[Dixielandjazz] We lost a big one.

[Charlie Hooks]

Guys: Donald Sundt just called me to say that Joe Johnson has died.

No more Ellington.   No more perfection of black gentleman.   Who the 
hell will play "Lush LIfe" now as it was conceived?

After Duke Groner, Joe was my closest black friend--even closer than 
Jimmy Johnson.   To those of you who don't know, Joe grew up in the 
only black family in a small Connecticut town and therefore more 
comfortable around white people than among blacks for quite awhile.   
His parents were house servants on a large wealthy estate, and  he 
was well educated, though I'm not sure about college degrees.  His 
older brother, however, sponsored by the wealthy white family, 
graduated from Yale with a degree in mathematics back in the 
thirties!  Must have been about the only guy that happened to.  
Couldn't find a teaching gig, naturally, back then: remember?  "No 
niggers need apply!"  Boy I sure do remember.   He ended up a suicide.

Don Sundt doesn't know the details, but he thinks Joe died on Friday 
from a stroke.

What bums me way way out:  for the past two weeks it has popped into 
my mind: call Joe.  Call Joe.  And I kept saying, yeah, tonight--and 
then yeah, in the morning.  Joe was 86; I know because he was always 
10 years old than I was.

I called Joe's number at 773-651-8304 and talked to someone who said 
that the funeral will be on Friday, but the exact arrangements 
haven't been made yet, that the family was even now working on it.  
He took my number and promised to call me back.   You might try the 
same procedure.

Please forward this to all musicians and fans whose addresses and 
numbers I don't have.   A whole lot of people loved Joe.   To a lot 
of players and audiences on a lot of gigs over a lot of years, it 
seemed like happiness was just a thing called Joe...

Charlie
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"A world without music would be a mistake."--Nietzsche