Shaun Johnson Big Band Experience

Originating in Saint Joseph, Iowa, Shaun Johnson nurtured an early affinity for singing before sharpening his vocal technique at Saint John’s University in Minnesota, the very campus where he helped launch the a cappella ensemble Tonic Sol-Fa. From the late 1990s forward he performed and cut recordings with that group, eventually gaining induction into the Midwest Music Hall of Fame and securing a 2010 Emmy for a Toys for Tots public-service track. After relocating to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he envisioned leading an octet that would mix timeless standards with updated pop numbers in the manner of Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, and Michael Bublé.

The resulting Shaun Johnson Big Band Experience, an eight-piece unit bridging Sinatra-era traditional pop and the updated approach of Michael Bublé, surfaced publicly in 2012 and drew on Johnson’s earlier reputation as director of the Emmy-winning Tonic Sol-Fa. Its first offering was the holiday concert recording Live, succeeded the following year by What’ll I Do. A PBS holiday broadcast titled Sounds of the Season preceded the simultaneous 2019 releases of Capitol and The Set List.