Musician Profiles: Ron Johnson of Windstorm and The Ron Johnson Project
What do you get when you combine George Benson and Jimi Hendrix with a bundle of natural talent and passion for music? You get Shreveport’s own Ron Johnson, a unique guitarist who has played with some of the world’s most famous artists, yet never forgets his faith, his family or his music.
Ron got his first guitar at the age of three, and he never looked back. He says every year Christmas would come around and he’d want another guitar, except for twice, and one of those was when he got a new amp! Ron remembers listening as a small boy to musicians like Elvis Presley and his band practicing for the Louisiana Hayride in the back room of a store near Ron’s home in Shreveport, and the effect that had on him and the other youngsters lasts to this day.
Ron began playing professionally in his teens, when one of his first jobs was with Little Milton at the age of 15. Ron jokes about having to sneak into clubs to play because he was underage. He really enjoyed the Beatles’ music through the 1960s, but says one of the biggest turning points in his career came when he first heard Jimi Hendrix. He laughs, “I began playing and even dressing like Hendrix… I thought I was Jimi Hendrix Jr!” Ron was also impressed by the playing style and energy of guitarist Mark Farner on the Grand Funk Railroad Live Album, and with much of Carlos Santana’s early work. Along with these guitarists, Ron credits as one of his greatest influences Dr. Earnest Lampkin, who introduced him to jazz and was a mentor to him during his college years at Grambling State University.
Ron’s achievements include playing on 2 platinum albums with the group H-Town and opening or playing for many others like Ike & Tina Turner, The Temptations, The Manhattans, The Gap Band, Keith Sweat, Cameo and many more.
Ron’s band Windstorm has been together for 24 years. Their global tours have taken them “around the world twice” as Ron likes to put it, playing in places as distant as Africa and London, England. Ron takes enormous pride in the fact that he neither drinks nor does drugs, and when asked about the subject, he said, “Why risk getting put in jail for that stuff? I just want to play guitar!”
Despite his fame, Ron still remains very down-to-earth. He is quick to give credit to God for his talent and success, he’s very proud of his children, and one of his main goals continues to be helping kids and local musicians here in Northwest Louisiana. He takes many young musicians under his wing and often trains them in his own garage. During a Windstorm performance at Loyola High School, Ron even encouraged some of the student musicians to come up to the stage and play. “I’m not going to be around forever,” he says, “so I work with the kids and hope that the music can live on.”
In addition to his work with other groups and Windstorm, Ron has released multiple solo albums, known as The Ron Johnson Project. These albums have many of Ron’s own songs as well as covers of some classics. On the album “Just Me”, for example, he does a beautiful soft-jazz version of the Beatles’ “Yesterday”, and on his latest album “Unplugged”, he pays tribute to Carlos Santana with his own arrangement of “Europa (Earth’s Cry, Heaven’s Smile)”.
Note: Ron’s album Just Me is available through CD Baby and his latest album Unplugged is available through Wal-Mart. (Rumor has it we may be hearing soon about a couple of Grammy nominations for Unplugged!)
During the interview for this article, Erin & I also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Eugene Mosley of LaJazz Records. In addition to working with Ron, Gene is a celebrity in his own right. His accomplishments include having created beautiful artwork for many Jazz legends and public figures (Wynton Marsalis, Bill Cosby, Jack Binion, Johnny Cochran and more), having his work inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame, and having had his artwork of Sammy Davis, Jr. featured on the “Larry King Live” show.
I’d like to remind everyone that Ron drops by the Blues Jam most Monday nights, and in that environment he really cuts loose and makes that guitar scream!
We really enjoyed getting to know these gentlemen, and I’m very proud of the latest author to join the website!
—Will
Space Travelers
A couple of pictures taken and edited by Lisa Gimber of a performance by Space Travelers, a group which features many of our favorite regulars from the Blues Jam. Currently they’re playing every Wednesday night at the Tiki Bar & Grill. Their music leans more towards funk and jazz (and knowing Stan, a bit of reggae).
I haven’t seen Space Travelers perform yet (plan to remedy that this week), but in the pics I see Stan Hoffman, John Hoffman, Danny Wilder, Scott Gerardy, and Ryan (somebody, what’s Ryan’s last name please?). Also playing with the group but not pictured above are Rick Willis and Don “Dirty Red” Crenshaw.
This is an all-star group, and their shows are sure to be great. Go see ‘em.
Erykah Badu Drummer Drops In on the Monday Night Jam
We have a name to place with the face! The “new guy” last week who blew the place away with his drumming and conga playing was Jonathan Merla.
Jonathan is probably best known for his work with multiple Grammy-winner Erykah Badu, but he’s also played with The Peoples Republic and Paris Nicole Strother & Gentlemen, as well as many other musicians and writers. Jonathan is from Dallas, TX but lately has been living in Boston, MA attending the Berklee College of Music.
I believe it was during either The Letter (give me a ticket for an aeroplane) or Black Magic Woman when Stan told the band to “bring it down, I wanna hear this guy!”. After that solo, everyone knew this young man was bringing some serious heat, especially on the congas!
We really enjoyed Jonathan’s playing and look forward to his visiting us again in the future!
More Pictures from The Jam
These shots are courtesy of Ken Maniscalco of Passionately Stoic Photography:
Haven’t been to The Monday Night Blues Jam lately? Hear what you’re missing!
Another teaser to convince you that you’ve just gotta visit… I’ve created a page with a little sample of what the Blues Jam sounds like. Crank it up really loud and enjoy.
The 2008 Highland Jazz and Blues Festival Was Spectacular!
The good folks of Shreveport/Bossier have shown once again that a bit of chilly weather can’t dampen their enthusiasm for this fabulous event. The turnout for the 2008 Highland Jazz and Blues Festival was very good and fans of all ages got to enjoy some great Jazz and Blues music.
My youngest daughter joined me and although we didn’t get to stay the entire afternoon, we did get to hear some of our favorite artists, including The Bluebirds with Jerry Beach and Brady Blade, and what a performance by Miki Honeycutt! Also we wandered over to the Pavilion Stage and listened to Jazziana which includes Darrell Mims, a crowd favorite when he visits The Monday Night Blues Jam- Darrell plays guitar and flute in addition to having a striking blues voice and a great rapport with the audience.
One of the high points of our day wasn’t even music-related. It was cold out there, and when we made our way to the vendors’ area for something to eat, we discovered Matthew Linn of the Columbia Cafe had hot coffee and hot cocoa, and he was giving them away for free! I’m sure Matt made many people’s day with that gesture of kindness. Plus I learned something new- I never realized barbecued ribs go so well with black coffee!
Later it was back to the Gazebo Stage, where we listened awhile to Total Choice with another frequent Blues Jam participant (and cousin to Darrell), Kionte Mims on keyboards. Kionte is about as multi-talented as they come, an amazing keyboard and 6-string bass player, and if you’ve never heard him on drums, scroll about 1:45 into this YouTube video and check it out. And that’s just a sample- you should hear him take a solo in the heat of a 10-minute Blues jam!
There were many other artists we didn’t get a chance to hear like Professor Porkchop and The Bill Causey Jazz Ensemble (Bill’s son Chad is the Band Director at Cope Middle School and is, like, y’know, one of my daughter’s, like, favorite instructors, y’know?). And I really regret that we missed the great Buddy Flett, world-famous guitarist and the cornerstone of The Bluebirds, who is still recovering from a serious illness a few months back. Buddy has been such an inspiration to so many people for decades, and in fact this year’s Jazz and Blues Festival was dedicated to him.
If you got a chance to attend 2008 Festival, I’m sure you’ll agree that it was awesome. If not, you owe it to yourself to make plans to attend next year!
Meat Loaf vs. Dark Side of the Rainbow: RFC Creates Music-Lover’s Dilemma
Shreveport’s Robinson Film Center is making my plans for Saturday difficult. Of course we all intend to be at the Highland Jazz and Blues Festival from noon to 6pm on Saturday (Nov. 15). That one’s easy. But what about afterwards? That evening, the RFC is showing both Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise and The Dark Side of the Rainbow. Both are one-time only showings, and now I’ve gotta choose.
Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise is billed on Wikipedia as a theatrical documentary, filmed during the tour supporting Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. But over in the reviews at IMDB, I see some disappointment. It seems the film may be less “objective documentary” and more “the story as Meat Loaf wants it told”. Am I reading correctly? An album with a Bat Out of Hell title, but without Jim Steinman? And Hello, It’s Me! No Todd Rundgren production? Still, this is Meat Loaf, a performer who has shown the world how to “give 110%” in live performances for an entire generation (they say he performs to utter exhaustion in this film as well, although the exhaustion hits a little earlier at almost 60 years old). I’d love to see it, if for nothing more than the nostalgia.
Then there’s Dark Side of the Rainbow. We all know the story- The Wizard of Oz meets Dark Side of the Moon. Seems like they were made to go together. Or were they? Brilliant Roger Waters/Alan Parsons conspiracy, or just happy coincidence? I used to be a believer, but an entire weekend of helping my middle daughter dub clips from the Disney movie Mulan with rock songs for the soundtrack made me a doubter about the conspiracy. Especially when we set the mountain attack scene to Welcome to the Jungle. It’s eerie how perfect the timing is (maybe I’ll upload the video). As it turns out, our minds are great at taking sonic cues and visual cues which may be offset by quite a heap of milliseconds and combining them so that they seem to go together. Dragons in the clouds and all that. And perhaps it’s also true what a sassy young lady I once dated told me after a failed attempt to reproduce DSOTR with a home TV and a CD player.. she just winked and said, “It works a lot better if you’re high!”
But conspiracy or not, this is a great movie set to some of the greatest music. And it’s bound to be impressive on a big screen in the snazzy digs of the RFC. Plus, the daughters would enjoy it, as opposed to “an old man trying to sing like he was still young.”
Looks like I may have to wait and hope the Meat Loaf documentary comes out on video.
Highland Jazz and Blues Festival Saturday 11/15/08
This Saturday (11/15/08) marks the Fifth Annual Highland Jazz and Blues Festival organized by the Highland Area Partnership. The Festival runs from noon until 6pm in Columbia Park just off Line Avenue in Shreveport.
Many of our favorite musicians will be performing, including Jerry Beach (with The Bluebirds), A.J. Cascio and the Two Tone Blues Band, Dan Sanchez & the Kings of Pleasure and Shreveport legend Buddy Flett.
Be sure to ‘come on down’ and support this great local event.
Hello world!
Welcome to the blog of The Monday Night Blues Jam! Bear with us as we get things up and running.
We are going to include pictures with as many posts as possible. I’ve got quite a few pictures of my own as well as literally thousands from “Blue” Martin and Lisa Gimber.
Should be lots of fun…
