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Pete Johnson
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Pete Johnson was born in 1904 in Kansas City, Missouri, and was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist. His father left the family, and Pete was raised by his mother. At twelve he looked for work in a factory, a printing works and as a shoeshine boy, and he left school in fifth grade. In 1922 he began his musical career as a drummer in Kansas City. Around the same time he learned piano, at first in a church. From 1926 to 1938 he worked as a pianist, often with the singer Big Joe Turner.
Music and breakthrough
In 1936 a meeting with the producer John Hammond led to a performance at the Famous Door in New York, and in 1938 Johnson and Turner played in the concert From Spirituals to Swing at Carnegie Hall. After that, boogie-woogie quickly gained popularity. Johnson played and recorded with Turner, Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons, the three known as the Boogie Woogie Trio. The song Roll 'Em Pete from 1938, made by Johnson and Turner, is regarded as one of the first rock 'n' roll records. In 1948 he wrote Rocket Boogie 88 with Jack Lauderdale, an instrumental that influenced Ike Turner's Rocket 88 from 1951.
Influence
According to Scott Yanow, Johnson was one of the three great boogie-woogie pianists. He was better at playing in a band than Lewis, and as an accompanist he could shine without drowning out his singer. He died in 1967.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 19418 to the Bar (Two Piano Boogie Woogie for Dancing)
- 1983Boogie Woogie Classics
- 1994Pete’s Blues
- 2004The Boogie Woogie Trio, Volumes 1 & 2
- ?Pete's Housewarming Blues
- ?Tell Me Pretty Baby
Mentioned in other articles
- Kansas City jazz Genre
Andy Kirk with Mary Lou Williams, Jay McShann with the young Charlie Parker, and the singer Big Joe Turner with the pianist Pete Johnson also came out of this scene.