Reggie Johnson - First Edition (1985)

Tracklisting

00:00 - 1. Everything I Love
04:24 - 2. Summersong
09:56 - 3. Laverne Walk
15:13 - 4. Close Enough For Love
20:41 - 5. Flashback
26:02 - 6. Who Cares
31:06 - 7. Passos
35:14 - 8. Balloons

Album Info

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Released in 1985
Album notes by Dan Morgenstern I’ve trimmed them down a little so it fits the word limit:

The fresh and refreshing music on this album is so together that it seems to be the work of an organized group, but while Reggie had in fact played with all but one of the participants before, it was a brand-new ballgame. Clearly, he was able to instil a team spirit, and that’s the mark of a leader.
Notable, too, is the absence of big names. “I wanted to use non-names,” Reggie explained.
For so many albums the leader or the record company will insist on hiring a name rhythm section, or a star horn-player. But I wanted the music to stand for itself. And would the ‘names’ hire me?”
Actually, lots of “names” have hired Reggie Johnson over the years, on or off records.
Reggie Johnson was born on December 13, 1940, in Owensboro, Kentucky. His father played guitar and his mother played piano. Reggie took up trombone at 13 and played it through high school and in Army bands in the U.S. and the Far East. While stationed at Governor’s Island, N.Y., he found time to practise seriously on the bass, which he’d picked up in 1960 at Ft. Huachuca, Ariz. “Big bands were fading out, so I decided to switch rather than fight. I left the Army in 1964, settled in New York, started working with Bill Dixon and Archie Shepp, and made my first record with Archie – it’s still the one I like best.”
Among his many associations, one of the steadiest was with Kenny Burrell for some eight years. “ I learned a lot about Duke Ellington’s music from Kenny; it was quite an education. I left New York in 1969, driving cross-country to Los Angeles with Walter Bishop, Jr. We just decided to go all of a sudden, for a change of scenery. I met the right people in L.A. and got into studio work, doing a lot of recording, and jazz gigs. The studio scene was sink or swim. The studying I’d done in New York, with Robert Brennand, principal bass of the N.Y. Philharmonic, and with Ron Cater did me a lot of good, and my sight-reading from the trombone days helped, too. I developed the Reggie Johnson Method of Studio Survival.”
During his 10 years in L.A., Reggie also made frequent trips to Europe and to other parts of the U.S., appearing at almost every major jazz festival. In 1978 he settled in Washington, D.C., working at Blues Alley and One Step Down, as well as in Baltimore at the bandstand.

Reggie decided to make his own album because, “all the records I’ve done weren’t really representative of my playing. I didn’t get to solo enough, or not on the right tunes, and most of all, how the bass sounded didn’t seem right.” Sound matters a great deal to Reggie Johnson. “The Ideal sound should be unamplified – acoustic bass with no pick-up. Most records today present a sound that’s closer to a Fender bass than to acoustic. Buy Rudy Van Gelder has reached a happy medium – he feeds the sound from the pick-up right into the board. I call him the master of jazz recording engineers.” Reggie is pleased with his sound on this album but hopes to be able to do “the next one raw – no pick-up at all.”
... And of course, he's always there to help the rest of the team get on base. Herewith are some statistics on the other players:
Kirchner's been on the New York scene since 1980..., gigging in a variety of situations both concentrating on his Nonet which has two fine LPs on Sea Breeze; the second includes Cohen. Primarily self taught, Cohen is influenced by Bill Evans and Kieth Jarret. He did frequent stints as house pianist at Blues Alley and On Step Down in D.C. before settling in New York in 1984. Drummer Terri Lyn Carrington studied at Berklee College of Music... "I saw her zoom when she was 12," Reggie recalled, "and knew she was going to be something else." Singer Ronnie Wells has been active on the DC jazz scene for many years and is an assistant professor of music at the University of Maryland. Trumpeter Danny Hayes is currently a member of Rick Wald's big band. He also worked with Machito, lew Tabackin and Snooky Young.

...Reggie Johnson's debut as a leader while overdue, was worth waiting for. Asked about his future plans, his characteristically modest answer was: "Having my own group – eventually – is in the back of my head ... a trio or quartet. But I want to define my playing more; establish a recognisable style of my own. so you can tell after a few bars. I'm zeroing in on that." As far as I'm concerned, he's there already. Class will tell.

Personnel

Reggie Johnson - Bass
Bill Kirchner - Tenor Saxophone
Danny Hayes – Trumpet
Marc Cohen - Piano
Terri Lyn Carrington - Drums
Ronnie Wells - Vocals