Bassist Reggie Johnson recorded as a sideman on many terrific albums. These LPs include Art Blakey's Buttercorn Lady (1966); Booker Ervin's Booker 'n' Brass (1967); Bobby Hutcherson's Total Eclipse (1968), Spiral (1968); Blow Up (1969) and Medina (1969); Walter Bishop Jr.'s Coral Keys (1971); Kenny Burrell's 'Round Midnight (1972); Al Haig's Blue Manhattan (1980); Horace Parlan's Pannonica (1981); Frank Wess's Two at the Top (1983); and Phil Woods's Bird With Strings...and More! (2005).
Despite Johnson's prolific recording career, he recorded just one leadership album—First Edition. Recorded in September 1984 for Jeremiah Robinson Co., the album featured Danny Hayes (tp,flhrn), Bill Kirchner (as,sop,fl,cl,ts), Marc Cohen (Copland) (p), Reggie Johnson (b,ldr), Terri Lyne Carrington (d), Ronnie Wells (vcl) and Don Sickler (arr). In fact, Bill Kirchner is the one who turned me on to this album. I was unfamiliar with the record but fell in love with it. [Photo above of Reggie Johnson]
The songs are Everything I Love, Summer Song, Laverne Walk, Close Enough for Love, Flashback, Who Cares?, Passos and Balloons. Don Sickler's arrangements are gorgeous, Bill's solos are marvelously first rate on five different instruments, Marc Copland's piano is wonderful and Ronnie Wells's vocal tracks are sublimely earthy. As for Reggie Johnson, he is rock solid, peppery and a superb soloist. [Photo above of Marc Copland]
As Bill notes:
Bassist Reggie Johnson is one of the unsung heroes of the jazz bass. He literally played with everyone, from Albert Ayler to Sol Yaged, and he enhanced every situation in which he played. This was his only album as a leader—it was made with the help of a financial backer—and it contained an interesting cast, including two other unsung heroes, trumpeter Danny Hayes and Washington, D.C., vocalist Ms. Ronnie Wells. Also featured is a debuting 19-year-old Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, pianist Marc Copland and myself. The album's feel is indicative of Don's arranging style and Reggie’s generosity of spirit, in addition to being a great player. He felt all of us were deserving of wider recognition.
Danny Hayes was a superb, vastly underrated jazz trumpeter—a veteran of the early 1970s Buddy Rich Big Band. This is one of his very few small-group records. He died of cancer in 2004 at age 58, as did Ronnie Wells in 2007 at age 64.
So today, I want to share with you an album that is relatively new to me, one that I think you'll find rewarding on so many levels. Reggie Johnson died in 2020 in Bern, Switzerland, at age 79. Thanks, Bill! [Photo above of Bill Kirchner]
Here's Reggie Johnson's First Edition, without ad interruptions...
Other ad-free Backgrounders in my series:
- Zoot Sims Plays Bossa Nova, go here.
- Lee Morgan: Lee-Way, go here.
- Bossa Nova for Swinging Lovers, go here.
- Leon Spencer: Louisiana Slim, go here.
- Bossa Nova Modern Quartet: Bossa Nova Jazz Samba, go here.
- Bill Evans & Luiz Eça: Piano Four Hands, go here.
- Ray Brown Trio: Don't Get Sassy, go here.
- Os Tatuis: Os Tatuis, go here.
- Waltel Branco: Mancini Tambem É Samba, go here.
- Jack Wilson Plays Brazilian Mancini, go here.
- Conjunto Copacabana Bossa: Bossa, go here.
- Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Swings Lightly, go here.
- Charles Earland: Charles Earland, go here.
- Kenny Burrell: Crash! w/ Jack McDuff, go here.
- Jack McDuff: The Heatin' System, go here.
- Horace Silver: Horace-Scope, go here.
- Antonio Carlos Jobim: Wave, go here.
- Sonny Stitt: Sonny Stitt Plays, go here.
- Sonny Stitt with Bennie Green: My Main Man, go here.
- Johnny Hodges and Earl Hines: Stride Right, go here.
- Lionel Hampton: Bossa Nova Jazz, go here.
- Johnny Hodges & Ben Webster: Cellar Session, go here.
- Bill Evans: Solo Sessions Vol. 1, go here.
- Frank Wess: Trombones & Flute, go here.
- Presenting the Buddy DeFranco & Tommy Gumina Quartet, go here.
- Ernest Ranglin: Wranglin', go here.
- Dave Pell Octet: Plays Rodgers & Hart, go here.
- Milt Buckner: Block Chords Parade, go here.
- Roberto Menescal: A Nova Bossa, go here.
- Count Basie: Have a Nice Day, go here.
- Freddie Green: Mr. Rhythm, go here.
- Leny Andrade: Leny Andrade, go here.
- Johnny Alf: Ele é Johnny Alf, go here.
- Dodo Marmarosa: Dodo's Back, go here.
- Freddie Redd: The Music From the Connection, go here.
- Nicola Stilo & Toninho Horta: Duets, go here.
- Urbie Green: Persuasive Trombone, go here.
- Johnny Richards: Something Else, go here.
- Wayne Shorter: JuJu, go here.
- Hampton Hawes: All Night Session!, go here.
- Shorty Rogers Plays Richard Rodgers, go here.
- Chet Baker: Pretty/Groovy, go here.
- Sonny Stitt: The Sensual Sound of Sonny Stitt, go here.
- Gil Mellé: New Faces, New Sounds, go here.
- Herbie Mann and Charlie Rouse: Just Wailin', go here.
- Bobby Hackett: Memorable & Mellow, go here.
- Tina Brooks: Back to the Tracks, go here.
- Sonny Rollins Plays for Bird, go here.
- Red Garland: A Garland of Red, go here.
- Grant Green: Gooden's Corner, go here.
- Eumir Deodato Plays Marcos Valle, go here.
- Horace Parlan; Movin' & Groovin', go here.
- Russ Garcia: Four Horns and a Lush Life, go here.
- Vic Lewis: Plays Bossa Nova at Home and Away, go here.
- Buddy Collette's Swinging Shepherds, go here.
- Dizzy Gillespie: Gillespiana, go here.
- Nelson Riddle: Communication, go here.
- Nelson Riddle: Changing Colors, go here.
- Elmo Hope: Complete Trios, 1953-1966, go here.
- Buddy Collette: Man of Many Parts, go here.
- The Herbie Mann-Sam Most Quintet, go here.
- Shorty Rogers: Cool and Crazy, go here.
- The Return of Art Pepper, go here.
- Benny Golson and the Philadelphians, go here.
- Moacir Santos: Coisas, go here.
- Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis: Lock, the Fox, go here.
- Tony Bennett: The Movie Song Album, go here.
- Thad Jones/Mel Lewis: Consummation, go here.
- James Moody: Return From Overbrook, go here.
- Barry Galbraith: Guitar and the Wind, go here.
- Count Basie: With Quincy Jones and Neal Hefti, go here.
- Johnny Richards: Walk Softly, Run Wild!, go here.
- Dave Pike: Bossa Nova Carnival, go here.
- Clare Fischer: Só Danço Samba, go here.
