Homeless, Unappreciated and now Dead: Dewey Johnson

Known, if at all, for his playing on two seminal 1960s Free Jazz LPs: saxophonist John Coltrane’s Ascension and pianist Paul Bley’s Barrage, trumpeter Dewey Johnson (1939-2018) was a shadowy figure most of his life, dying at 78 in June. But as The Wire’s Pierre Crépon points out, the Philadelphia-born trumpeter was an important transitionary figure in exploratory Jazz, first in San Francisco, where he mentored alto saxophonist Noah Howard and played with saxophonist Byron Allen; and later in New York with bands that included saxophonists Giuseppi Logan and Pharoah Sanders and drummer Rashied Ali. A nervous breakdown, subsequent periods of homelessness and a series of menial day jobs made his presence on the scene iffy after 1967, although he did play with on-and-off with The Music Ensemble featuring drummer Roger Baird, saxophonist Daniel Carter, violinist Billy Bang and bassists William Parker and Earl Freeman; and in the early 1980s a group led by drummer Paul Murphy, with pianist Mary Anne Driscoll, saxophonist Jimmy Lyons and bassoonist Karen Borca. More serious illnesses and homelessness was his lot for next three decades until his recent death.