Similar to his acquaintance Sonny Landreth, harmonica player and accordionist Jumpin' Johnny Sansone finds songwriting inspiration in everyday observations around his New Orleans residence. Numerous tracks on Crescent City Moon, his debut release for Rounder's Bullseye Blues imprint, draw directly from the visual, auditory, and aromatic character of the Crescent City.
Sansone departed his birthplace of West Orange, NJ, in 1975 at age 17 to pursue a swimming scholarship at a Colorado college. He had first taken up the harmonica at 13, often pairing it with guitar accompaniment. "I was trying to be Jimmy Reed in our basement," he recalled in a 1997 interview. His father performed professionally on saxophone with multiple jazz ensembles throughout the Newark, NJ, club circuit.
Before settling in New Orleans during 1990, Sansone resided in Colorado, Austin, Boston, and Chapel Hill, NC. Throughout those years he fronted regional touring groups, most prominently Jumpin' Johnny & the Blues Party. By the time he began promoting his independently issued recordings on the road, Sansone already possessed substantial experience. In 1987, he and that band issued Where Y'at? on the Sanford, FL-based Kingsnake label. Two years later the same ensemble recorded and released Mister Good Thing for Atlanta's Ichiban imprint.
Sansone took up the accordion after attending Clifton Chenier's funeral; as a result, clubgoers sometimes mistake him for a zydeco performer upon seeing the instrument. Crescent City Moon (1997, Bullseye Blues) earned enthusiastic notices nationwide. The recording blends Chicago blues with swamp boogie while evoking New Orleans and the bayou country of southwest Louisiana. All selections are originals except the cover of Ted Hawkins' "Sweet Baby."
In New Orleans he has accumulated multiple honors, among them four trophies at Offbeat magazine's annual "Best of the Beat" contest following the 1996 self-release of Crescent City Moon on his own label: Song of the Year, Best Harmonica Player, Best Blues Band, and Best Blues Album of the Year. Sansone has periodically accepted construction work to finance recording sessions. Nevertheless, his arrangement with Rounder's Bullseye Blues subsidiary, which also produced 1999's Watermelon Patch, positions him to advance his career through national and international touring.
