LaMont Johnson

We are going to take a small break from Terumasa Hino and give a listen to the fantastic soul-jazz, jazz-funk composer and pianist, LaMont Johnson. Born in NYC, Johnson primarily played with saxophonist Jackie McLean but also released a handful of pretty stellar solo albums. His recordings feel like albums, whereas occasionally we run into recordings that just sound like a handful of tunes thrown together. Cohesiveness and consistency are on display throughout. Great stuff.

For his solo career, the first album we’ll dive into is 1972's, Sun,Moon And Stars. Joining LaMont we have Charles Owens on flute and sax, Sal Marquez on trumpet and flugelhorn, Yusef Rahman on trombone, Art Johnson and Mike Deasey on guitar, Reggie Johnson and Stan Gilbert on bass, Pondaza on percussion with Ray Pounds and Mel Lee on drums.

More of a jazz-funk, jazz-rock sound to this one at times. For me, this will be one of my least enjoyable releases from the catalog, strictly due to the synthesizer (listed as an EX-42) LaMont uses on a few tunes here. It’s sounds like a drunken keyboard of some sort. But that’s not to say that we don’t have some gems. “Medusa’s Meandering” is a stellar tune with Owens playing great on tenor. “That’s Not The Way You Do It, Beverly” is another excellent tune, synth part notwithstanding.

This one closes with a slightly tamer sound on the back end with “Europa”, “Andromeda” and “Libra’s Longing” with LaMont relying mostly on an acoustic piano. “Libra’s Longing” also brings us Owens playing quite well on the flute. Not a bad intro to the pianist, but the best is still ahead.

Before we move on to the bulk of Johnson’s catalog, let's take a quick stop in 1973 to squeeze in the Score From Thunderfist, which features LaMont playing with Blue Mitchell. This one is pretty quick with 4 short, what I would call funky soul-jazz, tunes in, “Offspring”, “Teeth’s Theme”, “Chow Chun’s Theme” and finally the “Thunderfist Theme.” This all sounds like something Madlib would sample, if you’re familiar with the producer. Not bad stuff by any means.

Next up, and largely considered to be Johnson’s magnus opus, is the 1976 release, Nine… A Mystical, Musical Allegory. We have a pretty sizeable personnel group that features Ronnie Laws on tenor sax and flute and Blue Mitchell on trumpet and flugelhorn. Please check the link for the full list.

This one starts off wonderfully with the super funky “Benign Beginning” followed by the title track which is a suite made up of “Philosopher’s Stone”, “Alchemy” and “Touchstone.” Excellent funkiness throughout this one. “Alchemy” is a highlight here with Johnson playing terrifically on the Rhodes. “Calypso After Nine” is another excellent tune with more fantastic Rhodes play and a nice touch of strings from The Karmazyn String Ensemble.

“The Cat And Nine Tomorrows” is slightly airy tune with great soprano play that gets credited to Rudy Johnson, who we heard on Habiba, and features more great playing from LaMont. Rudy has a couple of solo albums floating out there that’ll I’ll try to find for a follow-up post. The super groovy “Dare To Be Different” follows and features more great play on the Rhodes from LaMont and Laws on tenor.

This one closes with the nice solo tune “No, I Never End” and a fantastic listen is in the books. Be careful if you have a copy of this one already, many copies have the tracks mis-tagged.

As The LaMont Johnson Sextette, 1979 saw the release of Aces on Johnson’s Masterscores label. Joining LaMont, we have Gary Pack on trumpet & flugelhorn, John Rekevics on sax and flute, Bill Coleman on guitar, Gunnar Briggs on bass with Tim Shea on drums.

I’m not sure why, but at first glance at the album cover, I expected a super funky album. This one starts off very scattered with the title track that calms down about halfway through to a very nice melody. The relatively tame “Virunga Dancesong” follows with nice soprano play from Rekevics. The fantastic melody, or something very close, we heard on “Aces” picks back up here with my favorite tune maybe from the catalog in “Nina.” We have more great playing from Rekevics, as well as from Pack. To me, this is soul jazz at it’s finest.

“Second Hand Child” is also a very nice tune with Pack’s muted trumpet and Rekevic’s flute adding some nice touches. Also the first time I really notice guitarist Coleman. We get to hear some brisk playing from LaMont on “Midnite Mind Mosaic” before we close with “Life Is A Sweet Thing.” I really dig this one.

1980 brought us New York Exile which features quite a few names for me. We have Hollis Gentry on flute, plus alto and soprano sax, CharlesMcPherson on tenor sax, Nathan East on bass, Ronnie Stewart on percussion and drums.

This one starts off more straightforward than we’ve heard so far, but entering the 1980s I’ll take straight-ahead over the possibility of smooth jazz, etc. Pleased to report that we never take that turn here with LaMont. We hear some great playing from LaMont on “Slugs In The Far East” and we hear some nice flute play from Gentry on “Sydenham Square.” My favorite here might be the funky “Mount Morris Park” where we get Gentry on the soprano and LaMont on the synthesizer.

The rest of the 80s for LaMont was playing with McLean on 2 of his albums, and it’s not until 1991 that we get his next solo album as leader. Burned By The Passion was released in 1991. I’ve been unable to locate the personnel list for this one so we’ll jump right into the tunes. Although we do have a trumpeter, a guitarist, an electric bassist, a percussionist, and a drummer.

I would describe this as soul-jazz with a little straight-ahead bop mixed in with LaMont primarily employing the acoustic piano. We open with the title track that settles into a nice groove and closes with a funky change-up. “Espace Glace’” is another excellent highlight here with LaMont playing beautifully, as well as the guitarist. “Oliver Revolves” and standard “Nature Boy” are other highlights here in more of the soul jazz light. A nice album on the back end of LaMont’s career.

Next for us is an album with the excellent guitarist, KennyBurrell. Collaboration was released in 1995 and features a relatively large personnel group without any additional names jumping out to me. Check the link for the full list. 

This one starts off pretty softly and with vocals on “Sunset Time.” Followed by the relatively tame “Empty Water,” with Burrell playing quite well. The theme throughout is pretty easy going and the remaining tune I really dig is LaMont tune, “Aidiju Dumee.” It has the briskest pace on the album and also features some nice soloing from the group and some big band sections. Not much to bring me back to this one, however. But not a bad album if this is a sound you dig.

The last release for us and the final release before LaMont’s death in 1999 is 242 E. 3rd. Released in 1998 on LaMont’s Masterscores label, we have Jimmy Greene on tenor sax, Don Sickler on trumpet, Howard Johnson on tuba, Tim Ries on flute, Daniel Sadownick on percussion, Lonnie Plaxico on bass with Marcus Baylor on drums. On Google Maps, this address in NYC is a Dominican bakery. I wonder what it was at the time of it’s significance to LaMont.

This one starts off with a great composition in “Jester’s Game” and after some nice soloing from Greene we get some great playing from LaMont. The very rhythmic title track follows with great tempo and support from Sadownick and Baylor, including more great playing from Greene. “Charismatica” develops into a nice tune and LaMont shows us he hasn’t lost a step on piano.

We have another great composition and a Spanish vibe on “Tio Hespano” which is followed by one of my favorites from the catalog in “Membrane Solace.” The muted trumpet from Sickler opens with a great melody. “Bebe Djhain” is a relatively tame tune but features another great melody from the muted trumpet of Sickler. “Visions On A Chaise” continues the theme with muted trumpet and almost a dragnet vibe to it. We close well with “Fang Dancer,” an upbeat tune that features a nice bit on flute. 

And there you have it. I hope you guys have enjoyed this catalog as much as I have. LaMont is one of my all-time faves.

We’ll be back with 5 more from Terumasa Hino very soon.