Dewey Johnson (musician)


Dewey Bernard Johnson was an American free jazz trumpeter best known for his appearance on John Coltrane's historic recording Ascension.

Early life

Johnson was born in Philadelphia, where he took lessons at the Granoff School of Music. 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.

New York

In 1963, Johnson moved to New York, where he played with Sun Ra and started a band with saxophonist Giuseppi Logan, bassist Reggie Johnson and drummer Rashied Ali. In 1964, Johnson participated in the historic "October Revolution in Jazz", a four-day music festival organized by trumpeter Bill Dixon, and also joined pianist Paul Bley’s group. The following year, he appeared on Bley's album Barrage. Johnson also played with saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Marion Brown and repeatedly sat in with John Coltrane's band. Eventually Coltrane invited him to participate in the recording of Ascension, on which he takes the second solo, following Coltrane and preceding Sanders.
In the spring of 1967, Johnson played in the Rashied Ali Quintet, recordings of which were released more than fifty years later. Following Coltrane's death in July of that year, Johnson suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized. 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, and began to support himself with various odd jobs.

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.
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.

Discography

With John Coltrane
With Paul Bley
With Paul Murphy
With Rashied Ali
Compilations