As far as establishing a new local legend goes, jazz guitarist Randy Johnston’s recent relocation from Brooklyn to Charlottesville is notable. Having sat in or been featured on the records of, as he puts it, “every major organ player to come through New York City in the ’80s,” Johnston’s musical prowess is, at least among the upper echelons of the New York jazz scene, rather notorious.
“I think it was my ability to play everything and anything with a bluesy, soulful undertone,” says Johnston, explaining his popularity among musicians as a go-to sideman. “But, then again, it’s an accompanist’s job to make the bandleader look as good as possible, and I was really good at that.”
In the beginning, though, the professional opportunities were not nearly as grand, and work was pretty much nonexistent.
Specializing in jazz composition and graduating from the University of Miami’s music program in 1981 (at that time, one of only a few in the nation), Johnston decided to try his luck in the place that mothered bebop: New York City.
“When I first got there, I didn’t know anybody, didn’t have any connections,” says Johnston. “So I started playing on the streets, doing open-mics, sitting in on jam sessions—just trying to network whenever and wherever I could.”
Then while playing a stand-in gig at the Baby Grand in Harlem, Etta Jones caught a set of Johnston’s tasteful, Kenny Burrell-esque chops and wound up inviting him to gig as her guitarist.
“That was really the beginning,” he says. “Getting that job opened so many doors.”
“I got picked up by Jack McDuff,” adds Johnston. “Then I started playing with the great sax-man, Warne Marsh, and also Lee Konitz, which led to a steady gig for seven years with Irene Reid—who was known in New York as the Queen of the Ghetto.”
In the early ’90s came another pivotal moment when Johnston came to the attention of legendary soul-jazz tenor saxophonist and producer, Houston Person.
“Houston was the head of the Muse label, which later became HighNote,” says Johnston. “He liked my sound and got in touch with me and offered me a contract to make an album as a bandleader.”
The opportunity was multifaceted. At once, it provided Johnston the creative freedom to musically do his own thing (and gain clout as a headliner), while bolstering his sideman career by establishing him as a studio ace-for-hire.
“I wound up doing six or seven albums for Muse, then four for HighNote, mostly through [the] ’90s and early 2000s, and played on dozens more,” says Johnston. “And the records gave me the ability to play gigs at jazz festivals, to tour the U.S., Europe and Japan. It was really great.”
Simultaneous to these developments, another renowned blues/soul jazz legend, alto saxophonist, Lou Donaldson, heard one of Johnston’s tunes on the radio and, enamored with the style, offered him a position in his band.
“It was great playing with Lou,” says Johnston. “I stuck with him for 18 years, which is a long time.”
This past fall, weary of the continual grind and hustle of the New York City lifestyle, and having fallen in love with Charlottesville, Johnston decided to make a change.
“I lived in Richmond throughout my teens and had relatives in Charlottesville,” he says. “So the move wasn’t completely blind; it was actually something I’d thought about for quite a while.”
More than a shift in geography, the relocation was meant to push toward new creative channels, including the passing down of his skills by offering guitar lessons.
“In a sense it was definitely a rebirth,” says Johnston. “While I was accompanying all those greats in the city, people would tell me I had a unique sound, and I think that’s true. But even as a bandleader I felt like I was sort of doing what I’d always done. Now, there’s been this tremendous shift, and I’m totally devoted to exploring my own sound, doing something that is absolutely uniquely myself.”
With a new band, The Randy Johnston Group featuring Jonah Kane-West (it also includes Bobby Read on sax and John Hanks on drums), and an album due out next month, Johnston has thrown himself deeply into the project of reinvention. And at 7pm on Saturday, he will showcase the new ensemble’s funky, soul-jazz sound at Escafé.
–Eric J. Wallace