Performance · Other credits

James Price Johnson

New Brunswick, United States

James Price Johnson is credited on 3,284 releases across 1,010 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1950–2025 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.

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3,284

Pressings credited

1,010

Albums

Decades active

185

In collections

Biography

James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of stride piano, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like Jelly Roll Morton, one of the key figures in the evolution of ragtime into what was eventually called jazz. Johnson was a major influence on Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, and Fats Waller, who was his student. According to Hound Dog the 2009 biography of the song-writing partnership between Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber James P. Johnson also gave lessons to Stoller. Johnson composed many hit songs, including the unofficial anthem of the Roaring Twenties, "The Charleston", and he remained the acknowledged king of New York jazz pianists through most of the 1930s. Johnson's artistry, influence on early popular music, and contributions to musical theatre are often overlooked, and as such, he has been referred to by musicologist David Schiff as "The Invisible Pianist".

Bio from Wikipedia