Dewey Bernard Johnson (November 6, 1939 – June 26, 2018) was an American free jazz trumpeter best known for his appearance on John Coltrane's historic recording Ascension.[1]
Early life
Johnson was born in Philadelphia, where he took lessons at the Granoff School of Music.[2] In the early 1960s, he spent time in California, where he met and played with Byron Allen, Noah Howard, Sonny Simmons, and other musicians interested in free improvisation.[2][3]
New York
In 1963, Johnson moved to New York, where he played with Sun Ra[4] and started a band with saxophonist Giuseppi Logan, bassist Reggie Johnson and drummer Rashied Ali.[1] In 1964, Johnson participated in the historic "October Revolution in Jazz", a four-day music festival organized by trumpeter Bill Dixon,[5] and also joined pianist Paul Bley's group. The following year, he appeared on Bley's album Barrage.[2] Johnson also played with saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Marion Brown[6] and repeatedly sat in with John Coltrane's band.[1] Eventually Coltrane invited him to participate in the recording of Ascension, on which he takes the second solo, following Coltrane and preceding Sanders.[1][7]
In the spring of 1967, Johnson played in the Rashied Ali Quintet, recordings of which were released more than fifty years later.[8] Following Coltrane's death in July of that year, Johnson suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized.[1] After dropping out of the music scene for a few years and living as a homeless person, Johnson joined a collective improvisation group known as The Music Ensemble, which also featured drummer Roger Baird, violinist Billy Bang, trumpeter Malik Baraka, saxophonist Daniel Carter, and bassists Earl Freeman and William Parker,[9] and began to support himself with various odd jobs.[7][1]
Later life
In the early 1980s, while working at Ali's Alley, a club run by Rashied Ali, Johnson met and formed a trio with drummer Paul Murphy and pianist Mary Anne Driscoll. The group frequently performed in lofts and, supplemented by saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and bassoonist Karen Borca, recorded two albums.[1]
In 1984, Johnson again fell on hard times and became homeless. He later lived at the Coler Specialty Hospital on Roosevelt Island in New York City. He died in 2018.[1]
Family
Johnson's brother Lionel "Sonny" Johnson was a bass player. He replaced Jimmy Garrison upon the latter's departure from John Coltrane's group in 1966,[10] and played with Coltrane throughout the second half of that year.[11] He can be heard on the album Offering: Live at Temple University, recorded in November, 1966.
