Biography
In the opening decades of the twentieth century, several African-American pianists shared the name James Johnson. The best known among them was New Jersey native James P. Johnson, widely acknowledged as the originator of Harlem stride piano. Another, James “Steady Roll” Johnson, hailed from New Orleans, spent time working in St. Louis, and is chiefly recalled today as the brother of guitarist Lonnie Johnson.
Born in Tennessee in 1902, James “Stump” Johnson arrived in St. Louis with his family at age seven. The city’s lively music environment quickly captivated him, especially the playing of Son Long, who resided near 15th and Morgan and appeared regularly at Boots’ on the Levee. Johnson later described hearing Long perform throughout the levee district, then a prosperous commercial area that drew affluent tourists arriving by riverboat. He regarded Long as an early exponent of boogie-woogie. Determined to follow in those footsteps, the youngster learned piano on his own in the rear of a pool hall and soon found steady work in the city’s sporting houses. His short, stocky frame earned him the nicknames “Stump” and “Little Man.”
In January 1929 a QRS talent scout, Arthur E. Satherly, heard him playing piano inside a Market Street record store owned by his brother Jesse Johnson, who also served as a session coordinator for several labels. Shortly afterward Stump made his first recordings in Long Island City, New York. Although the labels identified him as James “Stump” Johnson, he also appeared under the pseudonyms Shorty George and Snitcher Roberts. Throughout 1929 he recorded for Brunswick and OKeh in Chicago and for Paramount in Richmond, Indiana. Additional Paramount sides were cut in Grafton, Wisconsin, in February 1930. In February 1932 he and Roosevelt Sykes recorded a two-sided 78 for Victor in Dallas, Texas, and on 2 August 1933 he made three titles for Bluebird in Chicago with Pinetop Aaron Sparks and Dorothea Trowbridge. His own composition “The Duck’s Yas Yas” came closest to commercial success; he is also credited with “Snitcher’s Blues” and “Don’t Give My Lard Away.” Tampa Red later recorded “The Duck’s Yas Yas” and reworked “Snitcher’s Blues” as “Friendless Blues.”
Although Johnson continued to perform in St. Louis clubs for years afterward, decades passed before he entered a studio again. Following service in the Second World War he formed a friendship with blues enthusiast and police officer Charles “Lindy” O’Brien. At O’Brien’s urging Johnson resumed playing engagements; the association also led him to become a police officer—Washboard Sam’s non-musical occupation—and later a tax collector. In the late 1950s he joined his sister-in-law Edith North Johnson, who had recorded with Roosevelt Sykes in 1929, in managing the DeLuxe Restaurant in St. Louis. He returned to the studio briefly in 1964 for Euphonic and supplied music for the 1970 film Blues Like Showers of Rain. Johnson died of esophageal cancer at the Veterans Hospital in St. Louis on 5 December 1969.
James “Stump” Johnson should not be mistaken for the alto and soprano saxophonist listed, almost certainly erroneously, as “Stump Johnson” on a Ma Rainey session of February 1926; that musician was most likely Paul “Stump” Evans or Barney Bigard.
Born in Tennessee in 1902, James “Stump” Johnson arrived in St. Louis with his family at age seven. The city’s lively music environment quickly captivated him, especially the playing of Son Long, who resided near 15th and Morgan and appeared regularly at Boots’ on the Levee. Johnson later described hearing Long perform throughout the levee district, then a prosperous commercial area that drew affluent tourists arriving by riverboat. He regarded Long as an early exponent of boogie-woogie. Determined to follow in those footsteps, the youngster learned piano on his own in the rear of a pool hall and soon found steady work in the city’s sporting houses. His short, stocky frame earned him the nicknames “Stump” and “Little Man.”
In January 1929 a QRS talent scout, Arthur E. Satherly, heard him playing piano inside a Market Street record store owned by his brother Jesse Johnson, who also served as a session coordinator for several labels. Shortly afterward Stump made his first recordings in Long Island City, New York. Although the labels identified him as James “Stump” Johnson, he also appeared under the pseudonyms Shorty George and Snitcher Roberts. Throughout 1929 he recorded for Brunswick and OKeh in Chicago and for Paramount in Richmond, Indiana. Additional Paramount sides were cut in Grafton, Wisconsin, in February 1930. In February 1932 he and Roosevelt Sykes recorded a two-sided 78 for Victor in Dallas, Texas, and on 2 August 1933 he made three titles for Bluebird in Chicago with Pinetop Aaron Sparks and Dorothea Trowbridge. His own composition “The Duck’s Yas Yas” came closest to commercial success; he is also credited with “Snitcher’s Blues” and “Don’t Give My Lard Away.” Tampa Red later recorded “The Duck’s Yas Yas” and reworked “Snitcher’s Blues” as “Friendless Blues.”
Although Johnson continued to perform in St. Louis clubs for years afterward, decades passed before he entered a studio again. Following service in the Second World War he formed a friendship with blues enthusiast and police officer Charles “Lindy” O’Brien. At O’Brien’s urging Johnson resumed playing engagements; the association also led him to become a police officer—Washboard Sam’s non-musical occupation—and later a tax collector. In the late 1950s he joined his sister-in-law Edith North Johnson, who had recorded with Roosevelt Sykes in 1929, in managing the DeLuxe Restaurant in St. Louis. He returned to the studio briefly in 1964 for Euphonic and supplied music for the 1970 film Blues Like Showers of Rain. Johnson died of esophageal cancer at the Veterans Hospital in St. Louis on 5 December 1969.
James “Stump” Johnson should not be mistaken for the alto and soprano saxophonist listed, almost certainly erroneously, as “Stump Johnson” on a Ma Rainey session of February 1926; that musician was most likely Paul “Stump” Evans or Barney Bigard.