Clarence Johnson pays tribute to the legendary Charlie Parker

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Charlie Parker, one of the most influential purveyors of modern jazz whose brilliant alto saxophone in the 1940s helped create the “new” sound called bebop, was born on August 29, 1920. New Orleans tenor and soprano saxophonist Clarence Johnson will celebrate the master’s birth date by paying tribute to the musician affectionately known as Bird on Thursday at Snug Harbor.

Johnson clearly remembers that he was in high school and really getting serious about focusing on his musical studies as the time that he initially got to check out Parker.

“When I first got the chance to hear a recording of his I honestly could not believe that a saxophone could be played with such technical proficiency at such a fast tempo,” Johnson exclaims. “That really floored me but also it really inspired me.”

CLARENCE JOHNSON

Johnson immediately mentioned Parker’s and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie’s co-written tune “Shaw ‘Nuff” as a favorite and it certainly provides a perfect example of Parker’s exceptional technical ability at high-flying speeds. That, of course, also describes the similar talents of Gillespie and the rest of the incredible band – pianist Al Haig, drummer Sydney Catlett and bassist Curley Russell – that appeared on the now classic song from the 1945 recording of Dizzy Gillespie and His All Star Band. Other favs of Johnson’s are “Donna Lee,” “Ornithology” and “Parker’s Mood.” “On that he really brought the idea of bebop and blues and melded them together showing the importance of blues in improvisation,” Johnson explains. He also digs the albums Charlie Parker with Strings and says that though he has performed classical pieces and with an operatic singer, he would love to someday have the opportunity to perform with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

Johnson’s aim at Thursday night’s tribute is to emulate the iconic Charlie Parker Quartet with bassist Chris Severin, pianist Mike Esnault and drummer Ricky Sebastian onboard. He’s played often with all of these fine musicians in a variety of settings. “I’ve performed in Ricky’s band, and he’s performed in mine,” Johnson notes. “Any kind of style that we’re playing, he’s able to do different types of time manipulations to bring an extra element to play off of. It makes it such a challenge.”

The night’s repertoire will feature Bird’s originals and hits as well as give a nod to the material on which Parker collaborated with Gillespie and trumpet great Miles Davis.

“The really cool thing about Charlie Parker is that on a few recordings he plays tenor rather than alto (for which he’s best known). You know I got to holler at that!”

Johnson, 45, a New Orleans native who began playing saxophone in junior high school and impressed audiences when he hit the local jazz scene in the 1990s, has long been recognized for the spirituality he brings to the music no matter what the genre. It’s a trait that he shares with the great Charlie Parker who lifted the music despite his deep, personal struggles with drug addiction.

“The main thing you hear when people talk about their interactions with Charlie Parker is that he was genuinely a nice guy to be around – he was uplifting, he was inspiring. His challenges did not necessarily affect his treatment of people and his true spirit came out through his playing,” Johnson offers. “We’re all going to have [a] life issue that we go through. Bird made it a point to always let the things in his life that brought him joy enter the music. You didn’t hear any darkness in his playing. If you listen to him you wouldn’t ever imagine he had the types of struggles that he had. He had human compassion that made people around him feel better through his personality and his music.”

Johnson has recorded as leader and is heard on albums by talents such as Sebastian and pianist and vocalist Davell Crawford and has enhanced groups like trumpeter Michael Ray and the Cosmic Krewe. Of late, however, he has had a rather low profile on the jazz scene. He’s working on changing that as he and bassist Brian Quezergue are in the midst of forming a band and recently tested the waters at a gig at North Broad Street’s jazz mecca, the Prime Example. He continues to perform with trombonist John Mahoney’s Big Band that played in the Jazz Tent at this year’s Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Taking the lead of the teachers who influenced him like Edward “Kidd” Jordan at the Satchmo Summer Jazz Camp and Mahoney and Tony Dagradi at Loyola University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in music, the multi-faceted saxophonist has also contributed to the music as an educator. He has worked at various locales in the New Orleans school system, taught at Lee High School in Baton Rouge and just began as music director of a new educational institution, the University of View Academy. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, it provides both classroom and live online sessions available for kindergarten through grade 12 students throughout Louisiana. “It’s the new wave of the future,” Johnson declares. “It’s really going to be an exciting new chapter.”

In honor of Bird, Johnson, who primarily soulfully blows tenor and soprano, will bring out his alto sax for Thursday night’s tribute. “You got to!”

This article originally published in the August 26, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.