James P. Johnson

[mracz]

Does anyone else know the Pumpkin LP of non-commercial JPJ recordings? It includes a SUBLIME Backwater Blues from 1948 with Danny Alvin on drums...

[erwbol]

On 18/11/2008 at 5:21 PM, Hot Ptah said:

Did anyone else see the Antiques Roadshow show from some time in the past ten years, where a woman had an amazing collection of James P. Johnson's possessions? She had inherited it and did not know who Johnson was. The antiques expert was amazed and told her that it all belonged in a museum. She seemed obviously unaware of the significance of Johnson or what she had. I always wondered what happened to the collection, as it did not look like she was very interested or excited about what the expert was telling her about James P. Johnson.

 

Update: I Googled "Antiques Roadshow" and "James P. Johnson" and came up with this episode description. This is the episode I remember:

 

Season 6 Episode 11: San Diego (2002) San Diego; Hotel Del Coronado; jazz pianist James P. Johnson's sheet music; 18th-century Sheffield candlesticks; yellow-diamond Tiffany pendant.

A clip from the episode has been uploaded since you posted this:

https://www.pbs.org/video/antiques-roadshow-appraisal-james-p-johnson-collection/

Appraisal: James P. Johnson Collection

Clip: Season 20 Episode 23 | 2m 22s

In San Diego, Philip Merrill appraises a James P. Johnson Collection.

[Brad]

That person looked like she was out to lunch. She didn’t seem that impressed even after she found out the value. 

[Dan Gould]

And now worth 30 to $50,000. 

[Chuck Nessa]

The "evaluator" spoke of contracts and other papers - they might be the important pieces for history, but none of it is worth much on the "market".

Hope it is all preserved somewhere.

 

[Hardbopjazz]

Yes, it needs to be preserved, even if there is just handful of people who know who he is.  

 

I play his Mosaic set often. It is my favorite mosaic I have.  

[EKE BBB]

It SHOULD be preserved here: https://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/jazz/archival-collections

Or either at the James P. Johnson Foundation.

But then...

[Ken Dryden]

I'm going to have to make the trek to Rutgers, one of these days...

 

[jazz man]

On 11/19/2008 at 9:44 AM, kh1958 said:

The Folkways CD--The Original James P. Johnson, 1942-45, is available and really good. Another I like is Snowy Mountain Blues. And of course James P. Johnson's Blue Note Jazzmen.

How is the sound quality on these discs? I can see from Folkways liner notes that "reprocessing was accomplished through the use of the Cedar de-clicker" and Snowy Mountain Blues is part of Decca's GRP series, which has a reputation for using too much noise reduction

[jazz man]

Where is the best place to find Johnson's 1920's recordings on CD? The mosaic box looks tempting, but I don't quite have the budget for it at the moment

[John L]

15 minutes ago, jazz man said:

Where is the best place to find Johnson's 1920's recordings on CD? The mosaic box looks tempting, but I don't quite have the budget for it at the moment

Probably Chronological Classics.  One disc has his recordings from 1921-1928.  Another disc goes from 1928-1938.    if you are also interested in the piano rolls, Tradition had a disc that contained them.  

[jazz man]

13 minutes ago, John L said:

Probably Chronological Classics.  One disc has his recordings from 1921-1928.  Another disc goes from 1928-1938.    if you are also interested in the piano rolls, Tradition had a disc that contained them.  

Great, thanks! Do you know how it compares with this one? It's one I just stumbled across and am reading good things about the sound quality

I have the piano rolls well covered by the two CDs released by biograph, but would be interested to hear how the tradition sounds

Edited yesterday at 12:35 AM by jazz man

[John L]

I only have the Tradition CD that is entitled "Running Wild."  That sound is OK but I have never heard the other alternatives.  The Tradition CD only has 11 tracks.  So I assume that it is therefore inferior to the other options.  

[JSngry]

Is that Tradition label the same label that was a part of Everest?

If so, I would always at least entertain the possibility of alternatives.