1939 - December 19

Pete Johnson Blues Trio - December 19 1939

Dan Morgenstern - Reminiscing At Blue Note CD Liner Notes

Pete Johnson (1904-1967) was one of the masters of mature boogie woogie, and one of the triumvirate that brought the style to national attention via John Hammond, who had recorded Mead Lux Lewis as early as 1935.  A native of Kansas City, Johnson had the lightest of touches and was...an adept, all-around jazz player. He was featured (with Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis) at the famous 1938 "Spirituals to Swing" concert produced by Hammond. At the time of this session for Blue Note, he was ensconced at Café Society in Greenwich Village.

Blue Note Records Biography 

https://www.bluenote.com/artist/pete-johnson/ 

Pete Johnson was one of the three great boogie-woogie pianists (along with Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis) whose sudden prominence in the late ’30s helped make the style very popular. Originally a drummer, Johnson switched to piano in 1922. He was part of the Kansas City scene in the 1920s and ’30s, often accompanying singer Big Joe Turner. Producer John Hammond discovered him in 1936 and got him to play at the Famous Door in New York. After taking part in Hammond’s 1938 Spirituals to Swing Carnegie Hall concert in 1938, Johnson started recording regularly and appeared on an occasional basis with Ammons and Lewis as the Boogie Woogie Trio. He also backed Turner on some classic records. Johnson recorded often in the 1940s and spent much of 1947-1949 based in Los Angeles. He moved to Buffalo in 1950 and, other than an appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, he was in obscurity for much of the decade. A stroke later in 1958 left him partly paralyzed. Johnson made one final appearance at John Hammond’s January 1967 Spirituals to Swing concert, playing the right hand on a version of “Roll ‘Em Pete” two months before his death. ~ Scott Yanow 

Stanley Dance - Pete Johnson / Earl Hines / Teddy Bunn Sessions Mosaic Records

Did a drummer fail to turn up? The absence of one certainly suggest that, but then one may recall the Port of Harlem Jazzmen session on which Frank Newton and J.C. Higginbotham, on trumpet and trombone respectively, were backed by a four piece rhythm section.

Pete Johnson didn't really need any backing at all. Of all the boogie woogie pianists, he was the best equipped technically and the one with the most accurate left hand. Lion knew this well enough, and on Holler Stomp and You Don't Know My Mind the pianist plays alone.

DM

[Holler Stomp] stands with Johnson's best display pieces at fast tempo. The relentless left-hand ostinatos hold the tempo rock-steady, while the right offers all sorts of changing patterns and riffs, trills, etc. The other solo piece...is much more reflective in mood - a mellow performance that gets into the essence of the blues.

In other pieces, Johnson is abetted by the guitar of Ulysses Livingston, then with Benny Carter's big band, and bassist Abe Bolar, an alumnus of the famous Blue Devils and the band of Hot Lips Page. They add textural variety, but Pete was a rhythm section all to himself.

Alfred Lion, Max Margulis with the Pete Johnson Trio

Richard Havers - Uncompromising Expression - Thames and Hudson

Pete Johnson's Blue[s] Trio was both the last recorded session of 1939 and the first since the outbreak of the war in Europe, which saw Lion joined by his old friend from Berlin, Francis Wolff. 

Richard Cook - Blue Note Records A Biography - Secker and Warburg

Frank Wolff arrived in New York at the end of 1939 (by legend, on the 'last boat out of Nazi Germany'). He had worked in Germany as a professional photographer. Alfred had met Wolff as far back as 1924 and the two teenage boys discovered a mutual interest in popular music. Wolff proved to be, in the long term, the real business brain behind Blue Note. They managed to sustain a tiny office on West 47th Street, Blue Note's first address.

Downbeat – February 15 1940 – Volume 7 Issue 4 

Pete Johnson 

“Barrelhouse Breakdown” & “Kansas City Farewell” and “Holler Stomp” & “You Don’t Know My Mind,” Blue Note 10 & 12, $1.50 each, both 12 inches 

The greatest and most musical boogie pianist lives up to expectations here, appearing in better form on the latter two sides, which are strictly solos. First two show Johnson with Abe Bolar, bass, and Ulysses Livingston, guitar accompanying. Breakdown is fast and not up to Pete’s par. Farewell, a slow blues. Seeps with sincerity and must stand as a truly great performance. Holler is fast, stompy boogie piano while You Don't Know is a non-boogie, slow blues performance. Utterly non-commercial, Johnson's improvisations are breath-taking all the way. This column has long shouted of Johnson’s prowess. It is gratifying to know he is finally beginning to be appreciated and that a firm like Blue Note – which deserves patronage of all musicians and collectors —has the initiative to preserve Johnson’s boogieisms in permanent form. 

The American Record Guide – April 1940 – Volume 5 Issue 12 

Kansas City Farewell and Barrelhouse Breakdown; Pete Johnson’s Blue Trio, Blue Note No. 10, price $1.50 

Vine Street Bustle; and Some Day Blues; Pete Johnson’s Blue Trio, Blue Note No. 11, price $1.50 

You Don’t Know My Mind; and Holler Stomp; piano solos by Pete Johnson, Blue Note No. 12, price $1.50 

(Personnel of the Trio is: Pete Johnson, piano. Ulvsses Livingston. guitar; and Abe Bolar, bass.)  
 
Blue Note will be the despair of reviewers yet! There is nothing a critic enjoys better than finding a fault to write about. But what fault we find with a single Blue Note issued so far? True, they have not all been of equal quality. There were spots here and there that were not entirely satisfactory. but on the whole, there is sincerity of perceptible in each of the discs issued so far.  
 
The outstanding side in this group is Some Day Blues. First of all it is built around an excellent slow blues theme, and it is played by all with equal fervor. It is one of those themes that could go and on through endless variations without tiring either the players or the listeners. In fact. it ends rather abruptly as if everyone concerned were so engrossed with the music that mechanical limitations were forgotten. The recording is excellent.  
 
Honors are equally divided between Johnson and Livingston, with Bolar lending excellent support.  
 
Second honors go to You Don't Know My Mind which is conceived in much the same mood as Some Day Blues but for a solo instrument. But in spite of its aural and emotional appeal, it is thematically and technically inferior.  
 
Kansas City Farewell is also a slow blues on a good theme but its effect is lost in poorly balanced recording. The piano is too prominent ; the guitar is weakly recorded; and the bass is so badly out of focus that it is hardly more than a blurred boom throughout the disc. 

The other three numbers are boogie woogies which are distinguished chiefly by the virtuosity of Pete Johnson, who is a past master with such music. Plenty of vim, vigor, and vitality but not much feeling.  
 
Incidentally, all three discs were made at the same session. Pete Johnson chose his companions, one of whom. Abe Bolar, once played with him years ago in Kansas City honky tonks. Livingston was chosen because of the impression he had made at a jam session at Café Society when Johnson was playing there. All the numbers were unprepared and perfectly spontaneous. 

Down Beat – 15 March 1940 – Volume 7 Issue 6 

“Some Day Blues” & “Vine Street Bustle,” Blue Note 11, a 12-inch album. 

The of last pair of platters (he made six in all) show him in fine fettle. Abe Bolar, bass, and Ulysses Livingston on guitar work more effectively here than they did on Barrelhouse Breakdown and Kansas City Farewell, and Pete's Steinway stylings reveal him at his best on slow blues and a more animated boogie. Bustle jumps nicely while Some Day is more emotional, in slower tempo. 

661-9 Test Pressing

Session Information

Reeves Sound Studios, NYC, December 19, 1939

Pete Johnson, piano; Ulysses Livingston, guitar #1-3,7,8; Abe Bolar, bass #1-3,7,8

RS653-1 Vine St. Bustle Blue Note 11, BLP 7019, BLP 1209

RS654-2 Some Day Blues rejected

RS655-3 Some Day Blues Blue Note 11, BLP 7019, BLP 1209

RS656-4 Holler Stomp rejected

RS657-5 Holler Stomp -

RS658-6 Holler Stomp Blue Note 12, BLP 7019, BLP 1209

RS659-7 Barrelhouse Breakdown Blue Note 10, BLP 7019, BLP 1209

RS660-8 Kansas City Farewell Blue Note 10, BLP 7019, BLP 1209

RS661-9 You Don't Know My Mind rejected

RS662-10 You Don't Know My Mind Blue Note 12

Sources and attribution: Dan Morgenstern - Reminiscing At Blue Note - CD-8-28893-2 Richard Cook - Blue Note Records - Secker and Warburg Stanley Dance - Pete Johnson / Earl Hines / Teddy Bunn Sessions - MR1-119 Richard Havers - Uncompromising Expression - Thames and Hudson