Plas Johnson

[Larry Kart]

Just ran across a 1999 Plas Johnson quartet album, "Evening Delight." (Johnson, of course, is the man who played the "Pink Panther" theme and has been working in the L.A. studios for decades.) Produced by Johnson himself, with two very together rhythm sections (one with the late Ross Tompkins on piano) backing him, the program is all standards and is drenched (so it seems to me) in the sensibility of vintage Ben Webster-Don Byas. Johnson's tone is almost unbelievably dark and rich, a la Byas specifically I think, and there's a lot of genuine thought and commitment in his playing, within certain stylistic boundaries of course. Don't know how much else stuff there is out there that features Johnson to this extent (I recall some sideman work with the big band that Frank Capp co-led with someone else), but I found the playing here to be quite personal and foxy, not quite like that of anyone else I know from that stylistic bag. There's some in-passing resemblance to Flip Phillips, but the player Johnson most brings to my mind is Chicago veteran Eddie Johnson, who can be heard on a tasty Nessa LP, "Indian Summer," and on one or two Delmark CDs. Check out, if you can, the slow motion reading of "Take the A Train" on "Evening Delight." Plas has his own stories to tell.

[Dan Gould]

I've always loved me some Plas, and I have his earlier Carell release, Hot, Blue and Saxy which wasn't as ballad-heavy as this one seems to be, but still nice (I used "Ease on Down the Road" from The Wiz on my first BFT). Thanks for the tip.

Edit:

As far as dates that feature Plas go, there were two Concord recordings in the mid-70s which can probably be found on vinyl. There's also an obscure LP titled LA 1955 which has Art Hillery on organ and features the super greasy side of Plas. Easiest to find is certainly Keep That Groove Going, co-led by Red Holloway.

Edited October 8, 2006 by Dan Gould

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Dan's mentioned some very good ones. "LA 55", "Hot blue & saxy" and the one you've just picked up are on Plas own label, Carell Music (but the first never made it to CD and is OOP). His most recent for Carell is "Christmas in Hollywood" and it's one of my favourite Christmas albums. You can get that and the other 2 Carells from CDBaby.

In addition, Rhoda Scott's newest album, "From C to shining C" on Doodlin' records, is also available at CDBaby and features Plas and Red and is a fabulous album. Rhoda is one of the best organists around.

On the (Swiss) Jazz Connaisseur label is a very good album by the Wild Bill Davis Super Trio with Plas - "That's all".

There's an album called "The best of Plas Johnson" on the Wolf label (German), which contains all the material Plas recorded in the mid fifties for Tampa (about 3 10" LPs worth). This is kinda R&B-ish, kinda Rock & Rollish, kinda jazzish.

In the early '60s, Plas made some albums for the Charter label under the name of Johnny Beecher. I have a couple of singles which are pretty tuff stuff. He also recorded prolifically with the LA organist Ernie Freeman, who's severely out of fashion now but was a very groovy organist. I have a few of that band's singles, too. He also recorded under his own name for Capitol around the same time. A compilation of that material came out in France in the '80s.

Plas has probably made more recordings than anyone else in the world! (Well, except probably George Washington Johnson, who is said to have had to record his big hit 40,000 times, because only 150 copies could be made from each master.) You can, I think, also hear him on Boots Brown (Shorty Rogers?) recordings, as well as plenty of Henry Mancini. He was prominent on some of the "Peter Gunn" tracks.

A VERY incomplete discography is on his website here

http://www.plasjohnson.com/

He just can't remember everything.

MG

Edited October 8, 2006 by The Magnificent Goldberg

[Dan Gould]

CD Baby has a two minute clip of "'A' Train" here.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Oh and I forgot

Plas plays some beautiful soulful stuff on two wonderfully laid back LPs Paul Bryant made for Fantasy "Somethin's happenin'" and "Groove time". If someone could persuade Concord to reissue these...

MG

[Dan Gould]

Oh and I forgot

Plas plays some beautiful soulful stuff on two wonderfully laid back LPs Paul Bryant made for Fantasy "Somethin's happenin'" and "Groove time". If someone could persuade Concord to reissue these...

MG

But if Fantasy wasn't going to put these out, I can't imagine Concord will.

[JSngry]

I found the playing here to be quite personal and foxy, not quite like that of anyone else I know from that stylistic bag...Plas has his own stories to tell.

And thus has it always been.

[Teasing the Korean]

We need a two-fer reissue of Les Baxter's "African Jazz" and "Jungle Jazz," both of which prominently feature Plas Johnson.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

We need a two-fer reissue of Les Baxter's "African Jazz" and "Jungle Jazz," both of which prominently feature Plas Johnson.

Didn't know about those. Are they on Capitol?

MG

[Teasing the Korean]

We need a two-fer reissue of Les Baxter's "African Jazz" and "Jungle Jazz," both of which prominently feature Plas Johnson.

Didn't know about those. Are they on Capitol?

MG

Yes, 1958 and 1959, respectively. US catalog numbers are:

African Jazz - (S)T 1117

Jungle Jazz - (S)T 1184

These feature firey percussion, colorful orchestration, and Plas as featured soloist alternating between tenor sax and alto flute.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

We need a two-fer reissue of Les Baxter's "African Jazz" and "Jungle Jazz," both of which prominently feature Plas Johnson.

Didn't know about those. Are they on Capitol?

MG

Yes, 1958 and 1959, respectively. US catalog numbers are:

African Jazz - (S)T 1117

Jungle Jazz - (S)T 1184

These feature firey percussion, colorful orchestration, and Plas as featured soloist alternating between tenor sax and alto flute.

Cor!!!

I bet they're expensive. Baxter seems to be "in" with the DJs at the moment. That's the time for a reissue, methinks.

MG

[Teasing the Korean]

We need a two-fer reissue of Les Baxter's "African Jazz" and "Jungle Jazz," both of which prominently feature Plas Johnson.

Didn't know about those. Are they on Capitol?

MG

Yes, 1958 and 1959, respectively. US catalog numbers are:

African Jazz - (S)T 1117

Jungle Jazz - (S)T 1184

These feature firey percussion, colorful orchestration, and Plas as featured soloist alternating between tenor sax and alto flute.

Cor!!!

I bet they're expensive. Baxter seems to be "in" with the DJs at the moment. That's the time for a reissue, methinks.

MG

Record labels are notoriously slow to catch onto what's "in." Capitol released a 2 CD collection of Les's exotica stuff at the height of lounge-mania in the 90s, and promptly deleted it. So don't hold your breath.

These two titles are definitely the jazziest Les Baxter I've heard, and the involvement of soloists Plas Johnson and Larry Bunker on vibes adds credibility. Sadly, Les Baxter is considered a novelty, and I can't imagine Capitol having either the good sense or imagination to release these two. Still, there's always eBay.