James Price Johnson

11/13/20 • 60 min

James P. Johnson is known as the Father of Stride Piano, and composed the most iconic work that captures the essence of the Roaring Twenties, the Charleston. Both pianist and composer, he not only wrote jazz but also music for theatrical shows, symphonic works and opera too. He performed alongside jazz greats such as Fats Waller, Willie The Lion Smith and Sidney Bechet, and also collaborated with George Gershwin as well. Johnson was an early pioneer in the recording industry, and made many studio recordings as a soloist and with his own jazz band. Yet despite all of this, his name has been largely forgotten today. One possible reason for this is that being a transitional figure between ragtime and jazz, he’s been hard to categorise.

This week, Donald Macleod will explore five periods in Johnson’s life where Johnson strove to achieve a different role: recording artist, theatre composer, performer and teacher, and also a Tickler - a ragtime saloon pianist.

Music featured:

Charleston Carolina Shout Fascination Concerto Jazz A Mine Caprice Rag Empty Bed Blues Daintiness Rag Twilight Rag Steeplechase Rag There’s No Two Ways About Love My Sweet Hunk O’Trash Charleston Alabama Stomp My Headache My special friend is back in town Lonesome Swallow Guess who’s in town Victory Stride Drums Harlem Strut Snowy Morning Blues Keep off the grass Havin’ a ball A Porter’s Love Song to a Chambermaid Toddlin’ Home Runnin’ Wild Medley After Tonight Old Fashioned Love If I could be with you Jingles I Need Lovin’ Yamekraw, A Negro Rhapsody Backwater Blues Charleston Stop That Dog Lock and Key Sweet Mistreater Don’t Cry Baby Riffs You’ve Got to be Modernistic Sippi Charleston American Symphonic Suite Put Your Mind Right On It Go Harlem A Porter’s Love Song to a Chambermaid Hungry Blues Harlem Hotcha Ain’tcha Got Music Harlem Symphony Lonesome Reverie Gut Stomp Blues for Fats You Can’t Lose a Broken Heart Charleston

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for James Price Johnson https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p7mr

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Music featured:

Presented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock, for BBC Wales

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Previous Episode

Beethoven Unleashed: Titan

This week, Donald Macleod explores Ludwig van Beethoven’s life through the years of 1822-1824 – a period during which the composer completed his greatest late masterpieces. It was also a time at which Beethoven became acutely aware of his own mortality, struggling with both his dwindling finances and his deteriorating health, and sought help from, among others, his brother Johann and a new secretary - Anton Schindler.

Composer of the Week is returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

Music Featured:

Symphony No. 9, Op. 125 (II. Molto Vivace – Presto) Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Sanctus - Pleni sunt cœli - Osanna Music for Consecration of the House, WoO. 98 Fidelio, Op.72 - O namenlose Freude! Piano Sonata no 32 in C minor, Op.111 Bundeslied, Op. 122 “In allen guten Stunden” String Quartet in E-flat major, Op.127 (I. Maestoso – Allegro) Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Credo: Credo - Et Incarnatus Est Bagatelles, Op 119 nos. 1-6 Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Gloria Gratulations Menuett, WoO 3 Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Credo: Et ressurexit Opferlied, Op.121b Diabelli Variations, Op.120 (Nos 30, 32 & 33) Symphony no. 9, Op.125 (I. Allegro ma non troppo) Ta ta ta, WoO162 Consecration of House Overture, Op.124 Missa Solemnis, Op.123 - Agnus Dei: Dona Nobis Pacem Waltz in E-flat major, WoO 84 Symphony no.9, Op.125 (III. Adagio molto e cantabile) Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2 'Tempest' - III. Allegretto Missa Solemnis, Op.123 – Kyrie: Kyrie Eleison Der Kuss, Op.128 Symphony No. 9, Op.125 (IV. Presto - Allegro ma non troppo) Bagatelles for piano, op.126

Presented by Donald Mcleod

Producer: Sam Phillips

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Beethoven Unleashed: Titan https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p01c

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

Next Episode

Beethoven Unleashed: Freedom and Joy

Conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner, joins Donald Mcleod to discuss Beethoven’s symphonies

They have been described as “the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man”, “an expression of monumental intellect and innermost feeling”, and “music [which] sets in motion the machinery of awe, of fear, of terror, of pain.” There is no question that Beethoven’s nine symphonies changed music forever. The colossal legacy of these works has hovered over generations of composers since, leading Johannes Brahms to exclaim “You can't have any idea what it's like always to hear such a giant marching behind you!”

Over this week of programmes, Donald Macleod is joined by the conductor John Eliot Gardiner, founder of the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, to delve into the world of these nine sublime works.

Composer of the Week is returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

Music Featured:

Symphony No 1 in C major, Op 21 ( I. Adagio Molto – Allegro Con Brio) Symphony No 1 in C major, Op 21 (III. Menuet segue IV. Finale) Symphony No 2 in D major, Op 36 (I. Adagio Molto – Allegro Con Brio) Symphony No 2 in D major, Op 36 (II. Larghetto segue III. Scherzo) Symphony No 3 in E-flat major, Op 55 “Eroica” (I. Allegro con brio) The Creatures of Prometheus, Op 43 (Finale (excerpt)) Symphony No 3 in E-flat major, Op 55 “Eroica” (IV. Finale) Symphony No 4 in B-flat major, Op 60 (I. Adagio – Allegro Vivace) Symphony No 4 in B-flat major, Op 60 (II. Adagio) Cherubini: Hymne au Panthéon 'Grand Chœur à la gloire des martyrs de la liberté et de ses défenseurs' (excerpt) Symphony No 5 in C minor, Op 67 (I. Allegro con brio) Rouget de Lisle: Hymne dithyrambique sur la conjuration de Robespierre et la révolution du 9 thermidor, Paris, 1794 (excerpt) Symphony No 5 in C minor Op 67 (III. Scherzo segue IV. Finale) Symphony No 6 in F major, Op 68 “Pastoral” (movements III-V) Symphony No 7 in A major, Op 92 (I. Poco sostenuto – Vivace) Symphony No 7 in A major, Op 92 (II. Allegretto) 12 Irish Songs, WoO 154 (No.8. Save Me From the Grave and Wise (excerpt)) Symphony No 8 in F major, Op 93 (II. Allegretto scherzando) Symphony No 8 in F major, Op 93 (IV. Allegro vivace) Missa Solemnis in D major, Op 123 - Credo (from Et Incarnatus Est to end) Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 (I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso) Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 (IV. Finale)

Presented by Donald Mcleod Produced by Sam Phillips

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z