Dink Johnson

Dink Johnson demonstrated remarkable versatility through mastery of three separate instruments over the course of his career. He began performing as a pianist in New Orleans’ Storyville district before moving to Los Angeles, where he took the drum chair with Bill Johnson’s Creole Band in 1913. While freelancing in California, he continued on drums during Jelly Roll Morton’s time there and switched to clarinet for a 1922 session with Kid Ory’s band, issued as Spikes’ Seven Pods of Pepper. Johnson remained based in California for most of his professional life, directing the Five Hounds of Jazz—later known as the Los Angeles Six—before concentrating on solo piano work. Even while operating his own restaurant in Los Angeles, he stayed active as a musician through the late 1940s. Locally he enjoyed greater recognition than he did nationwide, playing in an early manner poised between stride and ragtime. His most extensive recordings, made chiefly at the piano, appeared on American Music in 1946–1947, on Euphonic in 1948, and on Nola in 1950.