Born in Nebraska in 1953, Johnson took up bass at the age of 16, having already studied piano and cello. While completing his formal education in the celebrated music program at the University of North Texas, at age19, Johnson began performing professionally with the Fort Worth Symphony. In 1977, he was on the road with the Woody Herman Band. A stop with Herman in New York City marked a major turning point for Johnson, where he was invited to sit in with Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard. In 1978, he joined Evans' trio, remaining with him until the pianist's death two years later. Johnson appears on numerous albums recorded with Evans, including the Grammy-winning We Will Meet Again and released in 1997, a six-CD box set of live recordings, Turn Out the Stars, weaving his distinctively warm tones and melodic lines into the complex harmonies of the Trio. "I was still a very young player when I was with Bill," Johnson says, “but by playing with him night after night I matured a lot.

My confidence grew, my ability to concentrate heightened, my sense of timing improved, and my knowledge of harmony expanded." Over the past 20 years, Johnson has performed on more than 100 albums. Many have been with pianists, including Eliane Elias, Lyle Mays, and Enrico Pieranunzi, although Johnson has also recorded with saxophonists Stan Getz, Joe Lovano, and Michael Brecker, drummers Peter Erskine and Paul Motian, and Jack DeJohnette, vibist Gary Burton, and bandoneon master Dino Saluzzi. And many of his most notable recordings have been with guitarists. "In 1984, when I first had an opportunity to do something on my own," Johnson explains, "I wanted to do something completely different from my previous association with Bill Evans, so as not to try to recreate the experience I had with that trio. When I was a kid, before I knew I was going to be a musician, I listened to all kinds of music, from the Beatles to Bob Dylan, Beethoven to Ravel, the Allman Brothers to Jimi Hendrix; I had rather eclectic taste. By the time I was seventeen, though, I was heavily into jazz, mainly Bill Evans and Miles Davis. Writing for a two guitar format brings together my earliest musical influences, my musical 'first loves'." In addition to his long membership in guitarist John Abercrombie's trio, Johnson formed two guitar-oriented bands that rose to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

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12
Album Review

Eliane Elias: Quietude

Read "Quietude" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Brazilian-born pianist/vocalist and multi-Grammy-winning artist Eliane Elias returns to her musical roots on Quietude, her 31st album as leader and a follow up to her Grammy Award-winning album Mirror, Mirror (Candid Records, 2021), a duet with the late Chick Corea and Chucho Valdes. Recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and in New York, on this album Elias shares eleven of her own personal favorite bossa nova songs showcasing her sultry Portuguese vocals and relegating her talents on the piano to a ...

3
Radio & Podcasts

Aurora Clara, Spandrel, Marc Johnson's Bass Desires and Pat Metheny

Read "Aurora Clara, Spandrel, Marc Johnson's Bass Desires and Pat Metheny" reviewed by Len Davis


Drummer and percussionist Tino di Geraldo, Aurora Clara and Spandrel. Marc Johnson, Pat Metheny, and bass players Tom Kennedy and Teymur Phell. Playlist Aurora Clara “Seis Cafe" from Clear Dawn (Youkali) 00:00 Spandrel “Words Travel Fast and so does Fire" from Spandrel (Self Produced) 08:31 Marc Johnson's Bass Desires"Thrill Seekers" from Second Sight (ECM) 17:01 Pat Metheny"Rise Up" from The Unity Sessions (Nonesuch)25:25 Tom Kennedy"Just For The Record" from Just For The Record (Self Produced) 33:64 MSM Schmidt"Hymn ...

7
Album Review

Bill Evans: Inner Spirit

Read "Inner Spirit" reviewed by Jim Worsley


Tension-filled Buenos Aires seemed to bring the best out of Bill Evans. This 1979 live performance at the Teatro General San Martin is as energized as the Argentinian city was polarized. Six years earlier, Evans had played the city in trio with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell, amidst dangerous political terror. The trio was immune to the chaos and was treated with respect, if not jubilation, at the prospect of hearing them perform. That performance, captured on Morning ...

1
Album Review

Marc Johnson: Overpass

Read "Overpass" reviewed by Mario Calvitti


I dischi di solo contrabbasso non sono così frequenti come quelli di altri strumenti che maggiormente si prestano a essere suonati senza accompagnamento, ma nel catalogo ECM ne sono presenti diversi fin dai primi anni di vita dell'etichetta, dovuti soprattutto a Barre Phillips e Dave Holland (presenti anche con un duo), oltre che a Eberhard Weber, una delle colonne portanti della label tedesca, e a Miroslav Vitous. Recentemente, proprio a Phillips si deve una specie di revival della pratica del ...

15
Album Review

Marc Johnson: Overpass

Read "Overpass" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


The virtuoso bassist Marc Johnson has kept a relatively low profile as a leader. A graduate of the prestigious North Texas State University jazz program, Johnson made his mark as a member of Bill Evans' trio from 1978 until the pianist's final album the following year. His ECM debut came as a member of John Abercrombie's trio on Current Events (1986) with Peter Erskine. The same trio, plus Bill Frisell, under Johnson's name, released Bass Desires the same year on ...

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Album Review

Bill Evans: Everybody Still Digs Bill Evans: A Career Retrospective (1956 - 1980)

Read "Everybody Still Digs Bill Evans: A Career Retrospective (1956 - 1980)" reviewed by Chris May


Only occasionally do classy looking limited-edition box sets prove to be a triumph of style and substance. Too often they are undermined by cheapskate packaging, over elaborate design, poorly written and researched booklets, inadequate session details or, most egregiously, bizarre (in a bad way) track selections. So it is a more than pleasant surprise when something comes along which succeeds, and succeeds magnificently, on all those fronts. Such an item is Concord Records' Craft imprint's Everybody Still Digs Bill Evans: ...

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Album Review

Marc Johnson / Eliane Elias: Swept Away

Read "Swept Away" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Swept Away is certainly a collaborative effort--co-led by Eliane Elias and bassist Marc Johnson--but it seems more like the pianist's set. The Sao Paolo-born pianist, Elias, penned five of the disc's eleven tunes, and co-wrote two more with her musical/life partner, Johnson. The duo, in league with drummer Joey Baron and, on five tunes, saxophonist Joe Lovano, has produced the most sumptuous music imaginable, beginning with the Elias-penned title tune--a floating trio effort, a sensual haiku to unadorned beauty.

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Video / DVD

Eliane Elias & Marc Johnson: Lost Bill Evans Song

Eliane Elias & Marc Johnson: Lost Bill Evans Song

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Days before Bill Evans's death on September 15, 1980, the pianist handed his bassist, Marc Johnson, a cassette tape. On the tape was a previously unperformed original by Evans called Here Is Something for You. In 2007, Eliane Elias and her partner, Marc Johnson, performed the song on video, which is up at YouTube. As you'll see, they clearly share a deep love for Evans. Marc, of course, was the last Bill Evans Trio bassist. Eliane has always had a ...

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Recording

Marc Johnson - Shades of Jade (2005)

Marc Johnson - Shades of Jade (2005)

Source: Something Else!

By Mark Saleski If you're at all familiar with jazz bassist Marc Johnson you surely know about his classic 1987 album Second Sight (by his group Bass Desires). On that record, Johnson teamed up with Peter Erskine (drums) and the phenomenal guitar duo of Bill Frisell and John Scofield. Second Sight is the kind of record I like to recommend to jazz neophytes. Rather than putting on a lengthy display of chops, the tunes buoy the melodies and motifs with ...

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Recording

Jakob Holm 4 featuring Marc Johnson on "Simplicity of Love"

Jakob Holm 4 featuring Marc Johnson on "Simplicity of Love"

Source: All About Jazz


Petros Klampanis
bass, acoustic
Ken Lister
bass, acoustic

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Inner Spirit

Resonance Records
2022

buy

Quietude

Candid Records
2022

buy

Everybody Still Digs...

Craft Recordings
2021

buy

Everybody Still Digs...

Craft Recordings
2021

buy

Overpass

ECM Records
2021

buy

As

Postcards
2021

buy

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